Algae eater for planted aquarium

by **Zankren** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:40 pm

Me and my girlfriend are setting up a new tank. She loves plecostomuses (has always used them for algae eaters). We are going to make our tank heavily live planted, and need to know if these guys will work (fear they will eat the plants). If they don't I'm sure there is some type of algae eater that could work. Any suggestions?

by **cyndrine** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:14 am

what size of tank? i have never noticed a problem with my pleco and live plants. the problem i have is my parrot cichlid.

by **gumbii** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:13 am

i have a mango pleco in my planted tank... he leaves all of the plants alone... i also have a flying fox... i love this guy... he's awesome and has a cool personality...

you could also get ottocinclus(sp?) catfish... they're called otto's in LFS...

some pleco's like golden nuggets, mango, and other exotic pleco's have carnivourus diets and wont do a great job cleaning the tanks... but will leave your plants alone... don't get trinidad, sail-fin leopards or ancistrus "bristlenose" pleco's... those will destroy your plants...

by **freshwaterpleco** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 3:23 am

Yes a pleco will get along in a planted aquarium as long as it is a 50 gallon or bigger.

by **Peterkarig3210** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:07 am

I have a pleco and it seems to be a good algae eater though I think it may have sucked holes in my giant Amazon sword. It doesn't hurt my other plants though. Other than the Siamese algae eater (flying fox) which is supposed to be legendary for algae, there's a fish very similar to a flying fox called a otocinclus. They're less aggressive and stay much smaller, no larger than 1.5 inches as adults. It looks very similar to the above but has more of a suction shaped mouth a bit like a pleco's. They're supposed to be the best fish for algae according to my local aquarium store.

Algae eater for planted aquarium

5 posts