# The best bottom feeders...



## Mori (Jul 23, 2003)

Goldfish are excellent bottom feeders. They actively _move _substrate looking for snacks. Of course, that doesn't make for a tidy planted tank since they will level any substrate and uproot any plant, but they sure do keep a clean tank.

My Pakistani loaches are pretty detailed in their cleaning work also.


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## corigan (Feb 22, 2004)

I have a candy stripe goby that is a great bottom feeder. 

Matt


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Loaches... they have a sense of smell that allows them to find edible stuff even if it is hidden.

Ghost shrimps... that's what they do all day! Assuming they are not becoming snacks for bigger fish.


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## mjprather (Apr 24, 2004)

Wasserpest said:


> Loaches... they have a sense of smell that allows them to find edible stuff even if it is hidden.


 My loaches are always digging through the gravel, yet I still don't have trouble with them uprooting plants.


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## cich (Aug 5, 2003)

Probably not one of the best, but I'm quite happy with my Amano Shrimp. 5 of them have _pretty much_ kept up with the algea and wasted food in my 10gal. I'd say that you DO kind of need a few of them to make an impact though, making them not the _best_. However, I really like shrimp... a LOT... and Amanos just happened to be available in my area, at a single LFS. I'm looking for more species though, particularly those easier to breed.

--cich


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## amanda huggenkiss (Mar 3, 2004)

My amanos _used to_ do a good job at cleaning everything, but then I added a piece of driftwood to the tank, and now they just congregate there all the time. 

So the driftwood looks great. Everything else looks like crap. :icon_conf 

In my 29g, I'd say it's the loaches that do the bulk of the bottom-cleaning. I hardly ever see my cories, but my clowns and kuhlis are all over the place.


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## cich (Aug 5, 2003)

Hmmm.... Maybe I'll be thinking twice before adding that driftwood to my tank. Thanks for the tip 

--cich


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## GDominy (Jul 30, 2002)

heh... Get yourself a tank full of loaches... you'll start wondering how to dirty up your substrate.. heh heh.. I'm still trying to figure out what I can do about my eel tank.. I'm a littel nervous about putting small fish in there


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

Yo-Yo loaches... These guys not only clean up the gravel but will also eat off the surface & mid water levels. They are extremely aggressive eaters.


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## EricSilver (Feb 23, 2004)

After all the loach comments, I now want one or two myself. Clowns are probably too big for my tank, buy Yoyos seem good.


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## cich (Aug 5, 2003)

Yeah I think clowns grow _up to_ 12" or something? heh.... Maybe more like 8 or 10, but something close to that.

--cich


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## corigan (Feb 22, 2004)

Zebra loaches are great and stay relativly small. They will only grow to 2-1/2"-3".

Matt


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## Moe88 (Jun 17, 2004)

My kuhli loaches do a great job.

M.N


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## Arvo (Jan 3, 2003)

Botia striata are great and nothing ever escaped the notice of a platy.


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## Danio (Jul 6, 2004)

I have Bootia macracanthus, B. dario, B. almorhae at present and some other of them in the past. But if you do not afraid of big fishes, keep Balantiocheilos melanopterus. This fishes take the full mouth of gravel and remove it to another part of the tank, because they all the time on move. My gravel is nearly sterile, because any dirt particles always are catched with a filter and bala well help with that.


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## EricSilver (Feb 23, 2004)

Arvo said:


> .... and nothing ever escaped the notice of a platy.


For a long time, I have been draw to some really nice -- and brilliantly colored -- red wagtail platies at my lfs, but never got them. Maybe I will, but I will definitely be beyond my stocking capacity since I added 11 small neons yesterday. 


==================================
29G PLanted
2 Large Koi Angels
7 Peppered Cories
3 Otos
24 Neons
5 Black Phantom Tetras
3 Rummynose Tetras


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## EricSilver (Feb 23, 2004)

Danio said:


> ... But if you do not afraid of big fishes, keep Balantiocheilos melanopterus. ...


That might also solve my excess neon problem....


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## Arvo (Jan 3, 2003)

I had kept only 3 female Platy to avoid an overage of live food.


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## Danio (Jul 6, 2004)

EricSilver said:


> That might also solve my excess neon problem....


no, being up to 30 cm long and very nice adult balas never hurt any small fish. As I said they dig in the upper layer of gravel and move it, but the never chase anything in the water column. I keep with them many small tetras.

Bala may be too BIG for a small tank, they never eat plants, even Limnophyla tops. so if you have a tank of 150 cm in length and more, they are great.


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