10 of The Best Algae Eaters For Your Aquarium

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At Aquarium Co-Op, we focus on your aquariums. We specialize in freshwater tropical fish, aquatic plants, and the overall betterment of the freshwater fish keeping hobby. Our goal is to help you with your first pet fish and graduate you to an advanced aquarium hobbyist. If you'd like to take it to the next level, subscribe to Aquarium Co-Op and check out our weekly videos.
Cory McElroy is employed by Aquarium Co-Op LLC. He also owns Aquarium Co-Op LLC. Therefore, all content is sponsored by Aquarium Co-Op.
#Aquariumcoop #Aquariumfish #Fishtank

[@AquariumCoop]

*Take the conversation to our Facebook Group! Many Aquarium Co-Op team members are active there during their work days and can answer questions. Plus, you can talk with other hobbyists in our community. Post pictures and videos so you can show us what you're up to. :)* facebook.com/groups/AquariumGroupSupport/

[@michaeleber4752]

I was first in the hobby in the late 70's. Talk about an empty period of time. You had to buy several books to understand the many different specie types. You had to rely on the local store owner and pray he knew enough about the specie you wanted. And the internet was about 22 years away from the start of common use. I had built a 7' x 2' x 2' aquarium filtered with a HOB on the one end of the tank and built mostly out of plywood! What a time. What a time.

[@bruceyung70]

Snails are definitely nice to have imo! They are silent and unsung heroes in my tank lol. I had same snails in my same tank for over 20 years...one generation to another..!

[@Ishiisan]

great video! adding crushed egg shells are the old school way to keep your snails and shrimps happy :)

[@Anom_Ali]

I'm so happy you finally featured the Borneo sucker. I loved my reticulated hillstream loaches, and the Borneos are such a cool spotted cousin.

[@xardoz58]

I love the panda garra. They don't hide as much as bristle nose plecos and are great for medium community tanks.

[@amazingaquaticsandexotics3030]

seconded. they are always doing something

[@jaxxonfishroom]

Same here lol

[@locoNsane]

Nerite snails all the way. Though nerites are mostly known as prominent escape artists, I also found out that the horned varieties prefer to stay underwater all the time, hence a better option if your tank doesn't have a full lid cover. They also have another cousin, the septaria porcellana, which is just as effective yet also stays underwater all the time.

[@MrChocoLate69s]

What horned ones do you suggest? I've got a non-top aquarium and i'm trying to find some good spot algae cleaners, i'm terified of them escaping

[@MIKoenig44]

Really enjoyed this one; especially with Irene's extra advice on each one 😊

[@AquariumCoop]

Glad you enjoyed it! ~ Zenzo

[@GirlTalksFish]

Awww, thanks so much!

[@coltlyles3892]

One of the perks of living in Arizona is that our tap water containes around 15 ppms of calcium and magnesium I also have rocks like lava rocks that help with adequate mineral diffusion my mollies love it

[@caewalker9276]

I found out the other week that Tilapia fry go nuts for algae. They got right in amongst my Java moss and cleaned it right up. I was truly amazed.

[@nateveith9812]

Breeding otocinclus has been easy for me and they are by far my favorite algae eaters. Hoping to breed more species of otos and paraotos soon.

[@D_Rock-ho7pf]

Love how much you and the rest of the co-op embrace snails.

[@cwillox4253]

Always enjoy your videos Irene, you’re really positive and give really good information

[@conorbullerman3733]

I bought Dwarf Hairgrass from you guys and it’s growing so well. Roots established and almost doubled in height in the past few months. Definitely better than PetSmart plants 😊

[@amazingaquaticsandexotics3030]

surprised that stiphodon gobies and panda garra were not mentioned. both are suitable for tanks under 30 gallons, eat lots of algae, can handle unheated tanks whilst being pretty docile and quirky

[@jaxxonfishroom]

Exactly I have panda gara and there incredible 😊

[@christianridley8865]

I have Stiphodon gobies and found them to be great fish but individually they don’t eat very much. I do recommend them, but not as an algae control solution.

[@alanaballoon5661]

i once had a single panda garra that went to work on my glass as soon as i got it

[@marcioasenjo8306]

Can we put Panda garra with neocaridina?

[@jaxxonfishroom]

@@alanaballoon5661 same here I did a video about them lol

[@bgs9man]

Great communicator with great info, thanks!

[@terrybentz6508]

I love all of your videos. You are to the point but detailed enough that if feel like I understand everything. Thank you so much!!

[@AquariumCoop]

Glad you like them! Thank you! ~ Zenzo

[@GirlTalksFish]

Awww, my pleasure! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@darrylmoore5847]

Excellent as always.

[@RabbiSpruceTech]

Good to see you back in good health!

[@RenegadeLK]

I have half of these in my 75 gallon. Plus a few Panda Garra. I haven't had to clean the glass or objects of algae in forever.

[@Carabaraloo]

Panda garras are my new favorites! Just discovered them, and now I’m in love.

[@jaxxonfishroom]

Great video and information, my favorite would be the panda gara 😊

[@Laura-ed5kf]

SAEs are my favorite! I have four, and they’re beautiful schooling together. Workhorses, and I can see how they COULD bully other fish to the food, but I have bigger cows in my tank that get the food first.

[@theangleraquarist]

Panda garra are severely underrated…

[@TOOMUCHSAUCE91]

Lemon plecos are awesome 👌

[@ianfire-water685]

I just got my first bristle nose and it's a rock star! Hope you are feeling well!

[@TheLiddojunior]

Interesting tip! Sailfin Mollies can used in a saltwater aquarium for algae control as well

[@jaxxonfishroom]

Definitely lol

[@orangef3802]

Great job Irene! Your videos just keep getting better!

[@jgvet08]

I love your videos!

[@thomaspethic6220]

Thank you ever so much!!!

[@batbrains187]

🔥🥰 this is very informative, thank you 🥰🔥

[@anoobis_]

Ramshorn snails multiply fast. They're excellent at eating soft algae and dead leaves. I barely have algae in my tank, but it looks ugly when they're everywhere on the glass. And they lay eggs underneath leaves and on the glass panels. Get nerites or amano shrimps instead.

[@johnwilkerson9804]

I got ten for free and I am bagging them to hurry up and breed lol. I got a mix of colors and I really enjoy them.

[@anoobis_]

@john wilkerson the guy I bought mine from gave a few extras too 💀 They were everywhere in the tank so I moved all the fish out to reduce waste. Most of them eventually died off from starvation. They'll breed faster when there's sufficient food and you can never overfeed them.

[@greenflower360]

You just reminded me that I used to have a lot of ram snails. I think the two assassin snails ate them all

[@TheSunIsMyDestroyer]

mollies are great, they ate all the algae as well as all of my plants, there goes my precious tissue culture

[@LevisShellsTailsFinsandmore]

Awesome!

[@pokejuice1495]

I have neglected my bristlenose sooo much and he is still as beautiful as ever. A bit shy for a pleco but a great fish.

[@legionaquatics]

Great video I was just thinking of getting a hair algae eater for my tank but I want to figure out the cause before getting a fish or shrimp to eat it. What usually causes hair algae? It growing on my floaters.

[@AquariumCoop]

They’re generally caused by an excess of certain nutrients (such as iron), too much light, or not enough nutrients (to match the long lighting period). Therefore, try decreasing your lighting period, increasing fertilization, or decreasing iron. Siamese algae eaters, amano shrimp, molly fish, and Florida flagfish are good candidates to use as clean-up crew. You can also help them by manually removing large clumps using a toothbrush. If you want to read up more on how to combat various forma of algae, here is an article that's on our site. ~ Zenzo www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-algae

[@legionaquatics]

@@AquariumCoop thanks zenzo this really helped 👍

[@gardockis.playground]

The most overlooked alage eater … California Black Worms… they love munching on algae especially string type algae 💯

[@GarrestheWarrior]

I've got 2 nerite snails, and 3 real Siamese algae eaters. Doing a pretty good job so far, keeping algae under control. Today, I just added 3 amano shrimp, which should help take care of anything in the books and crannies that might be missed otherwise.

[@bryanreilly4117]

I bought a house with a koi pond. I'm pretty good with freshwater tanks but this is my first outdoor situation. All cleaned up for the spring and I added a 25 gallon diy bog filter which will be better than what I inherited. I'm in the northeast so it does get cold in the winter but would adding a plecco (or other fish) for algea control be a good idea? I wetvac'd a ton of slime out of it so hoping the big keeps it clean but planning ahead as I can.

[@englishtime5327]

Stiphodon gobies are great too

[@OMG_FL]

Another big problem solved thx aquarium co op

[@scottbrigner6950]

Would like to see a video like this for tanks with more aggressive fish like cichlids

[@Seven7ails]

Prochilodus is my fave though I have a xl tank

[@TheLiddojunior]

The Borneo sucker loach is my absolute favorite, but not sure if they impact algae in the tank. Snails really do the best at tackling algae from my experience.

[@ct2136]

I love my Borneos, but got to agree, they are not great at removing algae. Think my platies do a better job

[@AndrewFishman]

@@ct2136 Not all sucker mouths are algae eating, they are an adaptation to fast water. Loaches are predominantly micro predators. The Hill Loaches are no different. They love invertebrates, worm and stuff that would usually be found on the bottom or caught in the flow on rocks or wood, like worms.

[@bradhurst6834]

Otocinclus and snails are honestly the best for algae if you have both of these almost all algae type will be covered, I've had Siamese algae eaters and unless starved they wont eat it, they will eat your plants tho, shrimp are meh, mollies are setup specific, flag fish cold water, plecos again they may just choose to not eat it. Snails and Otos will destroy algae so quick its unbelievable.

[@jeffreyboster6899]

My favorite algae eater is the fiddler crab! I think they can give Amono's a run for there money.

[@Flacosego]

Any suggestions for tanks w turtles Snails seem best but wondering what algae eaters are best for a turtle tank

[@somdov]

"HI I'M IRENE FROM GIRL T- Aquarium co-op"

[@marchean83]

Mollys also make a great natural skimmer☝️

[@WesCrockettCA]

I had some issues with 2 separate bristlenose Plecos so I switched to Otos... I have 2 and they are extremely skittish, but they are great fish for my small 10g tank. I will be moving everything to a 29 gallon tank and, after it settles in, I will be adding more fish (some more tetras, a snail or two and...) including some more algae eaters. I'm not sure if we will just get more Otos or if we will go for something like a Hillstream or other. Taking suggestions! :D

[@jaxxonfishroom]

Try panda gara very active and not shy,I did a video on mine lol

[@dalyo96]

In my 30gal I have 6 ottos some amanos and nerite snails and they keep everything perfect

[@Sharkweek178]

The reason your otos are skittish is because they are a shoaling fish that need to be in a group of at least 6. When they aren't, then they're scared and stressed all the time. But be careful about adding otos to a new tank. Immature tanks often don't have enough algae built up to sustain otos.

[@WesCrockettCA]

@@Sharkweek178 I supplement with algae wafers. I'll probably try two more otos to see how they do.

[@andrie0122]

@@WesCrockettCA i have 5 in my 20g they are very active and not scared even when i put my hand in the tank unless i get really really close to them.

[@NantThananan]

L183 is another cool one.

[@saralouise2776]

I think I'm about ready to start adding fish toy 90 l. I have never had fish before white fungus all over the place so any tips would be appreciated

[@JasonSouthSoundSound]

Dwarf albino bristle nose, best algae eater ever. One of those did a much better job than 4 Ottos and 3 Nearite snails for me

[@hypnicjerk7696]

Do you have any suggestions on an algae eater that would do well with an asian bubble bee catfish and two shubunkins?

[@amazingaquaticsandexotics3030]

theodoxus snails also deserve a mention. think of a ramshorn snail sized nerite that can have offspring in freshwater, thrives in unheated tanks and has some nice shell patterns. only downsides are the fact that they only eat algae and are hard to source unless you locally collect them from their enviroment which is fast flowing rivers in places like the UK and the rest of europe

[@squiddysan]

Here in Croatia we call them the Danube nerite snail (dunavska nerita), lots of people breed them [here] and they're even available in some fish stores. I've had quite a few in some of my smaller tanks (

[@anthonyjunker7486]

All of my tanks are full with only algea and detritis eaters! Livebarers, bladder snails, malaysian trumpet snails, amano shrimp, neocaridina shrimp, hillstream laoch and kuli loaches.

[@KatieDeGo]

I got an SAE and I really wish I could catch it. It ate a bunch of my cherry shrimp. Ugh (yes I fed it all kinds of different stuff- it got a taste for shrimp)

[@20Msilva10]

When I first started out in the hobby a few years back, I knew I was over-feeding my tank when the trumpet snail population exploded. Lol. Great algae eaters and great at eating extra food....but definitely an eyesore if there are too, too many. 😅😂

[@jjkidwell]

Hillstream loaches ❤

[@mothergoose7314]

My panda Garra is my favorite algae eater.

[@DEADLYANTDX]

I got ramshorn snails that hitch hiked on some plants I bought. My tanks has been struggling with algae that my Otos can't seem to keep up with. I'll just say I don't have this problem anymore...

[@Donovan9009]

Can you mix borneo's with hillstream's?

[@sshum00]

Wait, are you guys the same folks over in Washington? I went there to get some plants!

[@AquariumCoop]

Yes, we are Aquarium Co-Op in Edmonds.

[@vivekvs1992]

I love borneos..unfortunately my hillstream loves to bully them.. So much so that I can't find one of mine.. I have isolated the rascal to another tank... He is chilling around with some shrimp now

[@serpentsilver6323]

For some reason my ram horn snail like to snack on new Anubis leaves if they don't get enough food, and if they do get enough they multiply like crazy... 😢

[@Teddzworth]

I’m so glad I only got one ramshorn. I can put it in a tank by itself, feed it wafers and leave it be. I was devastated when I noticed it started chomping on my trophy Anubias I’m growing on a piece of driftwood lol

[@FishRfun]

O recently adopted a golden zebra loach. He gets along great with all my fish. They don't know what's wrong with him. He won't move for like a day, then be normal for a few hours then just lay there. Are they good algae eaters. I have several other algae eaters

[@stephanies9689]

I have assassin snails, so could not buy a bunch of expensive snacks that might clean up a little algae before they're eaten, and couldn't reduce water flow, light, or food, so I was left with fish options for an entirely out of control algae outbreak in my 10 gallon. I keep a low tech jungle of crypts, but they grow slowly and so consume nutrients slowly. It's probably a soil thing, too many nutrients, I might try pond soil topped with aquasoil next time. I had 3 otocinclus catfish come in scrawny as twigs and began helping me out immediately. Within a day, I had leaves showing through the algae and the oto were starting to show their little pearl bellies. Well, 10-14 days later, I had to start them on Repashy Soilent Green to keep them fed. My tank looks awesome and the fish hang out towards the front of the tank frequently, despite being able to completely disappear if they wish. Tl;dr if you get Otocinclus, get a secondary food source just in case they do too good of a job, keep their bellies full. They're solid fish if you've got the environment for them

[@shakeval]

Definitely add some ghost shrimp in with my snails, cheap and hungry

[@aquariumcockpit9949]

I’ve got blue green algae, covering my 125 at the moment and it’s driving me crazy.. How do I get rid of it? I manually remove as much as I can, and it creeps back.😢

[@DLMyth2]

Love Bertie snails but when you have a female one you get eggs everywhere. They’re a pain to remove. While my clown pelvis I haven’t seen mine for months. Another alternative to Amano shrimps is the Malaya shrimp. Same appetite but smaller and they can breed in fresh water. I started off with 5 and now I have over 100.

[@amazingaquaticsandexotics3030]

your comment reminded me of a red racer nerite i had named bertie bc of an autocorrect mistake

[@LucianC137]

amano and nerities are the most efficient.

[@yermailmain206]

What I’ve learned from papa Corey is that if you have a algae problem not to try to fix it by buying more fish but to actually control it yourself with maintenance🤙🏽

[@LazyPixcell]

i hope somebody helps me out, one of my algea eaters had a small white spot at 1st it was barely noticable, but now its covering its entire head, i think it starting to spread to its entire body. i dont know this is normal. i took pictures of the fish. still figuring out a way to share it online to show people. been asking around but no one has responded.

[@-Random101]

It’s ich most likely, from what I’ve heard, Watch videos how to treat it: Basic: Treat isn’t aquarium salt, most likely your entire tank is infected but out him in a different area (temporarily) and dose him more. Use methane blue etc, Luke’s Goldie’s have a good spotlight on it.

[@LazyPixcell]

@@-Random101 thanks ill try that

[@-Random101]

Alright

[@Lizardlafemme]

I just planted my 75gal tank south American severum and not eating so far.

[@AquaticDomain]

What about ghost shrimp? They're cheap and breed in freshwater.

[@johnjwedrall4290]

👍👍

[@lourdesgallegos7508]

I have always had plecos and have not found them to be efficient at algae removal. Maybe it’s just me, but they do not seem to earn their keep. 😂

[@TheFantasyBookWriter]

I agree

[@johncameron4194]

Yup free snails 👍

[@kythuatvuonnam1078]

OK bạn 👍👍

[@dax8753]

amano shrimp keep the tank spotless

[@budte]

Don't the snails crawl out of the tank?

[@willoyd614]

Chinese algae eaters are more aggressive when they haven't been fed and when they're full size they prefer meaty diet

[@CinciNJ5316]

Also they get territorial and bully other fish

[@HoangOB]

humzz...it seem like you have a very healthy population of hydra...worst shrimp nightmare

[@mattgray9297]

That’s footage from my tank, not the Co-Op. And actually, they’ve all seemed to disappear since. I also have a huge colony of neocaridina and all seems to be fine. So far…

[@StarTexaspets]

Beware pest bladder snails eat corydoras eggs

[@billmeyer4773]

My Amazon swords do fine and they don't bother them.😮

[@technomad9071]

Please use metric

[@bookmouse2719]

Plecos destroyed my plants.

[@kevinlundin4013]

Bs

[@randyhaight7202]

So... what you're saying is if I buy plants from you they're going put snails in my tank.

[@null.dev.]

Borneno*, Not Bornea. I saw one of your vids not so long ago, probably from when you just started not so long ago and knew nothing. Now you attempt to , as most youtubers; come across as "so knowledgable". Well, keep trying.

[@mattgray9297]

The Borneo loach (Pangio shelfordii) is a Southeast Asian species of cobitid fish. It is a river fish found on the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo

[@the_bloo_guppie]

How do i get rid of scuds in my aquarium

[@AquariumCoop]

We would recommend getting fish that will eat the scuds. Most fish will. Also, the scuds can be beneficial to your aquarium (like a mini clean-up crew). ~ Zenzo

[@the_bloo_guppie]

@@AquariumCoop thank you very much

[@angelad.redcay738]

Would love to have scuds. Where did you get them? Can you buy them?