# Platys for algae control



## dewcew (Aug 3, 2004)

Hi,

I recently found a great fish for algae control. I added some platys to my tank (more for their bright color than anything). I have been pleasantly surprised by how well they have cleaned up the algae. They have done a much better job than my otto's ever did.

Dan


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## rayhwong (Aug 6, 2004)

Yes I found that they also DESTROY algae-particularly the brown fluffy kinds.


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## ThomE (Aug 26, 2004)

How are they w/ Moss? Do they tear them up too?


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## dewcew (Aug 3, 2004)

ThomE,

I don't have any moss in my tank so I don't know how they would do. I don't have a complete list from my tank, but they have not eaten my swords, camboba, val, crypts or java fern.

Dan


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## trenac (Feb 15, 2004)

Mollys also will eat certain types of algae, I had my molly in with Java moss and he did no damage to it that I could see.


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## rayhwong (Aug 6, 2004)

No damage to moss..
You have to keep these guys hungry in order for them to work. 
Mollies will peck at bigger fish such as discus. I found guppies doing this too.


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## shalu (Jan 16, 2003)

For a while, I thought I had it good with all sorts of algae control fish I read about on the forums. Then came discus, and along with them, heavy feeding. The rest is history. They all became fat and lazy, only ottos still prefer algae. Eventually, I found good nutrient balance and most of the algae just disappeared. I only have a little bit of hair algae growing on substrate, nothing else. Life is good again, I haven't wiped the tank wall in weeks and it is still pretty clean.


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## Hop (Mar 27, 2004)

I had plattys in my 125 and I will admit that they did a fairly good job controlling some algea. The biggest issue was that once they started breeding, they got out of control. In a heavily planted tank you will one day notice that there are way too many. I was pulling out 20+ a week and taking them to the LFS. This didn't seem to make a dent in the population. Finally when I tore the tank down I kept only females (I think... I hope) and moved them to a 55 gallon.


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## cich (Aug 5, 2003)

Sword tails actually seemed to attack my hair algea as well. I really liked their efficiency.

--cich


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