I Need A Strictly Algae Eating Fish

[Davo86]

What is an SAE?

Siamese Algae Eater

 

[DevUK]

You would definitely need some oto catfish. These little guys are great. You would only need 2-3 (but better if you have 3) and they do a great job cleaning algae. They are community fish. They won't go after anything and nothing (except for much bigger fish of course) will be aggressive towards them. They stay very small about an inch to 1 and a half inches. They are much better than plecos in most cases because plecos have a lot of waste. This means you have to clean the tank much more and it gets a little annoying. Also, plecos grow very large. The up-side to them is they get the job done faster but the otos have many more advantages. And hey, would you rather have the job done fast or have it done right?

I've read (but not witnessed) that Ottos may sometimes suck onto deep bodied, slow moving fish so something to consider. Also, I don't believe they like to eat all algae. They tend to prefer soft green algae. They can be a bit difficult to feed if you don't have a lot of the prefered algae as they don't always take to pellets.