# what kind of algae eater should I get?



## Yoshiyoshi (Nov 13, 2010)

I have the Mini Bow 5-Gallon Aquarium Kit with three goldfish for about an year now. I'm considering adding an algae eater since algae grows pretty quickly and the water gets murky...

Half an year ago, we bought two apple snails since the pet store guy said they eat algae and that the goldfish I have are docile... but that was a lie. They were slowly eaten to death... *frown I have no idea why that happened... So now, I'm wondering what to get. I did some research and apparently the siamese algae eater is tiny yet effective. I don't have a big budget; is it a cheap fish?

Also, are there any other things I should have? I have gravel with artificial plants, two medium-sized rocks, the filter that came with it(tetra micro-filter-- super duper quiet!) and the incandescent bulb that came with it died so I put in a CFL bulb (the spiral type). 

The last question is, how much I am supposed to feed them? I have the tetrafin goldfish flake food and I feed them about 8 flakes twice a day. Is that too much or too little? If it's too little, I'm scared that the goldfish will eat the new algae eater...


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## edward (Nov 9, 2010)

Hey there. 
I have a couple tanks set up, the smaller of my 2 tanks tends to get a build up of algae. 
Recently i bought two dwarf catfish or 'otto' as they are called. 
They are doing a good job of cleaning the tank. They only grow upto about 5cm big! 
Along with the algae they already eat in the tank im putting in a tetra algae wafer. About 2 wafers twice a day. They are only small fish so don't need a big amount. 

Make sure you're doing regular water changed on the tank and cleaning the filter. 
Clean the filter in the already extracted dirty tank water. This allows the good bacteria to stay in the filter and is important for a healthy tank.

Hope this helps abit.


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## Yoshiyoshi (Nov 13, 2010)

Thanks for responding.  

How much are these otto's? I'll probably just buy one, since it is a 5 gallon tank. Do they really need the wafers to survive? They won't survive off the algae that grows?




edward said:


> Clean the filter in the already extracted dirty tank water. This allows the good bacteria to stay in the filter and is important for a healthy tank.


I don't get what you mean by that... The filter I have has two components, a black screen thing that probably just screens out the biggest particles, and a microfilter sack thing that has activated carbon in it. You're saying that I should clean the WHOLE thing inside the dirty water? But then it won't get clean...

The filter i have is similar to this one (Product Catalog)


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## dirtydutch4x (Jun 16, 2009)

price on the Otto's will vary by location mine were $4 each but got 6 for $20 at a mom and pop shop I found. Get more than one though. they will live fine off of the waste but the wafers are good for their diet. out of the six I got I still have five and they are fine so far, once in a great while I add a wafer.


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## Yoshiyoshi (Nov 13, 2010)

dirtydutch4x said:


> price on the Otto's will vary by location mine were $4 each but got 6 for $20 at a mom and pop shop I found. Get more than one though. they will live fine off of the waste but the wafers are good for their diet. out of the six I got I still have five and they are fine so far, once in a great while I add a wafer.


Well, I already have three goldfish, only about 1.3 inches long. Should I get more than 1 since my tank is only 5 gallons?


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## edward (Nov 9, 2010)

Sorry for the late reply! here in the UK an Otto would cost about £3 on average. 
They eat algae that might already be in you're tank and also a wafer food! 

Cleaning any filter media in the already extracted 'dirty' water will clean most of the grime from the filter but allow the benificial GOOD bacteria to stay in the filter!


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## Yoshiyoshi (Nov 13, 2010)

edward said:


> Cleaning any filter media in the already extracted 'dirty' water will clean most of the grime from the filter but allow the benificial GOOD bacteria to stay in the filter!


*Conf* Hmmm I still don't get it. If I clean the filter INSIDE the dirty water inside the aquarium, then I can't clean the filter.... Don't I have to wash it with hot water and stuff to remove grime that develops on the lip and the outside and stuff?


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

In a tank that size I wouldn't put anything else in it. Your goldfish actually needs a bigger tank, but are probably stunted as it is. Depending on the type of goldfish, the minimum tank needed for one is 15 gals and 10 gals for each of the others so you would need a 35 gal tank.
The best way to control your algae would be to clean it off yourself. And do water changes at least once every 2 days.

For cleaning your filter, you take a bucket, add tank water to it, as your doing your water change, swish the pads in the bucket to get off all the grunge off of them. Just take a paper towel and wipe the inside and the lip to get the stuff off or a new scratch pad used for dishes, but it must be new and not used for anything else. Make sure there is no soap additives in the pad. The filter pads don't need to be cleaned completely or replaced unless they are falling apart. Put back into filter and its ready to go.


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## Yoshiyoshi (Nov 13, 2010)

susankat said:


> In a tank that size I wouldn't put anything else in it. Your goldfish actually needs a bigger tank, but are probably stunted as it is.


That's not what the guy at the pet shop said..... -.- 
I can't afford anything else... Actually, my goldfish look very happy + healthy... so I guess it's good.



susankat said:


> For cleaning your filter, you take a bucket, add tank water to it, as your doing your water change, swish the pads in the bucket to get off all the grunge off of them. Just take a paper towel and wipe the inside and the lip to get the stuff off or a new scratch pad used for dishes, but it must be new and not used for anything else. Make sure there is no soap additives in the pad. The filter pads don't need to be cleaned completely or replaced unless they are falling apart. Put back into filter and its ready to go.


Thank you for explaining it in detail for me. So I'm guessing the water I use in the bucket, I put back into my aquarium, right?


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## Cole (Aug 18, 2010)

Yoshiyoshi said:


> So I'm guessing the water I use in the bucket, I put back into my aquarium, right?


No, that's the dirty water and debris from the filter that you are removing.

The reason you may not want to rinse your filter material out in tap water is because the chlorine will kill the beneficial bacteria in your filter. These bacteria convert the ammonia from fish waste into nitrates, which are much less dangerous to your fish. Hope this helps. 

Getting back to your original question. I would also recommend getting an oto or two ("otocinclus" if you want to look up more about them). They are very small and prefer to be in groups. I have two in my 6.5 gallon tank and they always hang out together. Other popular algae eaters, such as Chinese algae eaters, Siamese algae eaters, and plecostomus, will all get too large for your tank. But, they are nice if you ever decide to get a larger tank.

As far as feeding goes, you only really need to feed you fish once a day. Feed them enough that they will eat it all in a few minutes. Algae eating fish can eat only algae if there is enough of it, but they do like algae wafers or fresh vegetables once in a while. They may also eat any flakes that your other fish missed.


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## peteyboyny (Oct 18, 2010)

I would go back and read up on Mechanical, Chemical, and Bio Filtration. If I believed everything "The Guy At The Pet Shop" said...my tank prob would be dead right now.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

Yoshiyoshi said:


> I have the Mini Bow 5-Gallon Aquarium Kit with three goldfish


You have been given some very bad information from your LFS. I'm not jumping on you so please don't take this the wrong way but I cannot believe your LFS actually told you all of this. WOW!

First off...this tank is way to small to house goldies. Sry. You don't have room to add any more fish/inverts in the tank. I can only imagine what the water parms have to be like in there currently. Goldies are messy fish and produce a ton of waste.

Any invert you add in this tank will be harrassed by the goldies and eaten as you have already seen. Oto's as well will not survive in this tank. I would highly recommend against adding anything else to it. And as Sue has already mentioned, it is best to try an locate a bigger tank for them. Sry.

And in response to DirtyDutch...the Oto's also will not live off of fish waste. They don't eat poo.


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## megademon (Nov 17, 2010)

hmmm... you can't have any tropical fish, Otocinclus, in your tank. I'm guessing you aren't using a heater so you can only have cold water fish in there. All you need for your tank is a bottle of beneficial bacteria which is like $4 for small bottle and weekly water changes.


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