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Will corys eat algea or will I need a little cleaning crew?

I don't know if it was in this post or another one, so please forgive me if I repeat something.

Someone told me that plecos are great for algae in the tank but can get quite lazy and do not want to clean the plants... mostly if you have plastic plants I think. Snails and plecos do not eat just algae either though. Especially snails, they need more than jsut algae to thrive and exhist. So it wouldn't exactly be replacing one for the other. Plecos also count as a fish in the tank and will take up about 5 or 6 inches(depending on the size of the individual fish)so adding a 5-6 in pleco in an allready stocked tank will make some people a little testy with you. I learned that the hard way.... So also keep this in mind.



Christina

I was considering 6 as I've got bigger fish schools in there already. I might go 8 if I can find 8 healthy ones at my LFS. They'll probably just be common bronze corys as I'm sorta new to corys. As a quick decision change though, I was wondering if I could pop a bristlenose or rubbernose pleco in there in place of a snail? Thanks

That's cool what kind of cories are you going to get? How come you decided 6? Would 8 work? I am thinking of putting 8 in my tank because they jsut look so cute in bigger schools.

Well as a semi-final decision (unless I'm swayed somehow) I've decided on 15 ghost shrimp, 6 corys and 1 apple snail. Thanks for you're help and suggestions.

A Bristle nose pleco stays small (5 inches) and I've heard people that have say that they are great algae eaters. They are quite a bit hardier than otto's and do not need to be kept in groups. I'll probably get one for my 30 once I get my common pleco outta there and in to a bigger tank.

Last edited by crazyred at 01-Nov-2005 11:52

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I like ottos a lot but for some reason I have not had good luck with them. IMO they are not the most hearty of the algae eaters. Maybe it had somethign to do with me being a little less experienced at the time I had them. I have thought about retrying them though. They are quite adorable.



Christina

Ottos are probably the best algae eater, they are ravenous and will clean everywhere. Plecs are great glass skimmers but often get lazy and wont bother getting algae off the plants, siamese flying foxes are great for awkward algaes that others wont touch, but they dont really do glass.Shrimp are very thorough but have limited appetites and will often confine themselves to grazing certain areas.

Depends what you need.

Last edited by longhairedgit at 31-Oct-2005 20:38

Yes do feel free to chime in. I've never heard of a chinese algea eater being in one of my LFS ( I live in saskatoon saskatchewan canada) but I have heard of them. Ghost shrimp would be good with some cories and MAYBE a apple snail as my friend breeds them. Are the combos okay or will the cories and shrimp be fighting for the food that I drop them? Will the snail fight with the hrimp for algae? It's tough to say because I only have a 30 gal.

Have you looked at siamese algae eaters? Ghost shrimp love algae and they scavenge. They are also a lot of fun to watch. Plus you can have about 5 for every gallon of water in your tank and they don't add to your bioload. One other possibility would be mollies they love algae and are pretty hardy. If anyone can think of anything better please feel free to chime in.



Christina

I understand what you're saying but I'm still wondering what I could use for algae

Corydoras catfish will not eat algae. They should be fed with some type of sinking tablet or pellet as a staple diet, along with possibly leftover food from tankmates and the occasional live or frozen treat. It is not healthy for cories to be treated as garbage disposals, i.e. making them dine solely on food that the other fish have not eaten.

Algae-eating fish are up to you. My opinion is that fish should be kept because you like them, not because they do a job. There are no freshwater fish that perform "essential" functions in a fish tank anyways, as their keepers can perform any task a fish can and more.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Cories are more of a scavenger fish. I do not think that they eat algae. They eat the pieces of fish food that fall to the bottom and shrimp pellets that you give them. They are lots of fun to have and quite adorable as long as you take care of them. They are pretty easy to take care of as long as you keep the tank in good shape.
Please add more comments everyone cory addict are you out there?

I hope this helps

Christina

I know there have been lots of questions concerning the stocking of a 30 gal. but I've got some of my own A bit of history, I've got, in my 30 gal., 2 angelfish, 3 tiger barbs, 3 electric yellow cichlids and had a pleco but recently lost him. I'm ridding my tank of the angels and the cichlids and then restocking my tank. I waswondering how I would best stock it for a heavily planted community tank?

a fourtnightly change of 25-33% would do fine.

Also one more question, with a planted 30gal. will I have to do weekly water changes or no? If so, how much water should I chage? I just want personal opinions because I realized there's lots of different ways of keeping a planted aquarium and I just wanted you're guy's personal input

I put in a little bit of salt when I top up the tank

If you put the salt in when you top off the water, it will eventually build up to unsafe levels and yes, hurt the fish in the long run. Salt does not evaporate out, nor is it filtered out, so the only way to remove it is to physically take out water.

If you keep a low level of salt, it will not effect them. Of course you'll get a whole slew of people telling you that you don't need salt, and it will only hurt your freshwater fish and yadda yadda yadda. I've had great results with a low level of salt in my freshwater tanks, along with the 45 some odd freshwater tanks at work, even with *gasp* cories and *gasp* angels and *gasp* cardinals.

It's like any other water parameter, change it slow and keep it constant and you have nothing to worry about except the benefits of a good looking fish tank.

Sure, the fish'll probably get along just fine w/o the salt if your tank is maintained well and is stocked carefully, so it's really up to you.

Just remember they are not tolerant of salt

I put in a little bit of salt when I top up the tank just for anti-diseas and over-all welfare for the fish. Will that drastically affect the bronze-corys? Also will corys eat algae or will I need a little cleaning crew for that?

Cories are great, most common species are easy to feed, confident little fish. Just remember they are not tolerant of salt. Good little scavenger for the bottom of community tanks.They enjoy company though, so get a few.

hear are some examples that would work

Bangle loach need to be in groups of 4
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/queenloach.xml

bronze cory need to be in groups of 6

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/bronzecat.xml

yoyo loach need to be in groups of 4

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/yoyo.xml