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Wtb: bristlenose or other small algae eating species

captmicha

Members
Don't want anything fancy or expensive. Just want some small fish to help out with algae on glass and plants. Warm temps.

Nothing that gets big, please.
 

lilRia

Chairpersons
Staff member
wow, you've got some really cool ones!! do you have a male white one? it's kind of hard to tell, do you have an all green male? love bristlenose <3
 

captmicha

Members
Forgot about ottos.

I'm not sure about nerites, bc I have bladder, MTS and ramshorn's and they're not so great at helping me out with this. Are nerites much better?
 

jonclark96

Past CCA President
Nerites are pretty good with algae control in my experience. They may also lay eggs, which look like little sesame seeds, but they won't hatch. They need brackish conditions to hatch.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
I have a bag of dwarf ancistrus in the auction. They grow to 4 or 5". Don't know what species they are, but they're prolific breeders and quite pretty.
 

captmicha

Members
Nerites are pretty good with algae control in my experience. They may also lay eggs, which look like little sesame seeds, but they won't hatch. They need brackish conditions to hatch.
Do they eat hair algae too? This is the bane of my tanks. 🙄
 

RSR

CCA Members
Unfortunately not!! they clean the glass tank well and your plant leaves and driftwood but definitely not hair algae!!
 

Becca

Members
Londontowne Tropicals has Amano shrimp.

Ultimately, Algae usually means there's too much of something - Nutrients or Light.

Adding more fish to a tank already out of balance, particularly if it's an algae that thrives on excess nitrates or phosphates, is not a good way to solve your problem. If you've got algae in a tank that already has shrimp, odds are you're overfeeding. Cherry shrimp should be eating the algae.
 

CSnyder00

Bearded Wonder
Londontowne Tropicals has Amano shrimp.

Ultimately, Algae usually means there's too much of something - Nutrients or Light.

Adding more fish to a tank already out of balance, particularly if it's an algae that thrives on excess nitrates or phosphates, is not a good way to solve your problem. If you've got algae in a tank that already has shrimp, odds are you're overfeeding. Cherry shrimp should be eating the algae.

True.

My hair algae was remnants from an overstocked pleco growout that I semi-poorly maintained. The hair algae came in on some new plants. I corrected the overstocking issue first. Then I tried manual removal and shortened photo periods alone, but there were still pockets of the stuff on my sponge filters, plants, and substrate.

I did a water change, bought 4 Amano shrimp from House of Tropicals, and left the photo period at 6 hours. Two weeks later there was a significant decline in the hair algae issue. In 4 weeks it was almost completely gone. At 6 weeks I’m hair algae free. During this time, I fed some bloodworms and pelleted food to make sure the shrimp had proper nutrition. They are Awesome algae cleaners.
 
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