[NJFisher]

Hey Guys,

I have an established 29 gallon tank with 5 Multies in it, I am starting to get a lot of algae. Any suggestions for a algae eater tankmate? I have gotten mixed stories from the lfs. One person told me I would have an issue with cats eating my multies and another said the multies will rip apart the cat. Any suggestions and hopefully experiences?

Thanks!

 

[Potus]

I think it's a 50-50 shot. But every time I have tried to put a pleco with cichlids they eventually decide he is not welcome. Usually this occurs after he has done a great job cleaning the tank for them.

 

[SandBagger]

I have no experience with nerite snails....but I trust the opinions of those on this site that do and swear by them for algae clean up. Do a forum search on them and you'll see what I mean.

 

[cbbub]

I have Siamese algae eaters now in my two Tang tanks. One which is a 10 gallon multies tank. They get along great with all the fish, the look cool and swim around a lot, acting as dithers, and they eat ALL algae, even the red/black hairy algae and the hard green spot algae. They are also known as Flying Foxes. Just make sure when you buy them that they are not Chinese algae eaters, which look almost identical but aren't as great at cleaning. You can tell by the single horizontal black stripe, if it runs all the way through the tail fin, you've got the real deal. Pretty inexpensive too.

 

[NJFisher]

Definately will look into the siamese algae eater, how big will he get and is there anything particular to place in there for shelter? Maybe some rocks or driftwood?

 

[DJRansome]

I have not tried Siamese algae eaters as yet because I was told they need a bigger tank and like to be in groups. At the time I had a 36" tank.

Some of us have mixed results with nerites, although I love the zebras. Noki just posted that they did not clean the algae well and died in 3 months. Mine did an OK job but died in a year (supposedly their life span) in my peacock tank, but a lot less than that in my Tang tank. Prov has good luck with the olive nerities, but these did not do any better for me.

Plants for me are the best algae control so far. BN have a 60% survival rate for me and do pretty well.

Because synodontis and multies are both bottom dwellers, I was advised that the synos would bother (but not kill) the adult multies so I have never tried the mix.

 

[NJFisher]

Thank you for the input. I have started the search for the siamese algae eater, they seem to be hard to find. In relation to plants, would i have an issue with plants in sand??

 

[prov356]

I've got olives in over a dozen tanks and all do extremely well at cleaning the tanks. 80 cents each on Aquabid. PM me if you want to know who I ordered from. They're huge and keep my tanks spotless.

 

[NJFisher]

Update: I got what I thought was a Siamese algae eater that I think now is a Chinese. And multies do not look happy, in fact they look like a swarm of bees protecting the hive.[/img]