Q: Good tank cleaners

[Dissident]

Anyone out there keeping Discus in a show tank (not BB) have any recomidations of some good fish that will help with excess waste produced by the fish? -must be live plant friendly.

ATM I have a few red and white fin sharks that seem to do a good job with 4 angels and 10 zebras, however they do not get the food regiment that discus will require. I am not a big fan of loaches but could go there if needed.

[Ardan]

Hi,
a lot of people use plecos.

hth

[Abercrombie6202]

Bottom Dwellers: Clown Loaches, botias, cories
Algae eaters: Bristlenose Pleco, Flying foxes, Otoclinus

[mench]

How big is your tank,and how many discus are in there? I wouldn't go with Otos,I tried them and they were a little to aggressive in sucking the slime coat of my discus..Brsitlenose plecos are the best IMO.Post some pics if ya can

Mench

some good fish that will help with excess waste produced by the fish?

What exactly are you looking for these fish to do? Eat turds ??? Ainta gunna happen....If your concerned with excess fish waste, keep the stock level low.....by adding fish your only increasing the "waste" level


Tony

[Dissident]

ATM i am using 1 bristlenose, 2 FF, and 2 CAE (the CAE will have to go they have gotten to that size). I was more wonderdering if some bottem feeders were prefered over others with discus.

Pic of setup is in my sig, will be stocked with 4 adults. I'll probably add a few loaches and a few more FF since SAE are impossible to find around here.

No I don't expect them to eat poop :P

[cd1000]

I agree with Tony that it is better to keep the stock level down if you're looking for waste reduction only. If you need some fish to care care of algae as well as some excess food, then I would go for some pleco.
I have always been fond of the Candy Stripe Pleco, Peckoltia vittata as they are small and I've never seen them suck onto any fish. They don't bother plants either. Planet Catfish states that the vittata is not a good algae eater, but I disagree with that. They've always kpet my tanks clean. I think they max out at about 4 inches. Your 55 could house a couple of them.
In my experience, plecos get worse dealing with algae the larger they grow. Anyone else seen this?

BTW - your setup looks nice

-Tobias

[Brian-pdx]

I looked for the smallest types I could and ended up with (72gal) 3 bronze cory's, 3 arnold catfish, and 4 otoclinus niger (have another latin name...), none of which get above 2-3 inches. One of the cory's goes nuts at the feeder cone, but overall, they are busy and stay away from the discus. The niger's are hard to find, but I lucked out.