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ALGAE EATING FISH
Hello everyone,
I'm a recent subscriber, however, I have been perusing the archives for
months. I've been in the hobby for over twenty years and one fish that
I've used for controlling hair and beard algae I've never seen posted
here, Florida Flags (jordonella floridae).
For those of you who are unfamiliar with these guys, they're a native
Florida Killifish, (I live in NE Florida so they're easy to come by and
cheap $1.59 ea). They look like a minature small mouth bass, males have
irridesent red spots on their flanks which the females lack, they're
small 2-3", and get along with everyone. The only drawback I've found is
they do like to munch on certain plants when the algae is depleted.
They'll consume your java moss, nibble on your hair grass, and if your
crypts have any suffered any degree of meltdown, they'll eat the soft
parts (but stop where the leaves firm up). I have one 29 gallon tank
that I was experimenting with (substrate & fertilizer) and it developed
a tremendous hair algae problem (it was so bad my apple snails looked
like chia pets), I moved 4 Flags into the tank and added phosphate
remover to the filter and within one week the algae was gone. I don't
know how easy they are to find in other parts of the country, but if you
run across some, heck, give 'em a try.
Augie Eppler
augie-e at prodigy_net
In NE Florida, where anywhere else our humidity would be called rain.