this is my first post here, and actually I was directed here from robyn's website (which I find very interesting and helpful by the way!)
my situation is this.
as of right now, I have a 22-gallon tank and I have a fire eel on hold for me at a tropical fish specialist pet store (I am getting a larger tank of course when my eel grows bigger) that I am picking up in a couple of days. I want my fish in this tank to get along with eachother and hopefully not eat eachother... but I desperately want a full-time-algae-eater, not one that will give up algae as it gets older.
I was misinformed and mislead by a small pet store across the street from where I live, and was told a clown pleco would do the job. so I bought him to eat algae and also because I love plecos so much but am afraid to get a much bigger one due to my not wanting to put my eel in danger of being eaten or hurt, and also because my tank wouldn't house it comfortably. anyway. I usually trust the man who works there, but I did research online (as I really should have done before hand, I am KICKING myself right now) I find out that clown plecos don't actually eat algae at all. which is fine, I love the little guy and I certainly can cater to his needs (feeding, etc) but I do really want a fish that will eat the algae that's growing.
SO. after all that, here is what I want to know.
what fish would you recommend as an efficient lifetime algae-eater that will not harm my eel, and hopefully will not itself be eaten by my eel as it gets larger? I want it to be a peaceful community fish as well, and it must be able to fit in a 22-gallon tank comfortably.
I have done a lot of research for the fish I have and are getting (save for the little pleco, stupid me), but as far as finding a fish I don't know exists... I'm not very good at that.
so please help me with some ideas or suggestions! I would really appreciate it :) thank you for your time!
There really is no perfect algae eater. Ottos probably eat the most algae mass for their size but are small fish so your eel would eventually eat them I suspect. Common plecos are the next most likely to eat algae but they grow huge, one to two feet long. Siamese algae eaters will eat some brush algae but don't really eat the hard attached green algae. Plus, they can be boisterous. Shrimp would be eaten by the eel. Snails might work. The Japanese trapdoor snails are sold for ponds but they can be kept in aquariums. They don't grow large and are very slow breeders compared to other snails. That mostly leaves the medium-sized plecos (the clown pleco is in that group but leans towards meat more). Of those, the bristlenose pleco is the easiest to find and pretty good at eating some algae. They're not perfect though. Plecos can be territorial but I think your clown pleco may tolerate a bristlenose pleco.
If you reduce the lighting on the tank or add floating plants, there will be less algea in the tank. My 20 gallon is covered in floating fern and duckweed and has almost no algae for my bristlenose pleco to even work on.
Did you see this table on my site:
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/algaetable.htmGood luck!
you know, that table really helps me, I think I'll get a couple of ottos :3
you're site is so huge, I'm not surprised that page got away from me :P
thank you so much, I really appreciate your imput!
I would worry about your fire eel eventually eating the ottos. For now though, they should be okay. I don't know much about fire eels.