klw Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 i have bristlenose which are now about 7cms or so long.they dont seem to make any difference to the algae.is there a more efficient catfish that can eat even that really stubborn algae that gets on the glass? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leone Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 siamese algae eater - they get all the good stuff.. cheers Leone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chorrylan Posted February 22, 2009 Share Posted February 22, 2009 hmmm Q: whats the best algae eater? A: (without a doubt) tropheus Q: what's an effective algae eater for a tank including other fish A: (unfortunately) Not tropheus I keep bristlenose in most of my tanks primarily to control the brown diatomic algae (umm actually mostly bacteria I gather) on the glass. Outbreaks of green water and major growth of green slimy algae indicates a serious imbalance of nutrients and is probably beyond any catfish to deal with. Start by working out what the imbalance is and addressing that (and then bristlenose will probably form part of the cleanup crew) Black/green hair algae is probably too tough for bristlenose and Siamese Algae Eaters are the generally accepted mechanism for it. I noticed some on a plant in in my peppermint catty tank the other day which my red raoinbow trophius colony are snacking on at the moment. That's only helpful for growth on movable items though. (I haven't had outbreaks of this in my cichlid tanks ever so I presume raising the gh and kh is probably an effective control too and will be moving the peppermints to a new tank and will run their old tank as part of the central/cichlid system for a few months to kill the stuff hopefully). For algae growth on wood/plants one of the panaques like L397 or even Hypancistrus that chew a fair bit like L333 will make life hard for the algae as a consequence of keeping the wood thoroughly scraped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted February 23, 2009 Author Share Posted February 23, 2009 thankyou for your replies to this.well it is one of my malawi tanks and the water is clear its just that dark green algae on the glass.its not hairy or slimy.this tank does get a bit more light from a window but i keep the verticals closed tight so i have controlled the amount substantially.maybe i will try the siamese algae eaters.thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 I added some rosy barbs that were being sold as feeders at the lfs to my tang tank to see how they would go on the green and black hair algae. I am happy to report that they were quite effective. While they havent removed every last morsel, a vast majority f it is gone after just a couple of weeks. They are constantly oicking at it, and dont seem to attract any attention from other fish. If anything, they have livened the tank up with their adhd manner. Maybe worth trying them. They dont however seem to enjoy the green spot algae. I use bristlenose for that. While they dont eat it, their constant scraping of the glass prevents it from becoming a problem. Maybe once a year I begin to notice it a little, and just scrub it off. cheers, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbuna man Posted March 1, 2009 Share Posted March 1, 2009 If the algae is dark green and in spots, the only way to get it off is to scrub it. I use a micro fibre cloth which is only for the tanks. It works well and doesn't scratch the glass. Once its gone bristle nose or siamese will keep it down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbish84 Posted March 5, 2009 Share Posted March 5, 2009 plecos are the best at cleaning tanks they will clean the tank fast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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