Bottom feeders for African cichlid tank

[African Cichlid Lover]

Honestly, all plecos will eat algae but as they grow they'll become less and less effective and more interested in meatier foods. Although a bushy isn't a terrible idea. A Chinese will eat voraciously but with that comes explosive growth, and unlike most in this genre of discussion, it will actually potentially become aggressive and territorial.

Bottom line is preference. Do you want to add another fish? And NOTE- plecos come with arguably the largest bioload of anything you can put in the tank. Which is fine but it means more diligent cleanings. But on the same token, there are tons of options, some of which may even be more impressive than your cichlids. I myself have a blue phantom and a green phantom.

But if you'd like to not go the fish route you can try using CO2 boosters (every LFS sells them), decrease the amount of time that you have the lights on, orrrr you could even use snails who will almost ONLY eat algae for you. Just make sure that if you go with snails, that you know which species you're getting.

If you get the wrong snail you'll have a million of them before you know what happened. Zebra snails and others of the nerite family are the PERFECT option. They're extremely cheap, they WILL clean your tank, they're large, and they won't reproduce unless they're in brackish water.

I tried the snails, ate it whole.

 

[African Cichlid Lover]

could always do a good ol' Chinese Algae-eater, cleans more algae than my other 50 bottom-feeders COMBINED

What about a emerald cat. Apparently they are armoured, so they would be good for my strangely passive cichlids that are supposed to be aggressive. What about it?

 

[Frank Castle]

What about a emerald cat. Apparently they are armoured, so they would be good for my strangely passive cichlids that are supposed to be aggressive. What about it?

if you mean Emerald Corydoras, absolutely not.....the passiveness won't last , it stands little chance surviving w/ Africans even in a group. I only keep Corys in my Fry and smaller growout tanks

......chinese algae eaters do eat algae, however they can not stand up for themselves like featherfins can.

.....and you obviously have never owned a large CAE......they are FAR from helpless. Mine chase cichlids and other bottom-feeders and is very territorial.

.....and i'm talking big heavy-hitting SA/CAs, not Africans

 

[African Cichlid Lover]

Random thought here. Red tail black sharks. Good idea?

 

[celebrist]

I had a red tail shark with my African cichlids. She had the attitude but not the teeth and eventually succumbed. I don't think it really liked the cichlid water parameters either

 

[African Cichlid Lover]

I had a red tail shark with my African cichlids. She had the attitude but not the teeth and eventually succumbed. I don't think it really liked the cichlid water parameters either

Thanks. But something killed my africans.

 

[tlindsey]

Reduce time light is on, larger wc's, or adding algae grazing African Cichlids if possible.