Advice wanted for putting an algae eater in my tank

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kayleighh18

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I have had my axie's for around 6 weeks now and despite doing occasional water changes (i didn't have a filter for the first 2 weeks so was doing daily partial changes, but have only done 1 partial change since getting the filter ) i seem to have developed a slight layer of algae on some of my decoration, i was wondering if there is any algae eater that i can buy that will neither harm my axies's or be harmed by my axie's. i was looking at a sucker loach but i'm scared that it will be soon to be eaten as my axie's are already 4 inches long (12 weeks), which is the max length of the loach. so any advice on what, if anything i can get will be very useful. (i'm still learning lots even after all my research before getting my babies lol)

p.s. will post pics of salemence and mew as soon as i find my camera lead
 
Well the problem is most algae eaters could nip at gills or damage slime coat. You could get shrimp! Shrimp are great ^_^ your axies will snack on them, but they make a good treat. You could breed cherry shrimp , or ghost shrimp. Cherry shrimp are easier to breed, from what I've read. Some peoples axies actually leave them alone, so if you get a good amount of ghost shrimp and put plants in for hiding places they could coexist:p I had a snail in with my axie for a while and they lived fine but the snail got big enough that he could hurt my axolotl if he tried to eat him... so I bought a seperate fish tank that I keep mollies in now -.- haha

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 4
 
No little algae eater fish will be safe - it will either get eaten or will try and nibble your axies. Snails are also not a good idea (look up apple snail and axolotl).

To be honest, if it's not doing any harm I would leave it - algae can help absorb nitrates, and as long as the water is clear it's nothing to worry about. Also, by scrubbing your ornaments you remove the good bacteria that sits on the surface.

The best way to get rid of algae film if you must is a gentle rub down in tank water (the stuff you have siphoned out) during a water change.
 
There really aren't any fish safe to keep with axies- either the fish will nibble at the axolotl's gills (or in the case of algae eaters, scrape at the axolotl's flanks), or the axolotl will eat the fish.

The commonest species sold as sucking loaches, Gyrinocheilus aymoneieri, is known as a very aggressive fish (and it has been known to reach 25cm, not the 15cm fish shops sometimes claim), it is also a tropical species, needing a minimum temperature of 24C, so it's quite unsuitable to be kept with axolotls.

Sometimes a smaller and much less aggressive coldwater species is sold under the same common name, but they would only be handy snack size for a large axolotl- and that species likes very high water movement, which again conflicts with axolotl needs.

To be honest, a lot of algae eaters aren't much good at cleaning tanks anyway; they often just decide to scavenge scraps of food given to tank mates instead, and leave the algae to go hang.
 
Instead of getting algae eaters, you can address the "problem" of the algae itself. Algae grows because of an over abundance of nutrients in the water. This is due to either overfeeding or infrequent water changes. There are a few natural ways to deprive algae of the nutrients it needs, causing it to die off.
1. Buy a good number of aquatic plants. They will use up the nutrients the algae needs to survive, resulting in less algae. Plants also keep your water parameters steady and are a great addition to any tank.
2. Increase water changes, as this lessens the nutrients in the water = less algae.
3. Lessen the amount of light your tank is exposed to.

If you must buy algae eaters, RCS are safe to keep with axies (safe for the axie at least, not so much for the shrimp), but you'd need a lot to make a difference. I'd suggest breeding them if you must use them for this purpose.

That being said, as mentioned above, algae can be beneficial to your water quality, much in the same way as live plants, so if you can bear with it's appearance, just leave it in :)
 
i have a fair amount of plant in my tank, and the water is clear so the only slight issue was the algae, not a massive problem just something that bugged me slightly lol but thanks for the advice. i will try out the shrimp idea as don't mind a few being snacked on just not when there are only a few there to begin with lol.again cheers
 
Almost all the Caridina/Neocaridina species of shrimp do well in an axolotl setup, though most of them won't breed. It's pretty easy to setup a little breeder tank for some shrimps like cherry shrimps. If it's running you can always refresh the ones that got eaten in your axolotl tank. Cherry shrimp can even breed in an unheated aquarium when it gets a little hotter than usual. I've got a stable populations in more than one tank. Though most of my newts aren't capable catching the cherry shrimps, axolotls most certainly are.
 
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