# Algae eater



## Phantom663 (Mar 11, 2016)

I am breeding guppies, and I decided j am going to get an algae eater to pick up all the poop. I was deciding otocinclus but I found a website that says they will die quickly without perfect care, and can die from shock. I maybe could get Cory catfish but I don't know if they will eat the guppy fry. I looked all over google and I can't find anything, does anyone know some types of catfish/algae eaters that won't eat the fry and r easy


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## Strawberry12 (Mar 6, 2015)

Nothing will eat poop. "algae eaters" eat algae, as their name suggests.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

There is NOTHING that eats poop. If you want it gone YOU need to remove it with siphoning. 

If you don't like poop an algae eater is the WORST thing to get as they are all MASSIVE poop machines for their size (compared to similar sized non 'algae eater's).

Don't get an algae eater, it will raise ammonia/nitrates which is not good for fry growth and development.

Otos aka otocinulus are delicate fish that have a high mortality rate due to the horrid way they are caught in the wild-something it dumped into the water that stuns/paralyzes them to make theme easy to catch, then they starve from time of capture onward as they don't gt proepr food, stores stupidly expect a wild fish to eat flakes. They need clean cycled tanks (do not tolerate ammonia/nitrite or high nitrates) minimum20g or larger and to be kept in shoals of 6 or more to reduce stress (they need to be in groups). Its best to put them in well established densely planted (cycled!) tanks that have plenty of diatoms (aka brown algae), they'll also need supplemented diet, blanched veggies are good.. but again otos will do nothing for your poop, no algae eater will, they just more MORE poop..


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## Phantom663 (Mar 11, 2016)

Isn't poop and algae eater the same thing? What does algae look like then??


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## Phantom663 (Mar 11, 2016)

Anything you that gets rid of poop??


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

A siphon. 

I also wanted to agree that algae eaters produce huge amounts of waste, as they are constantly grazing. I have had otocinclus and a bristlenose pleco before, and never again.


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## Strawberry12 (Mar 6, 2015)

Algae takes many different forms, but it is most commonly a film growing on the glass or ornaments. It's an organism, for lack of a better term. Not a waste product. You can Google image search and see. 

Only cleaning the tank gets rid of poop.

For example, I have a bristlenose pleco. I love him dearly, but occasionally I will find poop strung from plant to plant like Christmas lights, just from him.


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## emmajane71 (Apr 11, 2016)

*Algae Eaters and Salt*

I have a tank that I started in January. I want to add an algae eater not that I know I have algae for them to eat. My question is that I also add aquarium salt to my tank and will an algae eater survive with salt. I have a 25 gallon tank and do a 5 gal water change once a week and add one tsp salt to the new water.


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## collinskev (Feb 20, 2016)

Fish waste can be broken down faster if your water is clean, but the only way to really remove it is to siphon it out of the tank.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

emmajane71 said:


> I have a tank that I started in January. I want to add an algae eater not that I know I have algae for them to eat. My question is that I also add aquarium salt to my tank and will an algae eater survive with salt. I have a 25 gallon tank and do a 5 gal water change once a week and add one tsp salt to the new water.


Do you know what kinda of algae eater you have? Catfish species (otocinclus aka oto, corydoras aka cory(cory as sometimes mis-sold as algae eaters, but they do not eat algae), and plecostomus aka plecos) do NOT do well with salt as they are hide based they do not have scales, and the salt irritates them. Salt + snails...not a good mix either. They may survive but they'll be uncomfortable.
If you have a Chinese or Siamese algae eater (or a pleco that is not a bristlenose) return it to the store as they get HUGE.


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## emmajane71 (Apr 11, 2016)

I do not have an algae eater yet. I am looking to get one but I do put salt in my tank so I was wondering if they would survive with salt. I usually do water change weekly but due to busy schedule, the last two changes went two weeks between and that's when the algae showed up. If weekly water changes will keep it at bay and I won't need and algae eater, I won't get one, I was assuming I needed one.


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