The Best Algae Eaters For Your Aquarium Fish Tank: The Good, The Bad, and The Useless.

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Let's talk about the best algae eaters for your aquarium fish tank. Algae can be a common problem in fish tanks, and having the right algae eaters can help keep your tank clean and balanced. We will rank the algae eaters into three categories: The Good, The Bad, and The Useless. Let's dive in!
Should out to @englishtime5327 for the excellent comment on our plant video.
#fishaquarium #algaeeater #aquariumtank
00:00 Welcome Back
00:25 The Bad
01:30 The Useless
04:00 The Good
06:11 Gobies
06:46 A very nice Loach
07:33 Catfish and Plecos
10:14 Our Favorite
10:58 Feeding Frenzy! (lol)
12:03 Special Announcement
12:44 Viewer Insights

[@thefishfiles]

Hey Everyone. We wanted to mention Flag fish are bred in Florida for the trade and were out of stock at the time of the show, so we had to shoot without them…they are terrific nibblers of green filamentous algae shoots, and we will give them some time on the next taping!

[@boebender]

This is an excellent video reference!! The information is comprehensive and echoes what you’ll see on many other platforms and books. I appreciate your time and experience putting this video together. Great job!!

[@barblenarf]

Randy! You're a great speaker, thanks for the info! Just planted my carpet seeds for my first planted tank. 10gal bowl. Putting a list together so this was helpful!

[@BrendenEngelbrecht]

This is an amazingly well-produced video - thanks so much!

[@donutHOLE27]

I had 5 neocardina shrimp in my 20 gallon originally. I like to let algae grow on the black wall of my aquarium for the fish to pick at if they want to, but 1 of my shrimp hatched at least 20 new shrimp and now they are making quick work of that wall. You probably just need a large number of them to be “useful” in an aquarium

[@douggiles7647]

Very informative video and straight to the point, you've earned a new subscriber. I hope to see your channel grow!!

[@greatandpowerfulldile155]

Thanks for the help on this problem

[@mickeysr5817]

Great video Detroit

[@andyx6766]

Great, practical advice. Thanks!

[@thefishfiles]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Outside-InAquatics]

12k views in 4 days that impressive man. Only In the intro and I can already tell the video deserves the views

[@thefishfiles]

Thank you! we hope you enjoy it :)

[@joewest1336]

Plants plants and plants defeat algae more then anything especially floating ones 👍

[@mrzmorphine]

Agreed

[@randyhegstad5754]

Agree but I think even floating plants do a nice job controlling algae - I am thinking of duck weed. (Of course they stifle light for the planted species - I am assuming that's why you're not a fan of them). This more "holistic" approach your advising with live plants (assuming not with too much light or too much fertilizer or too much CO2) is almost another video. Hmmmm....

[@joewest1336]

@@randyhegstad5754 duckweed is a must my tank is full of it every two weeks I will get a comb and scrape out half of it to let some light through, as it gets pretty thick and blocks the light out indeed lol

[@AllenHChang]

my experience was, that rosy barbs are very effective against filamentous algae, one eosy barb is enough for a 2 ft tank. Black molly is often used in marine tanks to control algae too. The problem with SAE is sometimes they can become aggressive and are a headache to catch if your tank is heavily planted.

[@quki3]

Just found your channel and I love it! Thanks for sharing knowledge ❤ keep the info coming!

[@plazeeebo]

I can't believe your channel doesn't have more subscribers!! These are amazing videos

[@thefishfiles]

Thanks for saying so! Hope you stick around :)

[@yvonnebagaman7340]

I have had a lot of success with farawalla twig catfish and whiptail cats. They do really well at keeping my algae under control. These species are a bit harder to find, but they do a great job

[@ryantait177]

Thanks

[@reelgal06]

Love the Amano shrimp!

[@larryhenry719]

I have been using nerites snails for a while now and they do a awesome job

[@homefishmedia]

Wow so cool for your showing

[@thefishfiles]

Thanks for watching!

[@muhdhariez5844]

I have sw tank,i put mollies and he doing great job 👍

[@bridgetrooney6450]

The Siamese Algae Eater species name is actually Crossocheilus and Siamensis is actually a subspecies. The other species members look similar (and aren’t the Flying Fox, different species as you mentioned) and some are better algae eaters than C. Siamensis. In my experience, C. Langei and C. Reticulatus are algae eating powerhouses and more effective than C. Siamensis. All of which are peaceful and are great in community tanks. Also, Hillstream Loaches aren’t the only Loaches to eat algae. But Sewellia Lineolata (true Reticulated Hillstream) do have a different body from Gastromyzon Zebrinus (Striped Borneo Loach shown in the video). Although my favorite algae eating loach is the Panda Loach (Yaoshania Pachychilus).

[@EKr33ger]

The molly was clearly the first to try the moss. I've found molly to be very effective at keeping algae at bay on plants, rocks, and other decor.

[@cookedkabbage]

So true, and then the barbed was the next to have a nibble! I like how he ignored those and only mentioned the siamese algae eater for his purpose that they're the best the algae eaters. xD

[@afiqmohd6450]

Tq for this infomation for algea eater. This make me help to buy the best algea eater.

[@thefishfiles]

Happy to help

[@vivienleigh4640]

I had a Silver Flying Fox (Crossocheilus reticulatus) and he was fantastic as far as algae eaters goes, including hair algae. Looks like a Siamese Algae Eater, but has a black dot where the tail fin starts instead of the black stripe. He was extremely territorial though. Any fish that searched for food in the substrate was an enemy (especially the ones of his own species). And both The Siamese algae eater and the Silver flying fox get big. Mine was about 15 cm (6 inches).

[@DzimisP]

Hello. I just discovered your channel and subscribed. I already like your content, and I'll be back for more. Thank you.

[@randyhaight7202]

Finally an honest list. I had a tank of nothing but mollies and they never ate algae, not even one time.

[@Four-of-Six]

@ 5:40 mins. Those snails lay eggs in your tank, white tiny spots all over your aquarium. Hard to get rid of those spots which are very hard, looks like large grains of sand. The eggs will not hatch but some do, most of them will not. I had a couple that did hatch in my tank.....

[@TheFiretiger20]

maybe u had a perfect environment for them to breed

[@Noah-hi3nm]

Hi there, enjoyed your video. Wanted to share that I actually have bred Oto's. Just to preface, I had no idea it was going on nor how to recreate it , but it happened. Shared on reddit with some photos too! I guess I was just lucky but I had a very heavily planted (dutch style) planted tank with 2 otos, some cherry shrimp and some chili rasporas. One day I almost freaked out because I thought I had hydras (had them once, was not fun to get rid of). Looked closer, and turns out it wasnt hydras stuck to the glass, but baby oto's!. All in all I counted about 21. Out of the 21, about 5 made it to adulthood. Apparently it's pretty rare for Oto's to breed in captivity, but just here to share that it definitely does happen!

[@IceBox666theone666]

We bread otos in EU everywhere, have a look at some EU fishkeeping forums for infos how to.

[@BadRavenFPV]

I have had Amano Shrimp larvae survive to adulthood in freshwater, 4 from one spawn. My tapwater is pretty hard, but still, very much an outlier event. I was widely called a liar, but happen it did. Even showing photos of juveniles against adults failed to convince some! The female produced such a huge quantity of larvae the tank went cloudy with them, and is still alive and OK, and has spawned many times since, with no survivors. No known reason to help it happen again, just chance.

[@reddytheorangefish5837]

My best guess would be that you have some other species such as wild type neocaridina, ghost shrimp, or (unlikely) whisker shrimp or malawa shrimp. It is unfortunately a common occurence, shops trying to pawn off cheaper shrimp taht will breed in freshwater as real amanos.

[@timmy_4209]

Check out the Farlowella catfish. I keep them in my tank and they are phenomenal algae control fish!

[@gomorel5866]

I keep two types of snails in my ponds and aquariums i have never have to scrub off anything.. Excess food and plant matter are well taken care of.. I often have to sacrifice a few fr population control

[@user-fq7tv2lo6e]

Great list. Just would have added thr common pleco in the no no section

[@randyhegstad5754]

Actually we thought to add a pleco, not the common one (usually trinidad) cause it grows a bit large, but we were thinking rubberlip pleco or bushynose pleco. Except we are putting a list of "scavangers" together and decided to add the plecos to that video.

[@jeffersonborbo5905]

Depending on what kind of community you have, i have a monster community and i have a sailfin pleco as an algae control and i feed it algae wafer if there's no algae. Also, sailfin plecos will not attempt to suck any bottom dweller tankmate so sailfin plecos are the best for me...

[@FairmoundAquatics]

Nice video😊 Just love our Honeycomb ancistrus. As long as they are young, they do a fantastic job keeping that glass clean😉👌

[@patriciakloeppel9863]

new subscriber loved this video will be back for more videos

[@souffle420]

I found those fancy shrimps barely do any sh¡t to algae, so I went to my local fishing store and bought live bait… which is wild shrimp locally procured from paddy field. They don't eat hair algae, but they do clean up the bottom of my tank along with those molies 😂 so not a good algae eater, but they're good cleaner for any tank

[@craigathonian]

In all my years of keeping aquarium fish, i was quite shocked at one species that i adopted from an owner who was threatening his wife, that he was gonna flush them down the toilet. At that time i didn't have any fish...just planted aquariums. As we all know, 'just plants' also means all kinds of algae. After introducing them into the aquarium i didn't have to do my weekly algae cleaning anymore. This fish was a Platy....and i'm not talking about the family in general, of which i have had many varieties, but they wouldn't be on this list. It has to be the "Sunset Platy" There were about 15 to 20, various ages/sizes, but they all cleaned up the 30 gal. tank in a weeks time. I was shocked ! Only because of the fact nobody in the professional hobby ever mentioned this one variety. They also never stopped or got board, of which i've heard can happen with a number of "good" algae eaters. One detail i noticed was that the younger fish were meticulous at cleaning delicate plants like the moss's & Myriophyllum's. In the future i might try out the "Gold Platy" since they are the closest looking genetically. On another note, it's very important to not overfeed the Amano shrimp with any food, as they will stop being good algae cleaners. Thanks for a great video, it reminded me of a few species that i forgot i wanted. 😎

[@XtremeChiliPepper]

Agree about the Platys - they are 'hunt and peck' eaters. Cleaned the plants, rocks, ornaments, everything but the glass!

[@arepenguinsawesome2279]

Otos have been bred in captivity, FYI. There are even a bunch of videos on it.

[@fanyoktavia1703]

ask your hillstream loach, at 7:3) is the one at botton get ick/white spot? cos mine have that thing n i try to treat it with indian almond leaf but its die after 2 day. Or is that just a normal spot not a disease?

[@thefishfiles]

Spotted pattern is normal for these guys and easiest way to spot signs of ich if you think there is a spot on the body is to check the tail. If no ich there and fish is acting healthy most likely not ich

[@joshuahawkins2743]

Butterfly loaches are awesome first time I saw one i thought it was a fresh water sting ray or flounder of some kind

[@Fishaddict1970]

I agree but I couldn’t get mine to live past 2 months …. Had 3 different times all died …. From thriving to dying and have plenty of algae for them idk ???

[@nigelroscorla8807]

Ancistrus are amazing in my tanks

[@Dall5000]

Surprised no mention of ramshorn snails. Never had an algae problem because of them.

[@thefishfiles]

Those are great snails for algae but we don’t wholesale them because too many pet stores and their customers complain about them taking over the tank…I should look into them more sometimes a species gets an undeserved reputation.

[@dareqmaynard1551]

What about rams horn snails? In my aquarium they clean any algae that shows up

[@XtremeChiliPepper]

From experience (and a couple other videos details that), the main difference is they will reproduce in fresh water, but the Nerite snails do not. When you see a 'clutch' of eggs, you will have a 20 more snails. Before you know it, they will be everywhere, and then you have to give to a friend or sacrifice.

[@joeimorttan4103]

Blather snails and amano shrimp made my nano aquarium spotless in a mather of three days

[@piplupcola]

I have gold algae eaters in my fish tank and after I put them in my tank has never been cleaner. Even the little hide tunnels I placed in there which was covered in algae became completely clean in a week

[@everydaylanre]

Florida Flag Fish aka American Flag Killi are the numero uno Algae assassins! SAE and Otos are pretty good too, but not touching FFF.

[@thefishfiles]

They're amazing. They should have received a mention on our show; we didn't have them in stock during filming. Next week, they will get the praise they deserve!

[@Interceptorconcepts]

Oto is the best at clearing. Took two days cleaned every bit. Once they are full they become lazy.

[@thefishfiles]

Ha. Same.

[@sicilianotoronto]

Will the Rubber Lip Pleco eat Amazon Sword Plants? Apparently Bristlenose Plecos do.

[@jademoon9540]

don't otocinclus breed in leaf litter filled water?

[@myownmyown3617]

U missed black molly. They are excellent algae eater!

[@cristinalizar1693]

He did mention them…

[@paypatay1]

"It'd be nicer if you subscribed." 😅. I subscribed.

[@jampiecoetzee5158]

thats a cool setup of fish add like 10 of each great tank setup of cleaners hahahaha

[@idkidk2011]

hi! how do you prevent your fish and shrimps to jump out of a tank with no lid?

[@jeffreymeeks6035]

get floating plants and lower water level

[@karlirose88]

Any recommendations for an algae eater that is turtle tank friendly? Definitly mollies would be safe but I’d like a bit more algae control

[@user-kw5mw8jp8o]

Hillstream loach as long as you have some rocks or live plants

[@Tortismilk]

Had a bristle nosed pleco in my turtle tank and he stayed alive for a solid half year and i havent had an algae problem with him

[@cuthbertdionisio8253]

hi, can you put pleco or otocinclus in 1 tank with turtles?

[@johnhasert123]

Turtle snack ...

[@Moi-xg2xw]

Imo, SAE and otocinclus are the best algae eaters. Stock them well (in terms of quantity to tank volume ratio and tank setup). Avoid aggressive tankmates (oto especially can get spooked easily). Feed them just enough and sparsely, when they have no more algae left to eat (difficult to do in a community tank).

[@Moi-xg2xw]

Anyways, SAE are jumpers. I only keep them in a tank that have lid or net above it.

[@bencheeeeese]

I breed Otto’s ! Super easy once you know the secret. I have refined the process over the years but not worth breeding for profit

[@Moi-xg2xw]

Based on my own experience, oto prefers healthy and heavily planted tank, driftwood to hide and munching on, and definitely no aggressive tankmates (I even dedicate a tank just for oto). And yes they do breed.

[@blackthidot]

What is the huge shrimp in the mini tank on your right?

[@thefishfiles]

That’s a “Barbie Pink” Lobster: www.aquariumfishsale.com/products/barbie-pink-lobster It looks like we are sold out :(

[@akvasvet]

👍 👍 👍

[@factsoverfeelings1776]

For Mollies.... What do you mean by a "pinch of salt"? How much per gallon and what type of salt?

[@thefishfiles]

Two ounces to ten gallons kosher or natural salt or marine salt. no salt w additives like iodine.

[@bethanybarron6084]

I had some otocinclus breed in 1 of my tanks. They unfortunately didn't make it as there was something wrong with the tank, but I did get them to breed xx

[@Evangelon]

In my opinion, the American Flag Fish does a better job at clearing up algae than the entire list.

[@everydaylanre]

Big fact! I put 5 in my 75g and the tore up ALL the hair algae in 2 days.

[@thefishfiles]

Totally Agree! Wish we had some in stock, But we should have mentioned them during our recording! Good call.

[@angelajeanes6980]

People in these comments man! There's so many factors there's different types of algaes. He's basically showing you a list of what to use so you don't get an algae issue. There's going to be fish or species that are better at removing a problem then versus ever having that problem.

[@danielmelgoza2093]

I have a 20gal tank with a betta. What other fish can I add?? I had a couple ghost shrimp but my betta killed them so what would be a good mate?

[@nurrr2041]

Snails?

[@randyhegstad5754]

Ghost fish, feeder minnows and guppies will be killed and eaten by bettas, but anything peaceful and not small enough to fit in your betta's mouth would work. In fact all the algae eaters mentioned on this show would work, along with live bearers (platies, mollies, guppies), and tetras. Maybe not barbs or cichlids - they can nip those fancy fins.

[@jordan98127]

I just added some tetras and kuhli loaches to my betta tank. they don't seem to be bothering each other. get a few of them and make sure there's some plants or something to hide in

[@alexhall6641]

I've seen 10 inch plecos at my local fish store

[@angelahansen86]

Unfortunately I got nerite snails for my tank and they don't care much for the algae, but they love eating my mopani wood and leaving wood coloured poops everywhere

[@snikerdoodlefox3979]

ottos less than 5 bucks?? *cries in 21 per otto where i live

[@TiaraDalmeida-hf4zp]

My oto from my local fish store is usd$1.10 each. And I live in Singapore, far away from South America 😮

[@DahLekKnight]

~2.31 USD/otocinclus here in South Korea at big-box stores.

[@sharkbitesback2749]

My LFS sells em for like $3

[@Claya94]

We sell them for $1.99

[@honkeydonkey1401]

18 AUD in Australia, which is probably 10-12 USD

[@GarrestheWarrior]

I use 3 Siamese algae eaters (real ones), and 2 nerite snails. Rarely if ever, do i need to clean out any algae. 20 gallon tank.

[@edmonmuli266]

Is apple snail good algae eater?

[@jimmystewart-bh3bx]

THE BEST ALGAE EATER I HAVE EVER HAD IS GUPPY GRASS THE ALGAE NEVER GETS A CHANCE TO GROW

[@east.coast.herpetology7104]

I actually know someone who’s breed otto’s some older german woman who visits the mom and pop fish shop I work at

[@randyhegstad5754]

You are right - and I can import Singapore bred otocinclus as of a couple years ago. Our wholesale company only brings in wild otos for a few reasons - first cost, also they are more active for some reason that tank raised, and we try to support the Colombia Wild Species programs where it makes sense. I must have said that you can't breed otos in the video, which was totally wrong and I didn't catch it on the edit, they are hard to breed, but not impossible.

[@angelmist4253]

I quit trying to keep pleccos because no matter what I did they didn't survive. I switched to snails.

[@llorakbretz]

guys just comment for more expiditions with heiko

[@randyhegstad5754]

Funny - I have to tell you I personally will never know anyone that knows more about freshwater species and World geography than Heiko, but those expeditions with Heiko - at least the one and only I went on - was not a picnic. Very big personality there and lot's of hacking with a machete....and spiders. But shoot, I would do it again.

[@llorakbretz]

@@randyhegstad5754 yup and Heiko even encourages aquatic trade cause he had seen how humans change the landscape and is afraid that those fishes will go extinct

[@ShadySheev]

Panda garras are not gobies. They belong to the Cyprinidae, i.e. carps in the wider sense.

[@randyhegstad5754]

Your are correct...in the wholesale trade and in the pet store they are sold as algae eating gobies, but that's not the right classification. But heck they sure look like gobies.

[@Tang526]

There are Facebook groups of pro cat breeders!

[@evo12]

In Singapore there are orange-yellow mollies

[@MaxWesthoff-zq8in]

My Mollys double every week

[@TheSwiftCreek2]

People make videos on Otocinclus breeding.

[@TiaraDalmeida-hf4zp]

The otos in my lfs is usd 1.10 each. I live in Singapore, how can they be that cheap if they come from South America. I think they are bred or something.

[@randyhegstad5754]

You are right - and I can import Singapore bred otocinclus as of a couple years ago. Our wholesale company only brings in wild otos for a few reasons - first cost, also they are more active for some reason that tank raised, and we try to support the Colombia Wild Species programs where it makes sense. I must have said that you can't breed otos in the video, which was totally wrong and I didn't catch it on the edit, they are hard to breed, but not impossible.

[@KzLollapalooza]

Tadpoles

[@randyhegstad5754]

They aren't bad when small, true, but when they get larger they are really more of a scavenger and insect larva eater. We feed our bull frog tadpoles flake food.

[@AQUARIUMFREAK123]

what algae eaters can i keep with TIGER BARBS that are good at eating algae ?

[@Moi-xg2xw]

Perhaps SAE (the best algae eater I know) is agile enough to avoid fin nipping (not sure, as I never kept them together). But I think a school of tiger barbs is best kept on their own, inside a low-light blackwater setup (a sumatran/borneo swamp biotope, or something). A low light setup also can significantly reduce algae and much easier to maintain.

[@annam.wolleben4442]

I was just wondering why you were putting all the fish in that small tank. Its probably temporary I know. Just wondering.

[@thefishfiles]

You’re exactly right; it’s our display Tank used for showcasing the fish for this show. After filming, we put them back in their regular tanks in the warehouse, where they wait before finding loving homes.

[@rldickie]

There's hair algae on my snails.

[@iury862]

Yeah lol I love it when that happens

[@WorstUsernameInDaWeb]

consider it camo suit, make them better in hunting algae lol

[@CraigCampbell-lb9jv]

Mollys eat all my algea

[@reptikrookgaming6227]

I can’t believe you didn’t talk about hamsters if you put a hamster in your aquarium that absolutely will not help your algae problem in fact it might make it worse

[@thefishfiles]

You’re not wrong.

[@stoneysscapes7544]

😏🤔😌

[@ricalozano604]

chinese algae eater is the best for me

[@waterlover]

When asking for subscribers make sure you do your do diligence of knowledge before you give or make a video of your algea eaters .

[@noeipas3943]

Good video, but otocinclus can and have been bred in captivity. There are multiple videos on youtube showing this.

[@randyhegstad5754]

You are right - and I can import Singapore bred otocinclus as of a couple years ago. Our wholesale company only brings in wild otos for a few reasons - first cost, also they are more active for some reason that tank raised, and we try to support the Colombia Wild Species programs where it makes sense. I must have said that you can't breed otos in the video, which was totally wrong and I didn't catch it on the edit, they are hard to breed, but not impossible.

[@genussfreudigermischkostle613]

My eyes were bleeding while watching this

[@Olivia-fx7jx]

Huh

[@PepeCoinMania]

why these fishes look so sad

[@thefishfiles]

Well, the tank is too clean and they have no algae to eat.

[@acemcgillicutty4420]

You are wrong. I have an 80 Gallon with every standard algae eater and still had algae problems all over the tank until I added mollies. Never a problem since. Mollies are fantastic algae eaters.

[@noob_robloxlola3201]

Ngl it kinda depends on the type of algae but they help to make the other algae break off and than the others eats it. And good to hear that you’re algae problem is taken care of. I hope u have a great day or night!(good luck on you’re fish tanks and stay safe)

[@kirstybarrett9324]

Are you that uneducated? An opinion doesn’t mean someone is wrong. This video is clearly to show this guys personal experiences with it. I’ve had some experiences the same, and some like yours, however it doesn’t mean one of us is wrong. It’s going to be different due to so many contributing factors. No one is saying you can never give your side of it, but there is no need for “you are wrong”.

[@awilderireland]

I found the opposite. So does that make you wrong?

[@boebender]

Some people, regardless of right or wrong, don’t know how to communicate respectfully. Starting any comment with “you are wrong” will only work against you. Try it at work with your coworkers or boss. See how well that works for you.

[@mauricematla8379]

Or, just make sure you have no or almost no algea growing in the first place.

[@edwardhu1209]

Pleco is bad fish, it sucked and killed my pearl scale

[@HopeB555]

Your SAEs and otos look extremely underweight

[@thefishfiles]

They are underweight…it’s what I had in the warehouse at the time of the show…wild caught and came in over the weekend. They need a good week before we start selling to the stores. Sometimes the exporters hold off on feeding before they get shipped. In this case they obviously held off too long. But they will be good to go in a few days. Shoot. I was hoping it wasn’t noticeable.

[@HopeB555]

@@thefishfiles 😅 I'm kinda obsessed with otos. My LFS grows algae in a specific quarantine tank for their otos so they're all fat and sassy by the time they get sold. My otos basically have unlimited algae and veggies in my tanks so they're borderline obese. 😅

[@mauricematla8379]

You don't need any. Just be a half way decent aquarist.

[@randyhegstad5754]

Sure the real secret is maintaining a balance, that's part of the learning of our hobby - but in a way a few algae eaters gives you a little "balance" buffer?

[@mauricematla8379]

@@randyhegstad5754 Keep an animal, provided you can meet its needs because you like it find it interesting etc etc. Not mainly for algea control. There is not really a balance foing on in your tank. Important to realize that.

[@dannyrozhon6532]

Pretentious much?

[@mauricematla8379]

@@dannyrozhon6532 Nope, just simple facts it is quite possible and not even to difficult to keep algea to a minimum or even almost absent without any "algea eaters" particularly so in a planted aquarium.

[@dannyrozhon6532]

​@@mauricematla8379 I'm saying your tone makes you sound like a tool.