Pebble Cleaning Fish

[MrSheen]

Hi guys,
 
I'm looking for a new fish specifically to clean my gravel. I have 3 albinos , a plec, 5 shrimp and 2 panda garas on clean up and still my gravel is a bit too dirty for my liking. I remember seeing a fish about 20 years ago taking the gravel into its mouth and spitting it out, but no idea what it was or looked like now.
 
Anybody have any ideas?

 

[fluttermoth]

Albino whats exactly?
 
How big is your tank?
 
Really, no fish will clean much; cleaning is your job!

 

[KirkyArcher]

I think that fish you saw 20 years ago will probably be dead by now

Gravel gets and looks dirty for a reason, usually overfeeding followed by algae growth, as Fluttermoth suggests your tank husbandry is ultimately up to you, if you were to fill the tank with bottom feeders, Algae eating fish and Nerite snails it wouldn't make a massive dent in the build up of dirt.

 

[Fishmanic]

I good cleaner of gravel would be a Geophagus cichlid but it grows quite large and would thus need a large tank.

 

[MrSheen]

I think that fish you saw 20 years ago will probably be dead by now

 
haha I would think so too. 
 
My tank is pretty spotless to be honest. Problem is 'off white' gravel looking a little tired and going a brown-ish colour. I've being running fish tanks for years and just looking for ideas on a new fish not a grilling on cleaning, not all fresh joiners are amateurs
 
Tank I'm referring to atm is a 100 litres Fluval and they are albino cory's
 
My current fish stock:

• Guppies - 5
• Neon tetras - 11
• Silver shark - 4
• Cory's - 3
• Panda Garas - 2
• Yellow sword tail - 1
• Clown loach - 1
• Assassin snail - 1
• Kuhli loach - 3? haven't seen 1 of them for a long time
• Shrimp - 5
• Angel's - 2
• Plecs - 2
• Flying fox -1

 
I'm about to replace it with a new 130 litre tank so may just switch to sand and planted. Due to the assassin, most snails are a no go. 

I good cleaner of gravel would be a Geophagus cichlid but it grows quite large and would thus need a large tank.

 
Just looked up the stats on this, think my gravel is too large for it. I do have some sand in there that would suit it though. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Hello and welcome.  (you may not like what I am about to say... Sorry. )
 
Your tank and the new one you are talking about are far too small for many of the fish you have.
 
Specifically:
Clown loach (which should be kept in numbers and since they can grow to over a foot long need a HUGE tank)
Silver shark (also known as the bala shark, as above, large fish when full grown, highly active swimmer and prefers to be in numbers... personally, I'd not keep them in less than a 12 foot tank, but at the absolute minimum, a 6 foot tank, although 8 would certainly be better.)
Pleco - depending on the particular specie,these can grow to 18-24 inches long.
Angels need TALL tanks, not long ones, and these can be quite large.  The minimum would be 30-50 gallons.
 
 
As for cleaning the gravel:

Try that.

 

[fluttermoth]

White, or off white gravel, will always attract that sort of algal growth, I'm afraid. There are no fish that will clean it up. Best you can do is turn it over; the algae that ends up underneath will die off.
 
I hope you won't feel insulted, but your stocking is extremely poor

 
Neither the silver sharks nor the clown loach (which should be kept in groups) belong in a tank of anything less than five foot in length. Depending on the species, the plecs are also likely to grow far too big, even if you upgrade to the 130l.
 
Hah, eagles got there before me!

 

[MrSheen]

Don't worry folks, I also have a larger 700 litre tank for when they grow up
 
The plecs are already fully grown at ~3 inches and Collin (Clown) is pushing 5 inch at most atm.
 
My fish, even though "poorly stocked" are all happy. No fighting, have space to swim and hide if they like. Many are several years old now too. I've lost 1 guppy in 12 months and it died the day after I got it. My gran has a clown that is close to 15 years old or more and barely bigger than my own. She has a 1000 litre tank and has 40 years experience and more than happy with my set ups.
 
Think I'll zap this account, as reading through your forums I'm a little put off. Seems most people just have a go at everyone and everything on how unsuitable their tanks are. That annoying 1 litre per cm of fish seems to be around a lot too.

 

[fluttermoth]

I'm really sorry you feel that way, MrSheen.
 
Most of our members feel welcome here and often say how friendly our site is.
 
We never promote any kind of stocking guideline along the '1cm fish per 2 litres' of water or 'one inch of fish per gallon' type, and often correct people when they mention it.
 
Of course, this is a public forum and different people have differing ideas of what's acceptable (and are free to post them; we don't censor or delete posts that differ from the 'party line', preferring to encourage education and debate)  but as a forum, and certainly from the Mod team POV, we try very hard to promote best practice, as far as it can be ascertained, and many of our staff and members are very up to date with the latest scientific research, in all aspects of the hobby.

 

[GetItSahn]

Some people can handle constructive criticism that well...

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, we've ascertained that there are no gravel cleaning fish that are suitable for this tank.
 
If MrSheen wants to come back and join discussions in any other threads, or start new threads of his own, he's more than welcome, but this thread has run it's course, I feel.