Otocinclus cats and other algea eaters

[Sylvias]

I have a 5 gallon planted tank with a betta fish and a cory cat, I cannot get control of the algea in this thing and am looking for a small algea eater that will be good in this size tank. Are oto cats the only algea eaters small enough for a 5 gal? Do they do a decent job of cleaning algea and do they require any other food items?
I know shrimp are sometimes good for tank cleaning as well but i have no experience with em at all, are there are shrimp species i could add in that would help out and what would their care requirements be?
Snails are the other thing I am lookin at, what are some good algea eating snakes that wont attack my plants?

 

[komodo182]

I prefer zebra snails for algae cleaning when using a sponge is not an option. I have had luck with ottos, but I think zebra snails do a better job. Just my opinion though.
I have not had my zebra snails multiple or eat my plants

 

[Sylvias]

Cool i will have to see if any local stores have them, how big do they get? and what is their scientific name so i can be more sure I am getting the right thing

 

[komodo182]

about the size of a quarter, little smaller
they can go in a 5 gallon IMO


Nerritina zebra
is the scientific name i believe

normally only a couple bucks in a pet store....some of the chains charge more than that (seen them for 6.99 once....rip off)

 

[Sylvias]

There is absolutely no shortage of locally owned aquatic stores around here lol I'm sure I can find one somewhere, any other smaller snails that would be able to get onto my leaves and eat algae off those?

 

[JakeH]

If you go with Ottos, you should get at least 2. They're very social & will eat more algae if they have a "huntin' buddy". Ramshorn snails will eat your plants & Pond snails will reproduce in epic fashion, so avoid those species, but the zebra nerite sounds like it might work--dont know, never had one. Diffusa (mystery snail) probably won't eat enough algae to be worth it.

 

[Kaosu]

i have ramshorn snails in my planted tank with no problem i use them for clean up crew in my guppy breeder (10gallon) ..thought pond snails will do some damage to a planted tank,
iv had mystery snails wipe out large chunks of a planted tank as well

I use 3 ottos and rams horn snails for my 10 gallon and it works great ^_^
Best of luck

 

[jclyde13]

I agree about the snails eating the algae, but I tried putting two mystery snails with my old betta, and the betta kept eating their 'antennas' (not sure whether that's the technical term), so I had to get another tank to sepparate them. I wouldn't get oto's for a 5 gallon though, they are very active and do best in groups of at least 3, so 10 gal. minimum, imo.

 

[Sylvias]

I ended up getting two little oto cats and will go back to see if he gets in some zebras (he had some but didn't want to sell them yet because they were new in and hadn't come out of their shells once.. So I was fine with that, I'll wait till they are health
The only "rams horns" I have seen where HUGE and would have decimated my plants if they tried to get up on em and eat algae off of them. However these snails were seen at a notoriously unreliable and mis-informative store....

 

[Lupin]

I ended up getting two little oto cats and will go back to see if he gets in some zebras (he had some but didn't want to sell them yet because they were new in and hadn't come out of their shells once.. So I was fine with that, I'll wait till they are health
The only "rams horns" I have seen where HUGE and would have decimated my plants if they tried to get up on em and eat algae off of them. However these snails were seen at a notoriously unreliable and mis-informative store....

These are Marisa cornuarietis of the Ampullaridae family (apple snails). Don't confuse them with the Planorbis sp which don't eat plants.