Even if certain animal species are repeatedly advertised as algae eaters, one should not have great expectations of the supposed algae eaters. Some animal species also eat algae, but only to a limited extent. A real plague of algae can only be dealt with by creating a permanent balance between nutrients and plant growth in the aquarium. As a rule, only young algae are consumed, while older algae are not touched.
When in doubt, the animals prefer to feed themselves from the conveniently provided food than from the ever so proliferating algae. Under no circumstances should one acquire the animal species to be cared for only on the basis of such considerations of utility. The exaggerated hopes are quickly disappointed and the animals are no longer considered. What should animals that really eat a lot of algae feed on when all the algae are gone? At this point at the latest, they quickly develop a taste for other food and algae are usually spurned from this point at the latest. If the actual causes of the algae infestation have not been eliminated, the next algae plague is inevitable.
However, the so-called algae eaters can represent an interesting addition to the aquarium stock if you do not want to keep them purely as livestock.
fish/ornamental fish
catfish
Antennae catfish Source: Image on Wikimedia Commons License: CC Attr. SA 3.0 Author: Dake
Catfish (Ancistrus) are highly recommended as algae eaters. However, antennae catfish also like to eat leaves from plants. In particular, the leaves of Amazon sword plants (Echinodorus) are often literally grated. Shoots of young leaves are also eaten with pleasure. You often have to feed catfish with vegetables and lettuce to protect the plants. They seem to prefer plants, vegetables and lettuce to algae.
Kissing gouramis
Kissing gouramis (Helostoma temmickii) require aquariums with more than 200 liters of water content, as they can get very large and prefer to eat plankton and algae.
viviparous
Some species of viviparous fish occasionally pluck and eat algae. such as guppies and black mollies. However, they prefer other food, e.g. B. flake food, quite clearly.
Earlatticed Loricariidae
Of the various species of latticed armored catfish (Otocinclus), it is primarily algae on objects, windows and plants that are grazed. Since these catfish only feel comfortable in small groups, they should be kept in groups of at least 6 animals.
Siamese Algae Eaters
The Siamese Algae Eater (Crossocheilus siamensis) mainly eat thread algae, but other types of algae are not scorned either. Algae mullets grow to a length of 10 to 15 cm and should have around 100 liters of water available for each barbel. When buying, care must be taken not to confuse them with the very similar looking fairfin weevil (Epalzeorhynchus kallopterus).
Shrimp against algae
The Amano shrimp in particular has become known as an algae eater. But it is also the case with Amano shrimp that they cannot cope with a real plague of algae and, like all other algae eaters, prefer to feed on flake and tablet food in the long run. Some species of dwarf shrimp also attack algae to a limited extent.
Snails against algae
The classic algae eaters in the aquarium are the various types of snails. However, among the various species of snails there are also some species that like to eat plants.