Which Is The Best All Round Algae Eater?

[juwelfan]

I want a fish that will feed on algae.
All of these do - ancistrus
peckolita
otocinclus
SAE

But which will do it consistently and feed upon a variety of algae?

 

[Themuleous]

To be honest the best all round algae eater is the amano shrimp Caridina multidentata it eats a range of algae and although its a scavenger and will eat fish food its a various eater of quite a few algae types.

I tend to find all the fish, with the exception of ottos perhaps, get bored and end up just eating the fish food and ignoring the algae.

All that said, Ive yet to fund one particular animal (fish or shrimp) that will eat every type of algae.

Sam

 

[TwoTankAmin]

SAE, hands down. If you need them to work harder at eating algae. Stop feeding the tank for a day or two.

 

[dasmall1]

I can only compare ottos vs. SAE's as that is all I have every had. I much prefer the SAE's because they eat a much larger variety of algea and much more of it. The only drawback is that they can get HUGE. Also, I have had the problem with them eating my serpaes worms. They do resort to the algae with no problem if I don't feed the tank for a couple days, though.

IMO the best algae eating animal is the amano shrimp (Caridina japonica I believe) to repeat what was already said. They stick to algae, for the most part (I have caught a couple of my very large ones snacking on snails and tubifex worms), and they eat a wide variety of algae. They are capable of eating quite a large load of algae, too. And they don't take up too much space and are pretty interesting. However, they are a bit pricey.

Hope I helped and didn't just babble!

 

[SuperColey1]

Either Otos or if you want plecs then commons or pitbulls.

Pitbulls will eat up anything they can get as they are true scavengers and stay around the 3" mark (Parotocinclus Jumbo)

Andy

 

[Revision17]

To echo what was stated above, I've found amanos to continue eating algae, even after being in the tank for awhile. Plus they can reach all sorts of hard to get to spots which SAEs and Ottos can't get to (or won't normally go to). The LFS I like sells them for $3 per shrimp (or slightly better prices if you get more of them).

I've found Ottos and Plecs to be less than useful for algae control, except brown algae (which they devour better than anything else IME). I'd say if you can 'borrow' a small school of ottos for the initial brown algae outbreak in a new tank, and then return them after it's over, that would be best.

SAEs are pretty good at nibbling various types of algae off plants. I like having one in my 20 gal.

Large ramshorn snails kinda fall into the same niche as SAEs and clean the glass. They're really quick for snails, and with a few large ones, the population stays under control (since the little ones can't get enough food to grow). They also eat unsightly dying plant parts. I know they're considered a pest snail by most, but I like mine. I would like to experiment with other types of snails.

My guppy population (and from googling, other livebearers too), also take random nips of algae. They don't seem to do nearly as much as dedicated algae eaters, however.

 

[juwelfan]

On the snail thing, my MTS are good at eating algae. My Amano shrimp are getting stuck into the Staghorn algae, but there is a lot of algae for them to eat, so its taking some time.