What fish eat waste in aquarium?

[cichlidfish]

FYI in Japan and China the tilapia farmers deficate in the tilapia ponds.... They have found lets just say... Black dots in the tilapia flesh

That doesn't mean its good. Thank god I won't be eating Tilapia there. That is a good way to pass parasites on to other humans.The reason maybe is that a lot of plant matter isn't fully destroyed and there are some nutrients in that. Tilapia in the wild will eat herbivore poop for this reason. Hippos provide the best source. I fully agree w/ Duane on in his post too.
Plecos also don't eat fish waste. They only eat algae, wood, or meaty foods. No aquarium fish will ever keep your tank clean for you. For the lazy there is no way around doing water changes and filtration. You can only reduce the amount of water changes by under stocking.


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[Oddball]

Niger cats were classified as omnivores until 1998 when Burgess added the moniker of detrivore to the species.

 

[ascarbo27]

all fish may accidentally eat a turd. get a gravel vac, fish shouldn't eat poop

 

[Warborg]

all fish may accidentally eat a turd. get a gravel vac, fish shouldn't eat poop

I see goldfish go after it all the time thinking it's food

 

[RD.]

However, highly digestable prepared foods that are high in proteins leads to the presence of unmetabolized nutrients in the feces of species that require less proteins than those contained in the processed foods. Feeding schedules for mixed comm populations with mixed metabolic rates will lead to fish with slower metabolic rates evacuating nutrients due to being deprived of sufficient time to fully process the nutrients before the next feeding.

Exactly. Add to that no commercial food is 99.9% digestible to any species of fish, and there will always be some nutrients that certain species can glean from fecal matter.

 

[ascarbo27]

I see goldfish go after it all the time thinking it's food

you said the key word, thinking

 

[BIRD_MAN]

RTC


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[Libpete]

Was going to say the 'Hose Pipe(fish' but seems others beat me to the joke!

Pleco's, no. Snails, no.

 

[pops]

exactly!!!

 

[Bottomfeeder]

There are certainly detrivorous fish that will eat a turd or two over the course of their grazing and bottom-sifting. But there are no fish that you can keep that will keep your tank clean for you, and any waste they do away with by eating will be offset many times over by the waste that they, themselves create. Most aquarium waste isnt from feces, anyway, it's from and ammonia produced by their respiratory system and urea, I believe.

Uneaten food, if in excess, will certainly dirty up your tank, and there are fish that will feed on it. Plecos are a commonly cited example but unfortunately many of the more generalist species grow quite large. The smaller, more brightly colored species are often somewhat more specialized feeders and some are quite sensitive. Which species you choose for this role depends on the other inhabitants of your tank.

The best bottom cleaner I've ever had is actually my paradisefish. She isnt a bottom dweller, obviously, because she's an air breathing anabantoid that dwells mainly up in the water column, but on multiple occasions, I have observed her making a neat little pile of refuse she finds on the tank floor, and then sifting through it for edible material.

But, no matter how thoroughly your fish try to tidy up their living quarters, there is no stocklist that relieves you of being the primary caretaker. Fishkeeping is dirty business, and sometimes it's a lot of work.