Algae Eating Fish – Even Samll Tanks Can Have Them!

Okay, what do I call a smaller aquarium. My definition is anything under forty gallons. Now a forty gallon tank is still pretty big. It will be about a yard and will take up a corner of any room quite effectively.

The trouble is that when it comes to algae eating fish you don’t have many inches of fish to play with. By the time you have allowed for decorations, equipment, plants and substrate you will probably find that you have lost a few gallons of water. A forty gallon tank actually holds about four gallons less than it says on teh label.

Less water means fewer fish. Fewer fish mean fewer algae eaters so you need to make the right choices when your deciding on the fish that are going to keep your algae under control and unless you fill your tank with chemicals you will get algae. I don’t believe in chemicals to control algae. There are some natural methods coming onto the market place but I am still a believer in keeping yoru tank clean, regular water changes and algae eating fish as the best way forward.

With only a few inches of fish to use on the clean up crew steer clear of the Plecostomus family and fish like the Siamese Algae Eater. They grow too big and although at first they will do a great job, they will quickly outgrow your tank and leave you with a problem.

My favourite is the Oto catfish. It will only grow to about one and a half inches fully grown and has a healthy appetite for most types of algae. Not the most exciting fish to watch as they spend most of their time with their mouths glued to the glass, rocks or wood in your tank but they do a great job of keeping algae down.

Another fish I like is the Albino Cory catfish. Alright not an algae eater as such but it does a great job of cleaning up all those bits of left over food on the bottom of the tank before they start adding to the nitrate levels and encouraging algae so indirectly a great help.

Amano shrimp are about an inch long and will hardly add anything to the bio-load of the tank but at the same time help out, running round like janitors breaking down lumps in the substrate to help with the biological filter. You can always amuse yourself trying to spot them but if you catch them being active they are amusing as well as useful.

And finally the trusty snail. Not to be dismissed entirely as a pest. I haven’t yet paid for any snails. I got my first lot years ago on an incoming plant. At the time I was annoyed as I hadn’t intended to get any. They bred as only snails can and I soon had an army of tiny snails cleaning every surface that they could find.

Yes they can be a problem when they get out of hand but I found an easy solution almost by accident. Once my algae was under control I started feeding the Otos and the Corys algae tablets to keep them happy.

Snails love ‘em. thirty minutes after I put the tablets in I had about ninety percent of my snail population in one area of the tank. A quick siphon with a half inch pipe and my snail population was back under control and the snails tasted great.

Only joking Far too salty!

Do remember! Don’t get algae eating fish until you’ve got algae. They’ll starve. And when they’ve done their job and your algae is under control, remember to feed them. It’s only fair.

If you found this article interesting check out my website at http://www.aquariumhintsandtips.com

Nick North is an aquarium enthusiast with nearly 20 years experience of keeping freshwater tropical fish. He has set up a website to help anyone who is new to the freshwater aquarium hobby and thinking of <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="â??“>http://ezinearticles.com/?Setting-Up-a-Tropical-Fish-Tank&id=2569756â??”> setting up a tropical fish tank

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