Hey guys, this blog is just my opinion on the best algae eater for a African cichlid aquariums.

 

First I want to tell you a little something about me, obviously I work for Reef Playground, I’m 46 years young, my name is Loops  and I’ve been working in the aquarium industry for 24 years. So I’m what they call a young OG in the fish keeping game. With my experience keeping Africans, most hobbyist would keep artificial decorations like plants, and these tend to grow algae on them as well as on the glass and gravel bed.

 

So I use a pleco called (Ancistrus sp.) aka; the bushynose pleco. They come from S. America and Panama and they are the best in my opinion. BUT! Only the regular bushynose pleco. If you try to put in a longfin or some type of fancy bushynose you risk them being destroyed by your African cichlids. Why I lik’em: They adapt to cichlid water kh/pH if you acclimate them by drip acclamation. They also adapt to cichlid behavior. Lets face it, African cichlids are aggressive AF, and its hard to find tank mates that don’t get destroyed. The other reason that I love them is they don’t get lazy like the common pleco. When the common pleco grows up, they don’t  eat much algae at all. They actually get so huge that I call them monster fish. Your bushynose on the other hand, will only get 5 inches if its a male and about 4 inches if its female. And unlike many of their pleco cousins, as the bushynose gets  bigger they actually do a better job.

 

Another thing I love is that the male bushy nose pleco gets these dope ass lil whiskers and they come in a few cool varieties like the albino and the red spotted variety. And as long as you don’t get them with “longfins” they will do very well in your African aquarium.

  

I’ve also used nerite snails for algae control in African cichlid tanks. Most people have had problem with snails because some reproduce like crazy and people don’t like that. Nerites on the other hand cannot reproduce unless they’re in a brackish or  saltwater aquarium. Making them ideal cleaners for those who don’t want a thousand snails. ..Nerites only get around an inch to an inch and a half, basically the size of a quarter.

So those are two of my choices for algae control in a African cichlid aquarium outside of weekly water changes and a proper maintenance schedule on the aquarium.

 

Ok my fish keeping Peeps, that’s it for this blog. If you guys like how I get down and like my real real blogs, I will be posting more and if you want me to blog about something shoot us a email and tell us what you want us to blog about!

 

-Loops