Cichlid and Polypterus Proof Clean Up Crew

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thefredpit said:
my roommate did this on my 100 gallon when I was setting it (without my permission) and completely F'ed it up and scratched all the glass in and out
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I bought my tank already beat to hell (can't complain because it was only $300). How the tank itself looks doesn't matter to me, it's what's inside the tank.
 
Snails work great if your fish don't insist on eating them.
Vancouver_98683 said:
The only fish I've experienced that will suck the grime and algae of the glass is a flagtail. They're awesome at it but would occasionally suck on the polys. No harm was ever done and had it for a long time. Downside is that they get large.

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Thatoscarguy said:
Yeah can't think of a fish that's gonna do that just scrub it off;)
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I think this is a thinly veiled reference to a pleco. They only suck other fish if they are deprived of protein. Make sure they are getting their share of pellets and there should be no problems.
You can also attach a sponge to a stick, like a mini squeegee, I have done that, it works well and lets you clean the glass without getting wet (or if you're short).
thefredpit said:
as strange as it sounds I put several mollies in my 100 gallon after an algae bloom and within a day the glass was clean now they have gotten used to the bichir food and nw it's back to elbow grease
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Mollies are great algae eaters, but may either get eaten by the pollies and cichlids or reproduce until they overrun the tank (like snails.)
 
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go to local Oreilly autoparts and buy some plastic razor blades. These look just like real razor blades but are black plastic used as scraper blades on "soft materials".Awesome and not too badly priced, tool isle about halfway down left side (in most stores). I use them all the time you can get a longer handled scraper also that will hold the blades unfortunately they only come in metal.
 
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J. H. said:
Snails work great if your fish don't insist on eating them.


I think this is a thinly veiled reference to a pleco. They only suck other fish if they are deprived of protein. Make sure they are getting their share of pellets and there should be no problems.
You can also attach a sponge to a stick, like a mini squeegee, I have done that, it works well and lets you clean the glass without getting wet (or if you're short).
Mollies are great algae eaters, but may either get eaten by the pollies and cichlids or reproduce until they overrun the tank (like snails.)
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I have a 12" Pleco, and I don't plan to get more. He produces at least 25-40% of the bioload. He does clean some of the GSA, although it's just the center of each spot. He gets lazy and forgets to do the detailing, as the glass is littered with algae rings because he ate the center of each spot, but not the edges.
 
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Angelphish said:
I have a 12" Pleco, and I don't plan to get more. He produces at least 25-40% of the bioload. He does clean some of the GSA, although it's just the center of each spot. He gets lazy and forgets to do the detailing, as the glass is littered with algae rings because he ate the center of each spot, but not the edges.
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Yeah, I've had that too, the big plecos tand to get lazy when they get old. I have never heard anyone with a RN or BN pleco complain about this, though.
 
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J. H. said:
Mollies are great algae eaters
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Been a while since I had mollies. I forgot to add that while they will eat algae off the glass, they don't like it as much as snails do. They prefer hair algae. IMO the best algae eaters are snails, if you get the right ones.
 
You could go with apple snails get big and don't breed as much as small snails they will demolish any plants tho
 
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