Best Algae eaters for a Planted Discus Tank

[Fishlvr4]

What do you regard as the best algae eaters to put in a Planted Discus Tank and what kind of numbers per/gallon? I have been thinking Siamese Algae Eater, Crossocheilus siamensis but a LFS advices the Chinese Algae Eater, Gyrinocheilus aymonieri.

For beauty what about a Imperial Zebra Plecostomus Hypancistrus zebra. I know is a Pleco though but some report success with these in Discus tanks.

Thanks

[Don_Lee]

I would go with bristlenose plecs, they do not get very large and do a pretty good job of cleaning up algae. The zebra plec is more of a a meat eater, although they are beautiful they do not do much cleanup IME. Otos are good little workers too, I would stay away from CAE's as they are said to get aggressive.

Don ;D

[shalu]

About two months ago, I decided to restock my 100g heavily planted tank with a complete algae crew. My tank has been virtually algae free ever since. I haven't even wiped the front glass for over a month, thanks largely to the bristlenose pleco. Initially, I had some damage on the sword leaves, but the bristlenose quickly figured out when/where I feed the fish and it does not go hungry anymore and the plant damage stopped.

I have:
5 SAEs(don't get the Chinese Algae Eaters, like Don already said), after they finished with other algae, they even cleaned up the black brush algae.
10-18 Otos, well, I can't count more than 10 at any given time, but more might be hiding. They keep the plant leaves clean.
1 bristlenose pleco, the work horse for cleaning the tank walls.
1 clown pleco, 1 candy-striped pleco(Peckoltia vitatta?) and 1 rubber mouth pleco, they all do some cleaning on the tank wall and the drift wood.
1 american-flag fish, amazingly effective for hair algae control.
1 rosy barb, Picks at hair algae some times.

I am close to Nirvana with my tank right now, if only I can get a crew to trim the plants for me ;) I am thinking of getting some apple/mystery snails to mow the glosso lawn for me :D .

[xen]

Hey there,

I have 3x SAEs in my planted discus tank. They do a pretty good job at cleaning up most algae, but they do leave some of the (short) algae on my swords stayed where it was.

Last week I added two royal whiptails to the cleanup crew. The difference they made is remarkable.

Their thoroughness is a nice match to the SAEs' enthusiasm. The SAEs had still left a few plants badly covered. Now they're clean, and a freakish bright green under there ;-)

Besides, I think royal whiptails are a beautiful fish, and their prehistoric, mantis look make a lovely visual contrast to discus.

Here's a 'before' shot. It's not really 'before' (I took them both today), but this is how all of the leaves on this swordplant used to look (last week).

Cheers!
John

[xen]

Here's the 'after' shot.

This plant was *covered* in short algae about a week ago. Picture every leaf looking like the one in the photo above.

Royal whiptails rock. Love 'em ;-)

Cheers!
John

[xen]

One last pic - royal whiptail ;-)

Cheers!
John

[Chris McMahon]

Hey Xen - Royal Whiptails are definitely in my future. For my 5x2x2 460 litre I'm thinking;

Algae Clean-up Crew -
4x Royal Whiptail Farlowella (Sturisoma Panamense)
10x Dwarf Otocinclus (Otocinclus affinis)
4x Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis)

Snail and gravel patrol -
4x Kuhlii Loach (Pangio kuhlii)

And as a water condition indicator -
10x Rummy nose tetra (Hemigrammus bleheri)

And finally for a bit of color and movement -
10x Cardinal Tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi)

I'd also like some Glass or Amano Shrimp, but couldn't find a local source. The otos have a tendency to die after initial purchase so if I can end up with 6-8 I'll be happy.

I'm also flip flopping between the Kuhlii Loach and Clown Loach. I'd like the Clowns for their behaviour but they may be a little boisterous for the discus once they get some size (up to 12").

PS - my spell check offered Xena as a correction for your name. Does it know something we don't? ;D

[xen]

Hallo Chris,

I'm a big fan of clown loaches, myself. But I'd also be a bit worried about keeping them with discus. They *are* crazy, after all.

Kuhlii loaches are just gorgeous, but I've never done very well with them. I think you would want to have a very fine substrate to make them happy.

Re: "Xena".. my g/f many years ago started a bunch of my friends off playing "cross dressing Quake 2." Basically people in a clan I played with jumping on servers with drag names. It was surprisingly annoying ;-). Anyway, you guessed it, I was Xena ;-)

Cheers!
John

[rdeis]

In 60 gallons I was doing very well with 10 otos and 3 SAEs.

[hexed]

Av8tor,
It would really depend on what is going into your tank. If you are going to add fish to it or not. I have (2) 55 gallon tanks planted with one pair of discus and 5 little rams and 2 rummy nose tetras and a cory catfish. I added one SAE and after he ate most of the algea he turned onto the fish. He chases ALL the fish around the tank including the 2 adult discus. In the other tank I have about 16 young discus, a cory catfish and one SAE. That one does the same in that tank as the other one does. I placed a bichir into that tank and the SAE stopped attacking all the discus. He attacked the bichir but that eel bite back. Now everything is fine in that tank. My first tank, I cannot place the eel in yet because the med size SAE would be eaten.
Summery, If you are going to place fish in the tank then get something other than a SAE. I had a placo in my tank for a long time but then he got too big and scared the discus so he had to go back to my LFS. Best of luck!
Frank

[Wahter]

Make sure you get the real SAE (Siamese Algea eater); some of the false ones don't do nearly as good of a job on algea and are aggressive.

http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/)

SAEs won't eat all types of algea either - mostly only the "black brush" type. If you have brown, green spot, or green hair (filamentous), the SAE won't touch that very much. I've seen them nibble at the green fur and very little on the blue green cyano types.

Here's page with a photo of several algea eaters:

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/saephotos.html

Hypancitrus zebra isn't a good algea eater - also it hides a lot. Definitely a pretty fish though. Very hard to find these days. :(

Here's a nice site on the zebra (L46):

http://www.qems.biz/zebra.htm

If you have green spot algea, it's better to get a bristlenose/ bushynose to deal with that. :)

HTH,


Walter