Algae Eater

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Common pleco generally play well with cichilds. They get big and ugly, but some people just trade with lfs for smaller ones.

Like mentioned above many plecos don't eat algae at all.

Bill - that's one delicious looking snail :D
 
Go with snails and smaller pleco if you want to keep your algae in check. If you ever plan on keeping a breeding pair of cichlids, keep in mind that plecos will eat the eggs if given the chance.
 
I have a rubber lip and a bristle nose pleco in my jag tank. My big jag seems to leave them alone for the most part, I bet you'd be just fine with some jd's and those pleco's. Good luck!!!
 
Nerite snails are an excellent option for algae control. I use them in combination with bn in my bigger tanks, and just use the snails in the smaller tanks. I picked up most of mine from Ms. Jinkzd (see the vendor forum). Nerites are also good because they cannot reproduce in fresh water. They need brackish conditions to have the eggs survive.

Word of caution, that they do lay eggs that look like little white sesame seeds. You may notice them at first but eventually you will get used to them.
 
We have 4 or 5 chocolate ,rhino plecos or what ever they might be called ai wish I knew their latin name but they work great will have tank so clean you will have to feed them don't know why stores don't seem to carry them pius they don;t get super big. Go to your lfs and see if they will order some in we talked our Big Als into getting some and they were gone in no time best thing is they eat algae even when full grown unlike common pleco and they look cool.
 
What are the chances of larger SA cichlids harming the nerite snails? I worry mainly about my psittacus who is about 7" now and is determined to mouth and push around anything smaller than himself.

I have ridiculous algae here and BN plecos will not touch it. They used to, but I think they're spoiled on pellets and bloodworms now. It'd be great to have something that could effectively remove it from my overflow covers because scrubbing doesn't get it out of all the nooks and crannies of the plastic.
 
I have nerites in with adult severums and a chocolate and have never noticed the fish paying any attention to the snails. Most of the time I don't ever see the snails, but things stay pretty clean. I would give it a shot as you can get olive nerites (not as pretty as the zebras but just as effective) for a good price if you order them in bulk. Our club did a group order last spring and I think we ended up paying $0.75 each for them.
 
I had a 4" gold nugget pleco with my 7" male GT and it was fine, but then again I can get my GT to a little gold fish LOL. My gold nugget did an excellent job at cleaning green and brown algae. It would keep my driftwood and rocks clean. I only got rid of it because I got tired of cleaning pup.
 
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