I have a 10 gallon tank (no plants) that I have 4 peppered corys and a betta in. My bioload is perfectly balanced, my ammonia always reads at zero but lately I've noticed algae beginning to grow in the tank. I'm thinking about getting an algae eater but I have no idea what's compatible. Also, since I've already got 5 fish in there I don't want to put anything that will completely overload the ecosystem and cause a massive buildup of ammonia. I can always add some stress zyme to temper the inevitable stress while the system catches up but I'm not looking to be fighting an ammonia problem for a month. Any ideas on an algae eater I can add?
(and please don't lecture me on the number of fish, they have plenty of room and as I said the biosystem is balanced, they aren't getting poisoned by ammonia)
I have two otocinclus catfish in my 4 gallon with my betta in a cycled planted tank. He will occasionally chase them but other than that everyone is happy and they always have full bellies.
These are the causes of algea outbreaks that I have experienced. Too long of a light period and not enough vacuuming of waste and such. Usually when I start to see an overabundance of algea I try and limit the amount of light and do a wipe down of the tank sides followed by a vacuuming of the bottom.
Snails you can add. You can also add hornwort to your line up of plants. It competes for the nutrients of the algae. Instead of algae growing in your tank like a weed, it does. Good thing its pretty. ( that and it will do wonders for keeping water quality the best incase you do decide to add another fishy)
I've read that snails add a significant bio load and that otos get too big for a small tank. Is this information incorrect?
Also, I had hornwort in my tank when it was planted and I was clearing detritus from the tank every day. I don't know if it was just a bad plant or what but planting isn't something I want to do. I'm a microbiology major so I spend a lot of time on campus in labs or studying and can't really afford the time it takes to clean up after live plants
Then don't feed the Cory cats, feed only enough for the betta and what other fish you have in the tank. Cory cats will eat algae. If you don't want to go that rout
Put your tank in a dark place, keep the lights off, in two days your algae will be gone.
Also in my ten gallon tank, I had 12 fish. Did water changes every week, and Vacuumed and they were perfectly fine. And no they weren't all small little things.
oto's only get to be about 2" in length. so they shouldn't be a problem in a 10 gallon unless you get quite a few of them.
In my signature is all the life I have in one 4 gallon tank and my algea problem only arises from light and cleaning issues.
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