Want to learn more about keeping tanks alage free? Take a look at these videos: How to Control Algae Using Plants: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ABztKoTAJUs.html Multiple Methods to Controlling Algae: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NqTUoA-cgoA.html Want to learn more about some of the fish featured in this video? Check out these species profiles: Bristlenose Pleco: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RRt_tjOKY84.html Mystery Snail: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gWWx2JU_JEo.html Chinese Algae Eater: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1oK1QSzsOuM.html Guppy Fish: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0Lm7p21FJ7I.html Molly Care: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SjnIyxB-mJ8.html Trumpet Snail Care: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VkS9vst8S5I.html Note: I didn't include the siamese algae eater in this video because we don't keep a lot of them and cannot attest to their ability to eat black beard algae. That being said - a lot of people like them for that purpose. Our new shirts can be found at: www.primetimeaquatics.com/merch For the latest in the fish room check us out on Instagram primetime_aquatics Join this channel to get access to perks: ru-vid.com/show-UCYVN7EN0ALL6CE4U7NpMUTAjoin
Not sure why many people hate on snails, they are important inhabitant of any aquarium. I love my whiptail catfish. They are awesome fish and do some cleaning as well
You are the first that puts the bristle nose pleco on top and I agree wholeheartedly. For some 50 years I have these bristle noses in almost every tank. If you never want to clean your windows, buy some bristlenose plecos. No work, no scratches, the glass remains as new. They may not clean out all the algae on the plants but your glass and wood are always grazed off and in perfect condition.
Adore the bristlenose plecos. Kept snails before but not now. Could never keep shrimp alive but adore them. So cute and fascinating to watch. Have both lemon blue eyes and albino BN plecos in my tanks. Brilliant video! Thank you both. Liking the look of the clown pleco. Pretty pleco
otos saved my tank from an insane explosion of diatoms. i swear by them now. also bladder snails took care of all the detail work on my white sand so im grateful for them too
I've really fell in love with the bristlenose especially when they're young and the mystery snails! I can't wait to have shrimp again!! So glad to have learned about the Chinese algae eaters because they're always available in most stores!! A friend had sent me some snowball plecos, unfortunately they didn't make the trip 😭 Hoping we'll try it again someday 🙏 I really like the clown plecos too!! I always enjoy these great list!! I hope y'all are having a fabulous and happy Monday!! Thanks for sharing!!🙏🌿🐟🌿💚
Platys do a real nice job on algae, especially on plants. I had plants in a bucket w/airstone and light for 8 weeks while setting up the 20L, and they were pretty sad looking and had a decent amount of algae covering them, then for at least 4 weeks in the aquatium before stocking it. The platys cleaned up the plants in no time, and I have 2 nerite snails for the glass and wood. Nerites also really love the biofilm that grows on wood in a new setup, and they need to be fed once the tank is cleaned up as they do a marvelous job!
Excellant topic! My black Molly’s did eat hair algae and also picked a piece of dragon stone covered with Blackbeard algae clean. Also some of that thick blue/green thick slime algae they devoured it within 2 weeks. Thank you and happy Monday🙂👍🏻💯
I had heard great things about Nerite snails for eating algae, and I finally got one recently. Wow. It really cleaned up! I was really impressed with how well and how quickly it worked on the glass and decorations! We have a few of the others on this list also in other tanks.
I think you guys definitely should have mentioned dwarf chain loaches. Jason, my experiences so far have been the opposite of yours. lol. All my plecos, including bristlenose, ate algae as juveniles, but straight up ignored it as adults and ate all my plants. My Chinese algae eater, on the other hand has been cleaning the glass, plants, and filters since day one and I bought her as a young juvenile.
I've been amazed at how effective mollies are at algae removal! I had some "overflow" mutt mollies that I dumped in my rainbow tank that was overrun with what I called "yucky fuzz algae" on the plants and hardscape. They mowed through it like a herd of goats!
You forgot my favorite-the hillstream loach. Contrary to a lot of literature it does just fine in normal community set up-does not need high flow and cold water.
Nerites are the best algae eater snail. Ottos are little hyperactive vacuums. I just bought a long fin super red Bristlenose that I’m super happy about.
Thank you Jason &Joanna.. very timely video for me. Having just lost my common pleco in my 125 I will have to replace with other algae eaters. Although I would never wanted a common pleco it came with my rescue group so I had no choice I had to take it with them. The pleco death was my first aquatic fish accident and I don't ever ever want that to happen again no matter what 😭. Definitely want to get something that will be a lot smaller a lot less messy and a lot less of a similarity to a bull in a china shop. I was probably going to have to rehome it anyway because although very well fed everyday it was starting to attack my other fish and that is a definite no-no with me!
Yes there are so many options out there for plecos and other algae eaters besides the common. definitely want to explore many of those 💕 especially bristlenose plecos! it's incredible how many varieties there are and personally I think the more bristly face they are the more adorable they are 🥰🥰🥰 I know I have to be careful with the bruisers I have in that tank. The blood parrots are so gentle with each other and the other fish ( but very Active!)My fire mouth is a juvenile still very small but my three texs cichlids are small, medium(most aggressive by far!) and large and I have to see how they do with other inhabitants. It's going to be a while before anything goes in there with them no matter what because of quarantine process. I've come too far and struggled to keep them alive to introduce unnecessary disease/ issues into their tank.
Gotta love a classic Bristlenose. I just picked up a baby Blue Eye Lemon Bristlenose yesterday, it's so tiny right now! I know it's weird to pick a snail as a favorite aquatic animal, but I think the Mystery Snail might be in my top 5 at least! They always seem to be on the move somewhere, so curious and goofy. It always seems to be the first thing non-fish people notice - even before the fish! I love seeing them take a dive from the top of the tank.
Not a big fan of the bristlenose, and wanted a smaller one anyway, so I have two Clown Plecos in my 20 gallon, and they keep the algae away pretty easily. I toss them some discs every night as well. Only Issue I have with them, is I rarely see them, so I sometimes wonder if they are even alive, lol.
Great fun fish you missed is the Panda Garra (Garra flavatra). Doesn't hide as much as bristle noses and actually eats algae unlike adult Chinese Algae eaters.
I recently acquired a panda Gara for a problem tank. That little guy never stops! It single handedly cleaned 90% of the algae in short order! I can see my fish again! And also finally found another albino bristlenose. Long fin as a bonus! I have one in my other tank and that one is crystal clear!
Molly, nerite and cherry shrimps is perfect for me. Plus mollies and shrimps breed like crazy😂 tried some fancy guppy but they're too fancy and refused to eat algae.. lol I've been wanting to adopt some otocinclus but they're too pricey in my country!
No Siamese Algae Eater?! 😅 My planted-tank was collapsing due to green hair & Blackbeard. I added four and w/in a week, the algae was stripped from every leaf-surface, driftwood, rock & piece of gravel!! They’re beautiful, a joy to watch as they school & clean in the sagitaria, & after a year or so, these reputedly shy fish greet me at the glass. Love them so much I upgraded their tank 50-more gallons to accommodate their future-size!
I don’t think there’s even a spec of algae left in my tank after the great rams horn snail infestation. Would definitely recommend ramshorn snails if your willing to do a bit of culling once their population gets to big.
I love my flagfish for tanks where the other inhabitants are good fits for their personalities. The duckweed munching is a bonus! And you can't go wrong with some bristlenose. Plecos are the best!
Oto's have a tendency to work their way down the tube on sponge filters. I have lost three because of it, so I stuck a piece of sponge in the tops of the tubes and they stay out. But the filters still work like normal. Panda Gara also eat algae. And they will clean up dead BBA too.
Hey friends! great seeing y'all at GCCA swap!!! my clown pleco loves to hide and can never find him lol :)!! If y'all wanna try my snello let me know i'll have a bag with some pieces for ya!! I make it fresh and freeze it.
I am loving nerite snails - they eat algae mystery snails glide right past! The eggs the females lay can be irritating but Ive come to accept them. Have you kept amano shrimp?
all of the pest snails are just patience then perfect.... they explode in population abd then stabilize.... if you can wait for plants to grow you can wait for snails to thin out...
platys nibble on everything in the tank . I recently bought 15 rosy reds and put them in a 29 with lots of sagitaria that is a mat of green hair algae at the top . they've been in it about 6 weeks and there's a lot less algae . I see them tugging at the hair algae sometimes , I guess they're eating it. Happy Monday Guys , you are both looking well , fit and happy , this morning .
Agreed! Only issue is they get big and lazy...they will compete for food and stop grazing. Snails are the most consistent in my book. Ramshorn seem to be the most reliable, but they breed like crazy, so I keep Pea Puffers to feed them to when it gets crazy.
Great list guys. My favorites are still snails, and shrimp. One day when I have the right tank set up I'm going to try a group of ottos. I really like them, but I want to make sure I can have a decent group. Happy Monday guys. Hope you have a great week. 👍❤👍
If your bristlenose isn’t eating algae take a look at its tank mates. Make sure they aren’t too aggressive or large for the pleco. My male bristlenose never ate any algae when he was in with my female red devil because she was just too large and made him nervous
Hi jason thanks for all your info it’s awesome I’m not very tech savvy so I’m asking about levamisole is it the best method for internal parasites? Thanks
I had a couple nerites die in my heavily planted shrimp tank, and didn't realize it. What a mess! But they are so pretty! I have a mob of freshwater limpets in the shrimp tank which hitch-hiked on a plant I got from Petco. They don't hurt anything, and their population waxes and wanes. My larger tank has it's own share of hitchhikers - trumpet snails. I can tell you there's no shortage of those guys around here. I kept mystery snails for years, and after they all passed away, i didn't have any for a while. Last year i got a couple new ones and they tore up the pennywort and my water wisteria plants. So back to the fishy store they went. Thankfully, they will take them back. I never had mystery snails do that before, but i guess there is always a first time. Maybe those two specialized in trimming plants? ha.
You guys are awesome‼️ Which of these stands the best chance to not be gobbled up😱 by 8-10" SA Cichlids (albeit non-aggressive ones) and how many would you suggest for a 240 gallon? THX
thank you i watched the recommended video also. I have a 10 gal. with live plants (I'm very new to the fish hobby) With an aggressive betta and one nerite snail. (we had 2, snails.) the snail is not on the plants much just the glass and a piece of driftwood. I feel we need one more algae eater. we did add FrogBit and red Root to the top as floating plants. but not a lot. Can someone recommend another algae eater? I was thinking of the Clown pleco. or another type of snail. I'm not sure what a good fit would be with our betta he loves us. I'm not sure how he will do with another tank mate. thank you. =)
Suprised you didn't mention Hillstream loaches and Panda Gara as they also consume algae. They also provide a lot of interesting interactive activity within the aquarium especially when they are in groups. The Hillstream loaches remind me of rays and skates found in the ocean.
I want to point out my experience with a small female bristle nose pleco. She was in the 20 long aquarium with my beautiful platinum betta and six neons. She killed my betta. He was lying on the bottom and breathing his last few gasps with a semicircular mark across his side from her mouth. I did read that they can become aggressive, and she did and she wasn’t anywhere near grown. Took her back to the Fish store but that didn’t bring my beautiful Betta back to life. So I think people should think twice about getting a bristle nose pleco!
@@PrimeTimeAquatics This betta was young and healthy but did have a habit of trying to scare those on the bottom. Do I never have a bristle nose or any kind of pleco again
I've got a 29 gal tank with a hair algae outbreak. I've got some chinese algae eaters and striped kuhli loaches on the way. Will they leave my shrimp alone?
Hi can you tell me what to do with black beard algae it has plagued my tank for ages I've tried many things but nothing seems to help, I have plec's shrimp, tetra and tiger barb who all get on ok
Keeping nitrates at 20ppm will help as well as controlling the amount of light the tank gets. We have tanks with BBA, but it never grows out of control if we properly manage those two aspects.
I have an algae eater and recently it has started to panic, frantically swim to shade when I turn on the tank light. It’s just a led light that came with the tank. It’s never done this before just something new. Any thoughts?
I have a 20g with gold fish I have an albino algae eater I got him from a lady he seems lazy or only comes out at night... I have a 20g Glove fish tank I bought two baby spotted algae eaters is that enough? can you put sails in with algae eaters? I have two 3 g betta tanks and I also have one baby algae eaters in there because I keep getting a lot of algae in them I also have plants in the betta tanks. I have a few small snails like baby ones must of came in with the plants are they ok with algae eaters? can bigger snails go in there? Thanks
What algae eater is best for a high PH African Cichlid tank that is also a cool looking fish, and is a piece of wood a must for them? I have only smaller Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika. Multi's, Lelupi, Leptosoma, Brichardi Pulcher, and 3 Syno Multpunctatus. in a 75 gallon tank. The Shell dweller Mult's and lelupi are in a 30 gallon soon to be replaced with a 72 bowfront.
I have read online that all Plecos and especially the Bristlenose require a tank with wood in it? Anyone have any experience in keeping then in a tank without ? Thanks for the advice everyone
Florida flag fish was my last hope. Unfortunately they cross breed with my goodeids (Z.Tequila). Damm! Snails and shrimps are food (Rhinogobius!) including Amano shrimps. I think I put algae eating gobies aka Stiphodon in it. Luckily I know how to make algae (external).
Goldfish eat algae too. I put a chinese algae eater with 2 goldfish, the CAE is dead because the goldfish eat EVERYTHING that they can get. They even tried to eat plastic plant & of course they eat real plants too.
What would you suggest for an oscar tank where you don't quite want something as big as a common pleco? Very open to other types of plecos (I have heard bristlenose but I'm having a terrible time finding one I don't have to have shipped to me.)
@@PrimeTimeAquatics How about a rubber pleco? Just out of curiosity. It's the one ofther smaller spcies besides clowns iv'e been able to readily find. (I've heard rubber and rubberlip are 2 different species? Not sure if that's true or which type) Also thanks so much for responding! Love your videos!
