What type of snail ????

Question

What is the best type of snail for cleaning algae in a freshwater chiclid tank?

or what type of crab or any other good freshwater cleaner.

I want a snail that won't eat my live plants, but I don't care if I have a lot.

Answer 1

The truth is, no snail, shrimp, or fish will ever do a complete job of cleaning your tank. They won't eat every species of algae, and they only add to the bioload of your tank (that is, they eat and create wastes which feed the algae), so you'll never get rid of it just because you use "algae eaters". The only way to eliminate it, is to cut out the light (algae uses photosynthesis to make food for growth) and to reduce the nutrients in the water - this means partial water changes of around 25% at least once a week. Scrape the glass and any covered surfaces first, then use your gravel vac to siphon out the scrapings. Also, be sure you aren't overfeeding the fish - only give what they can eat in 2-3 minutes twice a day, and remove anything not eaten after the time is up.

Depending on the type(s) of cichlids you have, you might have a hard time keeping algae eaters alive in the tank.

Answer 2

What copperhead says is right on. Algae grows because of excess nutrients in the tank. There are only two sources of nutrients; stuff the fish didn't eat and stuff they did eat. In either case you put it in there,and the only way to get it out is for you to remove it. It doesn't matter how many animals digestive systems it passes through on its way to the algae,if you don't intercept it and remove it the algae will. Good maintenance practices,diligent water changes,frequent filter cleaning,maybe an extra sponge filter that is cleaned well in water from the tank that it serves at every water change,extra care given to feeding practices are all important factors in an algae free system.
But that's really not what you asked. So I'd say Apple snails or Mystery Snails. If you use an under gravel filter Malaysian Rams-horn Snails burrow in the substrate and keep it flowing,but they are prone to population spikes that can be a bit of a nuisance.

Answer 3

There are billions of snail in the market that have not been found out but. I can best inform you a few them: Apple Snail Golden Apple Snail and I feel a few Ram'shorn Snail

Answer 4

Personally, I have both ramshorn snails and an apple snail (golden mystery snail) in my tanks and they keep my glass clean enough for me to not see any need to clean it off. Sure, if I scrubbed one area I would be able to notice the difference between the clean area and the dirty area, but the snails keep the algae so low that you can't really see any cloudiness when you look through the glass.

Answer 5

Do NOT use a shrimp or a crab! The fish will eat it! If you do choose to use one of those creatures make sure they are large enough to defend themselves from your fish; including in the long run. Your best bet would be to get a plecostamous..many people simply refer to them as "algae eaters". Buy a large one. But keep in mind these fish can grow up to 24 inches (2 feet) so make sure that your tank will be big enough to accomodate all of your fish and leave them with adequate swimming space.

Answer 6

depends on if you have a tank with live plants because some snails can do harm to your plants. it also depends on if you want a lot of snails or only a few because with some snails you could start out with 2 and wake up with hundreds of them the next morning.