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Hi i need something to eat algea in my 15, i do have plants,and small fry that i dont want eaten.

Earlier in the week someone suggested a BN pleco but my lfs wont ship them unless you"special" order them,and that can be a bit pricey.Well today they are getting Clown plecos,but the throw-back here is they are carnivorious plecos,and dont eat algea.So i was thinking a common pleco or a snail any ideas.

a common plec will do well but i dont have loads of algea in my tank and i dont want it dieing from starvation,yes i know you can also feed them sinking wafers,but the past 2 bottom feeders i had died of starvation. they were a common pleco and an otto.i dont have loads of algea all over the tank it is only on one side but there is a lot, and it is green,and brown algea.also a snail would help clean up the tank and eat flakes and other stuff right?
the qualifications have to be eat algea and not die from starvation,not eat live plants,not eat fish,clean up algea and help aid in the already existing cleanup crew,my 3 albino cories this means eat algea and other stuff.
Any ideas?
Thanks ahead of time!
Cichlid Kid

Well, I HIGHLY recommend against the purchase of another common pleco, as easy of a solution as that may sound. Most of the time, if your algae eater is dying of starvation, you don't normally have enough algae to qualify an algae eater as being a necessary addition. Also, a common pleco will outgrow your tank in almost no time, so I wouldn't even bother if I were you...

I would recommend either a couple ghost shrimp or a Malaysian Trumpet Snail. I don't believe the shrimp will eat your plants, and I know the MTS won't hurt them. Normally, if you look around the live plant tank at your LFS, you'll see a few MTS hanging around. Both should do the trick for getting rid of the algae, and both should survive without a problem on the extra flakes/food that make their way through the cracks...

PM/email/msg me if you have any questions/comments regarding me or my knowledge or if you want me to read a thread.

to late i alreADY bought a common.

You could always take the "common" back. I too would suggest either the malaysian trumpet snail or shrimp, although I don't see mine eat very much off of the tank (my bn takes care of that). The shrimp/mts will eat the left over food in your tank and the mts is cool because it gets down into the gravel and cleans up.
Check out this link where you can get a bn for relatively cheap and shipping cost won't kill you...
http://photosyntheticaquatics.com/default.php?cPath=48&osCsid=bcf5551d0b10b1c2b1286aa0159a40b6 I have ordered a total of four from this guy and they all arived in good shape. I like the albino better myself. But like I said before...It's up to you!