Cleaner fish recommendations for eel tank?

[Polyptasaurus]

My tank has 3 “tulip eels” (monopterus Albus) and they will eat anything they can. So Cory cats are off limits. Chinese algae eaters will eventually get eaten due to size. Any suggestions for a too-large-to-eat, bottom-feeding cleaner fish? My royal pleco is useless....

 

[kno4te]

Large ancistrus pleco perhaps or maybe they’d ignore otocinclus. How big are the eels?

 

[Fishman Dave]

Need a plec which is NOT a wood eater. So bristlenose will work, as would gibbiceps although may grow too large.
Depends what you mean by cleaner fish though. Most plecs create more waste than the cleaning job they do is worth. If you are looking for something to tidy leftover food then bristlenose would work but they may also get to food before the eels and barge them off it. Alternatively if you are looking for something to sift sand and keep it sweet then geophagus but you may have this covered.

 

[Rocksor]

So I see hecklii in the background, are they not eating the scraps from the bottom? Maybe the gravel is preventing them from sifting, and a switch to sand (#20 mesh size like pool filter sand) would help them sift the bottom for scraps?

 

[Polyptasaurus]

So I see hecklii in the background, are they not eating the scraps from the bottom? Maybe the gravel is preventing them from sifting, and a switch to sand (#20 mesh size like pool filter sand) would help them sift the bottom for scraps?

I have three of them and they do move the gravel around, but that’s not enough. They can’t possibly get all of the scraps.

 

[Polyptasaurus]

Need a plec which is NOT a wood eater. So bristlenose will work, as would gibbiceps although may grow too large.
Depends what you mean by cleaner fish though. Most plecs create more waste than the cleaning job they do is worth. If you are looking for something to tidy leftover food then bristlenose would work but they may also get to food before the eels and barge them off it. Alternatively if you are looking for something to sift sand and keep it sweet then geophagus but you may have this covered.

Each one is almost 18 inches. I also have a fire reel in there as well. So four eels technically.

 

[Rocksor]

I have three of them and they do move the gravel around, but that’s not enough. They can’t possibly get all of the scraps.

The gravel does make it harder than sand to sift for food, too much energy spent moving the gravel. If the hecklii are fed less, and the substrate is easier to go through, there's a good chance they will get much more scraps.

 

[Deadeye]

Crayfish are good gravel sifters, but I can’t imagine the cichlids or eels letting them live long.

 

[Rob909]

Larger loaches will be able to get in the tighter spots plus will be able to push gravel around to get food.

 

[Polyptasaurus]

Crayfish are good gravel sifters, but I can’t imagine the cichlids or eels letting them live long.

Yea that would be a 24 hour addition and they’d all be dead.