Algae issues

[bettababe321]

My tanks are only a couple months old. Although I like the idea of having more than just my bettas in their tanks, I would like to deal with the algae without having to buy more fish (ottos sure are cute though :) I also don't have a tank to QT them. So having live plants means MORE algae? I was under the impression live plants ment less algae?

[dr2b]

I have never heard of live plants causing more algae... I had live plants before otos and my live plants cleared up my algae problem. The otos just aid in keeping the algae gone.

[BabblingFish]

Ottos love small slices of zucchini.

[Kim]

I had more problems with the live plants. I think it all depends on how well you grow them. Mine never did very well and got covered in algae fast but I guess if you grow them right they will actually use up the nutrients that the algae needs to survive and supposedly help with algae issues. That is how it sounds in theory, but mine never worked out like that unfortunately. Live plants are a pain to clean algae off IMO. I used to try soooo hard to grow the darn things but I finally realized that it was more of a pain (and an expense lol) than it was worth.

If you have a green thumb go for it though. I also think some people's water works better at growing things than others. That's just my experience.

[dr2b]

Well I guess it helps I got my otos to clean algae up if it does grow on the plants too. Because I have never seen any on my plants. I think the water is a huge factor. I just bought $20 worth of plants at my boyfriend's store (2.5 hours fro my home) in the city. I live in the country and mine died, yet his are living. But the ones I have in the tank from my area (the country) were in the same tank and doing fine. So water is a huge huge factor in how well they do.