What type of bottom feeder/algae eater should I get for my tank?

Question

Okay, about 6 months ago I bought a 10 gallon starter tank and three small fancytail goldfish. Please don't give me a lecture about how dirty goldfish are, they're really not, as long as I don't forget to clean and change my filter regularly. Any-hoo, My fish, obviously have grown and I do plan on moving up to a 20-30 gallon tank in the next 6 months or so. My question is: what type of bottom feeder or algae eater should I get for my tank? I've got a bit of algae growing on the sides of the tank and on the decorative things. I wasn't sure what type of fish would be best. I don't want something that will outgrow the goldfish, or a fish that will be too aggressive, my goldfish are big softies. Anyways, I know bottom feeders and algea eaters don't live completely on missed food and algae, I know they have their own diet needs, I just want an idea of a docile, slower growing bottom (and side) dwelling fish. Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks!

Yes, my tank is heated. We don't run heat in our house so it gets quite cold in the winter time.

Answer 1

One of the very best for your situation would be cory catfish. They won't eat much algae if any, but will help eat food that gets past the goldfish. Most of them can tolerate temperatures that are comfortable for your goldfish as well. They are also small and peaceful and will move up to the larger tank with ease. Start with 2 in your 10 gallon and add to the school when you get the larger tank. I would suggest you get that larger tank as soon as possible and with 3 fancy goldfish, a 30 gallon would be a minimum size you should go for.

Corys do well on most any sort of sinking foods. Brine shrimp pellets and blood worms are two of their favorites.

I would NOT suggest a pleco or other sucker mouthed fish. Common plecos grow far too larger for even a 30 gallon tank and the smaller varieties would require temperatures your goldfish wouldn't like. The very common Chinese algae eater only eats algae when it is small, it gets large for the tank space and is a nasty ill tempered fish able and willing to hurt your goldfish when it gets larger.

Hope that helps

ADDITION: A few snails would help with the algae as well.

MM

Answer 2

Is your tank heated? Goldfish don't need it but your bottom feeder probably will. Plecostomas are interesting and can grow quite large but it takes a very long time. My favorites were some little striped catfish that sortof wobbled about like clowns.
Because the goldfish are rather dirty (not lecturing here) you might want to check with your local fish dealer on what would be best. I'm making this suggestion because some bottom feeders are actually rather fragile and might not like to share a tank with goldfish. Most bottom feeders are not agressive.

Answer 3

There really isn't a good, small fish that is both a bottom feeder and eats algae other than some dwarf plecos. Corys are small and bottom feeders but won't eat algae. They also need to be kept in groups of 5 or more. Common plecos eat algae and are bottom feeders but will grow to 2 foot long. Clown loaches are good bottom feeders but won't eat algae and also grow to a foot or more.

One thing you may consider is algae eating shrimp. They are great scavengers, will eat algae and add almost nothing to the bio-load.

And regardless of what anyone says, goldfish are messy (not lecturing either, just stating fact). They are pooping machines. And if you are wanting a bottom feeder to clean up waste, there aren't any fish or shrimp that will eat it. it must be removed with gravel vacs during water changes.

Answer 4

Is your aquarium in direct sunlight? Is the algae green or brown? A Pleco can grow very large but does well on green algae. A Cory Catfish is tiny and eats much of the stuff on the bottom that can attribute to algae growth. Do you have flourescant lights on the hood? If so, add some live plants to use up the algae growing nutrients, shade the "bad" algae, and the "plant cover" will stress the fish less 'cause they will think they are hiding.

Answer 5

I am not sure what breed of goldfish you're keeping, if it happens to be a rounded body species, which are slow swimming, you might not want to get a pleco with them. They're known to feed on the slime off the goldfish.

I would recommend an oto or hill stream loach but if the fishes are too small the goldfish might try to swallow it. Incidentally the hill stream loach is much like the goldfish a cold water fish.

Answer 6

otocinclus could do well, they stay relatively small, but do a great job of cleaning up. They won't get aggressive with your goldfish, and they won't severely outgrow your tank. A pleco would really get to big for a 20-30 eventually... I really like watching the otos they have cool behaviors :) good luck... ps if you are going to get snails... get big mystery snails that actually have to have 2 to reproduce... if you get the tiny snails found in most fish store tanks.. their population size will EXPLODE in your tank, and can get into and ruin your filter.

Answer 7

A plecostomus, starts out small but will grow with the tank, you can get them at petco, petsmart, walmart, I got mine from walmart and it's the only fish that lived out of the ones i got from the pet stores. Good luck! Be careful of what you buy, I accidently bought mirror fish because they ate algae but they killed the other fish, and I would get goldfish but only like 2 or 3 big ones

Answer 8

pleco's are a great fish for nearly any tank, they are resiliant and tolerant to quite a number of fish and water states. you should have some sort of a filter for the tank though. as for food, they will eat the natural algea but if little is present, you can buy algea wafers. snails are good too, just be mindful of the species, certain ones breed faster than rabbits and will over run your tank.

Answer 9

The plecostamus (sp?) is always a good algae eater. A good bottom feeder would be a cory cat of any type. I make sure to have both of these fish in my aquariums and they seem to do very well.

Answer 10

Hi, the one inch per gallon is complete nonsense when dealing with Goldfish unfortunately! The minimum amount of water PER FISH has to be 10 gallons & preferably far more to allow for growth without having to constantly be upgrading your tank. A 5 gallon tank is too small for one Goldfish. Goldfish have no compatible tank mates except other similar sized & types of Goldfish.