Rosy or Cherry barb??

Nikki

Nikki

Registered Member
Jan 4, 2005
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What would be the best way to control the growth of Staghorn algae? I have plenty of them on my plants. I was told that Rosy barb and Cherry barb would devour them. Is that true? How many of them I need to get? I already have a few tiger barbs will the new addition shoal with them? Should I lessen the lighting too? I have it on 5 hrs in the morning, then a 2 hours break follow by another 8 hrs of light. After that I have moonlight turned on until the next morning. I have a total of 40W put into a 32g tank.

Many thanks.

Nikki
 
The best way to control the growth of any algae is to determine the cause and then balance it out. Is this a planted tank? if so, do you dose any fertilizers or use CO2 nijection?
 
I agree with Harlock, finding the source of the problem is the key to eliminating it. Many people here have had luck using Flourish Excel to get rid of this type of algae. Raising the CO2 should also help - making sure the plants have enough carbon seems to help eliminate it.

There are some fish that will eat this algae, but they will only consume new growth, not what's already there. IME cherrys won't touch it - I've got a group in my 10g and every once in a while a little bit of hair algae pops up and they ignore it. True SAEs will eat it, but IMO they're not really suited for a 32g tank - they get 3-4" long, very active, and it's best to keep more than one.
 
Rosy's will get quite big, up to 4 inches and need a group. So that would probably overcrowd your tank and also lead to more nutrient (IE poop and old food) in the tank which will cause more algae to grow.

What is your tank cleaning regieme? How often and what size water changes are done?
 
Thanks for the replies. Let me give you more info:

The aquarium is planted and injected with CO2. I have fish such as corydora, serpae tetra, platy, tiger barb, SAE ("TRUE") and oto in the tank. I just check the water chemistry a few mins ago:
  • pH = 7.4
  • Ammonia = 0 ppm
  • Nitrite = 0 ppm
  • GH = 2 dGH
  • KH = 10 dKH
  • CO2 = 12ppm
I changed 10% water 1~2 every week. My light is on 5 hrs in the morning, then a 2 hours break follow by another 8 hrs of light. After that I have moonlight turned on until the next morning. I have a total of 40W put into a 32g tank.

For some reason my true SAE won't devour the staghorn algae at all.

I would like to get to the source of the problem too. I am eager to hear your advice.

TIA.

Nikki
 
It's hard to tell as the photo is a bit blurry, but it doesn't look like the stripe is running through the tail of the fish. In which case it's more likely a flying fox. No matter, when I had staghorn, my SAE was no match for it either because it spread so fast.
 
reiverix said:
It's hard to tell as the photo is a bit blurry, but it doesn't look like the stripe is running through the tail of the fish. In which case it's more likely a flying fox. No matter, when I had staghorn, my SAE was no match for it either because it spread so fast.
Click to expand...

It is sure a SAE. The stripe runs from the head to the tail. I never saw my SAE munch the staghorn algae but it works well for other algaes.

Nikki
 
And an SAE will only eat new growth not older stuff so if it is a true SAE he may be trying to eat newer algae and not able to compete with the older stuff. It sounds like you may not be adding enough ferts to allow the plants to out compete the algae. I would ask over in the plant forum about it.

Also I would consider uping your water changes to at least 25% each time. That will definatley help keep pollutants lower and not be a harm to anything else in the tank.
 
Nikki - if you can, try raising the CO2 - that seems to help in a lot of cases. I find keeping NO3 ~10ppm and PO4 ~.5 - 1ppm keeps algae at a minimum. When ferts get too low, the plants don't get the nutrients they need to outcompete the algae. It seems backwards, but more nutrients usually means less algae (as long as the plants have sufficient light to make use of the nutrients).
Emg - thanks so much for the compliment :)
 
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