freshwater not-plant-eaters
 

I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?

On 2005-04-26, wrote:
I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?


http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 23:18:10 GMT, js1 wrote:

On 2005-04-26, wrote:
I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?


http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

When one of my tanks had Black Hair Algae, I found live bearers such
as Platties and Mollies would eat the new growth. I pulled and
cleaned all the longer growth. I can't say their efforts alone would
keep the new growth under control because I added 9 Siamese Algae
Eaters, but the live bearers definitely were eating algae and they are
among the first to go after algae pellets.

dick

On 2005-04-27, Dick wrote:
When one of my tanks had Black Hair Algae, I found live bearers such
as Platties and Mollies would eat the new growth. I pulled and
cleaned all the longer growth. I can't say their efforts alone would
keep the new growth under control because I added 9 Siamese Algae
Eaters, but the live bearers definitely were eating algae and they are
among the first to go after algae pellets.


My dwarf pencilfish will nip at new algae growth...

--
"I have to decide between two equally frightening options.
If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman

wrote:
I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?




Otocinclus are awesome for brown algae. They won't harm your plants at
all, and will actually eat brown and soft green algae off of the leaves,
rocks, and glass. They're shoaling fish best kept in small groups.
They require a bit of wood to rasp on, and algae wafers if they run out
of algae.

For the coolwater goldfish tank, you could try hillstream loaches.
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages...chowensis.html.
They also need algae wafers once the algae is gone.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

In message , Elaine T
writes
wrote:
I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?


Otocinclus are awesome for brown algae. They won't harm your plants at
all, and will actually eat brown and soft green algae off of the
leaves, rocks, and glass. They're shoaling fish best kept in small
groups. They require a bit of wood to rasp on, and algae wafers if they
run out of algae.

For the coolwater goldfish tank, you could try hillstream loaches.
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages...chowensis.html.
They also need algae wafers once the algae is gone.

They're river fish and like current, though. They're also keen on very
good water quality, and goldfish aren't conducive to that...
--
sophie

www.freewebs.com/fishstuff
(under construction. ish.)

sophiefishstuff wrote:
In message , Elaine T
writes

wrote:

I have an algae problem, and I have plants that I don't want to poison
getting rid of the algae... it is a green algae in the goldfish tank,
and a brown algae in the danio/guppie tank... are there some breedsof
fish who live off algaee that won't decimate my other plants? which
can be good with tropical vs. goldfish tanks?


Otocinclus are awesome for brown algae. They won't harm your plants
at all, and will actually eat brown and soft green algae off of the
leaves, rocks, and glass. They're shoaling fish best kept in small
groups. They require a bit of wood to rasp on, and algae wafers if
they run out of algae.

For the coolwater goldfish tank, you could try hillstream loaches.
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages...chowensis.html.
They also need algae wafers once the algae is gone.


They're river fish and like current, though. They're also keen on very
good water quality, and goldfish aren't conducive to that...

Good point.

Here's a page that lists some coldwater adaptable fish. I don't know
for sure how good the information is, although I recognize most of the
fish on the list as cool water adaptable. I can say for certain that
it's not complete.
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/...dfishcare.html

From that list, Butterfly Goodeids (Ameca splendens), and American
flagfish (Jordanella floridae) are pretty good algae eaters. Rosy barbs
will also eat algae, but tend to nibble on tender plant shoots as well.
Rosy barbs are easy to find, but the others can be hard.

Also, how about ramshorn snails (Planorbis spp. - not Columbian
ramshorns)? They'll work on algae some and are plant friendly if they
don't overpopulate. Actually, the goldies in my pond will pick at fuzzy
green algae if lightly fed. If your tank consistently stays above 65F,
you could use apple/mystery snails as well. applesnail.net tells you
how to identify the non-plant eaters.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com