plecos with cichlids???

[jah29]

My tanks starting to outbreak with brown algae really bad, probably from keeping the lights on too much... are there any types of plecos, or algae eaters i can put in a 55g mixed mbuna tank??

 

[jclyde13]

Almost any pleco that wouldn't get to over 12" would be fine with them, but there is no guarantee that it will clean off the algae. Also, keep in mind that plecos and other algae-eating fish are not aquarium maintenance workers, and require the same amount of attention as any other fish. The best solution is to just buy and algae scrubber.

 

[mike dunagan]

mag floats are great

 

[gazelle]

it may be hard to find a species that eats brown algae

 

[flipstylex]

keep ur lights on the min 4 hours a day, and u wont need a pleco imo

 

[jah29]

yeah i got the algae on the glass under control.. its the algae on the gravel and rocks, thats killing me... the lights are on a timer from 10am - 11pm, i'll just bump it down to 4 hours a day...

 

[Otherone]

Actually for Brown algae, reducing the lighting is incorrect it is the opposite. Plec's aren't the answer either - snails eat brown algae.

heres a link to eveything you need to know about algae outbreaks:
http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/

 

[mike dunagan]

if you go with snails get MTS with africans

 

[Blue2Fyre]

I keep MTS with my mbuna without a problem. My mbuna love to grave on the algae that grows on the rocks so I just leave it there. When they have algae to graze on they seem to be less aggressive towards one another.

 

[dawnmarie]

I added 4 Rubber lipped pleco's to my 240 and they scrubbed the rocks clean of brown algae in no time.