Best Cleanup crew for cichlids

[hillbilly]

swear ive seen my pleco with a 3 foot turd wrapping around all my rocks thinkin is that thing ever gonna break? cant he just clinch or something =/

It's worth noting that wild plecos can be carriers of flukes, that almost never harm the pleco, but can cause problems for sensitive fish such as discus, rams,etc. Very good policy to quarantine and treat new plecos with Prazi before introducing them to tanks with other fish.

 

[hillbilly]

I would be inclined to believe you're unfortunate experience most likely comes from the more common petstore lookalike chinese algae eaters, which like most plecos, stop eating algae as they grow. Shops very often mislabel them, either out of ignorance or to make them more desirable. You want the real deal, 1 set of barbels, all the imposters have 2.

You are right about Chinese algae eaters. They are truly worthless fish. They don't even make good feeders!

 

[USFallingFire]

Haha, nice to know I'm not the only one that went through a few. They might not make good feeders, but it makes you feel a little better to see them get eaten, lol.

 

[Gruff Master]

I have several tanks with some having sand and some having gravel as substrates. They are both very clean. I have no problems with algae or with siphoning the substrates of any of the tanks. Granted, the sand-bottom tank is a lot easier to keep clean and most likely I will have sand in my new tank. i don't have any algae eaters of any kind. When I did have an algae problem many years ago, it was because of the wrong lighting. The lights I had were for optimal plant growth which really brought on the algae.

 

[ohdannyboy]

i have a synodontis nottatus (spelling?) in with my cichlids, he's tough enough to be left alone and eats any scraps that make it down. he also doesnt create much waste

 

[ohdannyboy]

^ Even with regular, large water changes (80% - 90% once a week) I still see bright green algae about 3 days after a scrub/refill. It's frustrating. I even got some film to put on my fish room windows that blocks out all sunlight. I guess it's just a combination of the tank lights and nutrients in my water. Hopefully snails will help me out. It gets old scrubbing a 210 gallon tank from top to bottom every 3 days.

i used to have a algae problem so i brought a uv streliser, my tank is the same volume as yours so i brought a pond one works a treat havnt had any algae in a year, hope this helps

 

[screaminleeman]

Haha, nice to know I'm not the only one that went through a few. They might not make good feeders, but it makes you feel a little better to see them get eaten, lol.

Add me to that list. I bought a dozen for a buck apiece for the cleanup process. I wonder WTF they are called algae eaters for? I never saw any of mine even look at the algae in the tanks they were in.

On a side note, the greedy little fat food stealing pigs made excellent feeders for the EBJD & Firemouth, and even the leopard Ctenapoma got to chow down on a gut packed CAE.

 

[cichlidfish]

You are right about Chinese algae eaters. They are truly worthless fish. They don't even make good feeders!

So true, but my oscar seem to enjoy the one I had. That thing almost killed a larger FM I had. The FM was harrasing it, and it attached to the side of the FM and pinned him to to bottom of the tank. The CAE was oscar food after that.

OP:
IMO- if you need a clean-up crew then you are over feeding. Getting a scavanger defeats the whole perpose because what goes in comes out the other end. Just as bad. You only really need to feed your cichlids only a few times a week.
Now for algae control I would get a pleco like a bristle nose, but keep in mind that plecos only eat green algae and will require foods that are veggie based. Some plecos eat meatty foods and some require wood. Most plecos won't keep your tank algae free and will only eat a small portion in you tank.
Bottom line is that you can't be lazy in caring for your cichlids. It is best to remove uneaten food right away, do water changes, and clean the aglae your self. It is the best way to keep healthy fish. Just my $.02.

 

[Experiment397]

algea, bushynose pleco
uneaten food, either rapheals catfish, pictus catfish, or even some of the syndontis, lilke brichardi(i dunno how to spell it) i use pim cats and bushynose plecos. but have a friend who uses siamese algea eaters and rapheals cats and his tank is equally as clean, also depending on how big the cichlids are nerite snails do an awesome job, and wont breed withough brachish water

 

[screaminleeman]

In everyones experience, what is the best cleanup crew for a cichlid tank? I'm talkin algea and un eaten food sitting at the bottom of the tank.

It might be very short term, and will require the addition of at least 1 teaspoon of marine salt per gallon of water (preferably 1 tablespoon, but that is too much for cichlids to be comfortable with)!

The school of Florida flagfish (A large killifish ~ 4") will utterly decimate the algae in you tank. Like I said before, they prefer water that is closer to brackish salt parameters then pure freshwater and will eventually need to be rehomed.