Which fish is best at cleaning your tank?
Which fish is best at cleaning your tank?
catfish, those fish that have the mouth that sucks around the aquarium, or snails? If you have one i didnt mention tell me about it.
13 Responses to “Which fish is best at cleaning your tank?”

Algea eaters are the best…they eat all scrap from your fish
You can find information about thousands of species of fish (including the ones I mentioned above) at the following site:
http://www.fishbase.org/search.php
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dont put the task on cleaning your tank on your fishes.
it is your responsibility to clean the tank. having algae eaters or plecostumos on your tank is just an add on. but then again it is you rutmost responsibility to clean your tank.
if you dont want to clean your tank often, install a big and reliable filter in your tank in that way your tank will be clean for a longer time.
You can find information about thousands of species of fish (including the ones I mentioned above) at the following site:
http://www.fishbase.org/search.php
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Placotimus Spelled that one wrong but I think you can figgure it out
Bottom dwelling cat-fish
And believe it or not Large Gold fish
You can find information about thousands of species of fish (including the ones I mentioned above) at the following site:
http://www.fishbase.org/search.php
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Ghost shrimp are also good cleaners. But like others have said, it’s YOUR job. A well-balanced tank can go a good six months between cleanings.
You can find information about thousands of species of fish (including the ones I mentioned above) at the following site:
http://www.fishbase.org/search.php
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plec are good cleans becuase my boyfriend did have one and it kept cleaning the glass of the tank and the objects inside of the tank. however i would say that they grow really fast and they can grow upto 60cm long and need a big tank.
You can find information about thousands of species of fish (including the ones I mentioned above) at the following site:
http://www.fishbase.org/search.php
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Fish will not clena your tank. There is no fish that takes the place of regular maintenance. You still need to do partial water changes, maintain the filters and remove accumulated wastes.
NO fish eats fish watses. Period. Do not believe anyone who tells you otherwise. Fish need nutrition and there is very little in the waste of other fish. No catfish or alage eater will consume waste from other fish.
Most algae eaters are misnamed. They ear plant eaters and consume vegetation. Sometimes it is a type of alage. often it is not. Plecos and chinese algae eaters do not eat algae in nature, but leaves of plants and wood. They, will if starved eat some types of alage in captivity. But it is not nice to deprive them of a proper food source and force them to try to stay alive on what little algae they can find. No fish eats hair alage or slime alages. It can be toxic.
No catfish eats fish waste. They will do a good job eating any fallen food on the gravel, but you still do not want to overfeed.
The best ‘janitor’ for your aquairum is YOU.
Aquarium Biologist
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I have a 55 gallon tank and have one good sized Plecostymous, three snails and two algae eaters. They keep the tank spotless.. which is quite a job since there are about 40 or so fish in there at any given time. In my smaller tank, I have one algae eater and a large snail. I strongly recomment the algae eaters. They seem to do a very good job.
Aquarium Biologist
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Chinese Algae Eaters are the best choice. I keep one in every tank I have. They do a really good job keeping the bottom, ornaments and walls very clean.
Aquarium Biologist
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you can get snails or algie eaters, or you can have certen fish that help also!!
Aquarium Biologist
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Most fish eat algae, and fish do not really “clean” your tank, there are fish that eat the scraps of food that stay behind and algae (green not brown algae).
Good fish (from personal experience) are sucking loaches and pleco’s.
You will still need to clean your tank though.
Aquarium Biologist
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Janitor Fishes are the best…
they just clean everything
you can find lots of them in a river
Aquarium Biologist
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I agree with some of the answers on here. The best cleaner of the aquarium is yourself doing maintenance (ie: water changes, vacumming the gravel, removing excess algae etc.)
If you are looking for a fish to eat any uneaten food that falls to the bottom of the tank then a catfish are good for this. I have goldfish and the corydora cats I have are good at getting the few flakes that reach the bottom of the tank. As BioGeek metioned -DO NOT OVERFEED ( it one of the main reasons tank water dirties quicker). Only feed your fish as much as they will consume in 2-3 minutes. If there is uneaten food in the tank after that amount of time then you need to get out your net and remove it from the tank. I would not recommend snails. They will quickly overun your tank if you are not careful . You would have to be very diligent about removing any gelanous egg sacs of theirs you see in your tank. They reproduce rapidly and it only takes one snail to do so ( some of them have both male and female organs) . My snails got to be a nuisance. One of them even used to steal the goldfishes food before they had a chance to get it . Also keep in mind that apple or mystery snails can grow to be 3-4 inches across. That being said I would suggest a catfish or pecostamus, or pleco
Aquarium Biologist
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algae eaters.
Plecos are almost worthless (especially when they get older).
YOU need to clean the tank though. Algae eaters eat algae then turn it into poop. It’s a vicious cycle.
Aquarium Biologist
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