Clean up crew for a busy/delicate 40 gallon breeder

[Beanie Seagus]

I'm putting together a 40 gallon planted community tank. Though filled with docile fish this tank will be heavily stocked, and has a few species that are likely to breed (GBR and corydoras). If possible i'd like to encourage that breeding.

With these elements in mind, which fish should i consider for my clean up crew, especially for algae?

1) Bushy nose Plecos are appealing as I could potentially coax them into breeding as well, but they are notorious egg eaters.

2) hillstream loaches look super cool and i've always wanted to keep them, but i'm not sure how they do with eggs.

3) otocinclus catfish - never kept them, hear good things, like their small size

4) No fish at all? should i just go with snails? Not sure shrimp would make it in this tank.

5) Other? Whats your clean up fish of choice for a tank like this?

Thanks!

 

[Goonie]

Otos.

Hillstream prefer colder water with a lon of biofilm and flow.

Cherry shrimp likely not, maybe amanos ?

The plecs are egg eaters, but so are corys.

Cant go wrong with a few nerites and a rabbit to move youre substrate

 

[halak]

Amano shrimp

 

[DiscusnAfricans]

Just remember your cleanup crew will also likely clean up eggs and possibly fry. If you have plenty of plants then you might not have much issue with algae, but some types of algae are good for fry.

 

[Freakgecko]

If you’re already planning on a heavily stocked tank, adding a cleanup crew will only make that worse. Personally, I’d recommend foregoing a clean up crew in favor of some elbow grease. I have no clean up crew in most of my set ups, minus tank herpes MTS I can’t seem to get rid of lol

 

[Beanie Seagus]

Freakgecko that doesn't sound too terrible. What do you if when algae gets on smaller or fragile plants though?

H halak What makes Amano shrimp so different from other shrimp types? hardier? faster? faster growing? larger? Whenever i think of adding shrimp i'm always reminded of when i tried to keep them with some guppy grass and guppies... the guppies just had a field day eating $20 worth of shrimp!

Definitely looking to add some snails, but its gonna be based on whats available locally, which isn't much. Cherish the craigslist you guys enjoy in the DMV because it is slim pickings in the SF Bay area.

 

[Goonie]

Monster keeper has tanks and fish sooooooo cheap compared to here though.

I have Amano shrimp with fish as large as 4 inches, haven't lost 1.

They get around1.5 inches and will fight back. Great cleaners

 

[Freakgecko]

Freakgecko that doesn't sound too terrible. What do you if when algae gets on smaller or fragile plants though?

H halak What makes Amano shrimp so different from other shrimp types? hardier? faster? faster growing? larger? Whenever i think of adding shrimp i'm always reminded of when i tried to keep them with some guppy grass and guppies... the guppies just had a field day eating $20 worth of shrimp!

Definitely looking to add some snails, but its gonna be based on whats available locally, which isn't much. Cherish the craigslist you guys enjoy in the DMV because it is slim pickings in the SF Bay area.

Most of my tanks aren’t planted and have subdued lighting/black water. Typically it takes some tweaking with your feeding and lighting schedules to get algae growth to a minimum

 

[halak]

Amanos are a lot larger than the cherry type. They don't breed in freshwater, so they won't overrun your tank. They are not shy. They are very tough. Guppies won't eat amanos due to the shrimp's size when you get them.

 

[Beanie Seagus]

Monster keeper has tanks and fish sooooooo cheap compared to here though.

I have Amano shrimp with fish as large as 4 inches, haven't lost 1.

They get around1.5 inches and will fight back. Great cleaners

Whats Monster keeper G Goonie ?