Fish Tank Cleaning Crew Members
Sunday, April 15th, 2012Algae is a unavoidable problem for very well every body of water. Providing an element of biological filtering and a consumer of phosphates, algae is a friend enemy combination. Too much algae will take over your tank, too small and the benefits of filtering and nourishment for algae eaters is lost.
The employment of natural strategies such as snails, hermit crabs and assorted algae eating fish combined with properly balanced water and lighting is unavoidably the handiest way of algae control. There are of course compatibility issue one wants to keep in mind when mixing various species of cleanup critters.
Some algae eating fish such as Plecos, can grow massive and can become quite assertive as they progress. These beasts will also initiate aggression to other stock too , so they should be utilized in large tanks with larger more aggressive fish.
Hermit crabs are grand aquarium cleaners from algae to cleaning the gravel. Some species such as the Halloween Hermit Crab will maintain their small size (about 2 inches) and are quite placid. Should they run right out of food but snails will make a fine meal, and they may even swipe the snails shell for his new home. Hermit crabs can also be quite deleterious when hunting for food and can even interrupt coral rocks. As a fail safe, guarantee you have some empty shells in the tank that Hermit Crabs can use instead of slaughtering your snails, and watch for any sign of destruction. Should algae become rare they feed quite happily on dried seaweed and Mysis Shrimp. It is recommended however that hermit crabs be used in FO (fish only) tanks or FOWLR (fish only with live rock) tanks as they can be quite destructive to reef tanks.
Snails are a standard fix for algae control. Snails are highly peaceful and will also propagate in the tank replenishing their numbers. They can nevertheless become grub for hungry Herbit Crabs. Snails can inhabit any type of tank as long as there aren't any predators to eat them.
No matter what you are joining to your tank there’ll always be compatibility issues that need be considered before joining a new creature to your tank.
This author has dealt with marine aquariums intermittently for over thirty years. A lover of marine beauty has a new site for marine tank newbies.