im looking for an algea eater for my 125 gallon that won't eat and poop like a common, a little bit interesting, something that would be cool to looks at, and something that wouldn't be a competator for my catfish, my tank has plenty of hiding spots, i need something to keep the tank clean, but won't get huge, and looks good.
pleco/algea eater
- Thread starter jerzyperson
- Start date
all plecos are big waste producers. so i wouldn't say they keep the tank "clean". bristlenose plecos get about 4'' tops and do a wonderful job of eating soft algaes. they'll also eat some live plants like swords if you have them in there. there are some albino strains that look yellow and then the males have large branching bristles as they mature, which is pretty cool. but, again, they will poop a lot. so if you dont want to do your partial water changes often (like once a week to every other week preferably) i would just scrub it yourself.
well waiste is really the least of my problem, i just have algea growing that i can't keep gone and would like a full time duty fish to pretty up the tank while looking pretty.
it would help if you noted what kind of algae you are dealing with . . .
for the green and brown algae that forms on tank walls or on slow-growing plants (e.g., anubias), I have gotten the best results from bulldog plecos . . . they don't get much bigger than 3" . . . I dropped a single bulldog into a 12G planted tank that had algae on the walls and plants, and he cleaned it up in under a week
I have a bristlenose in my 90G, but he spends most of his time eating driftwood and hanging out on the bottom of the tank . . . once again, the bulldogs in the tank seem to do the most work
for other types of algae, a pleco might not help at all . . .
for the green and brown algae that forms on tank walls or on slow-growing plants (e.g., anubias), I have gotten the best results from bulldog plecos . . . they don't get much bigger than 3" . . . I dropped a single bulldog into a 12G planted tank that had algae on the walls and plants, and he cleaned it up in under a week
I have a bristlenose in my 90G, but he spends most of his time eating driftwood and hanging out on the bottom of the tank . . . once again, the bulldogs in the tank seem to do the most work
for other types of algae, a pleco might not help at all . . .
well yea, it is the green and brown stuff, big green blotches with brown film covering the whole pane of glass. i have a bristolnose in my 30 gallon, and all i can get locally is commons without ordering, so anything i could find easy if i had my lfs order it for me? never heard of a bulldog pleco, but then again i haven't done to much research on this matter.
sounds like a bulldog would be perfect for you . . . also called rubber pleco . . . look for a latin name of Chaetostoma . . . here is a pic (not one of mine)
that thing looks way cool! how much roughly do you think it would cost me if i were to get one? just as a budget type thing?
no idea, it can be so dependent on where you are and what's available . . . when I have found them in stores, I probably paid around $3 . . .