Why I Don't Keep The 2 BEST Algae Eaters In My Aquariums...

some of the

best

algae

eaters

in this hobby suck, not at all and I don't exactly mean eating

algae

, just in general, but still, it seems like there are a lot of different organisms in this hobby that will eat algae. but there's always more to the story so we'll talk about some of the

best

ones and then we'll like the caveats and the reason why I don't really have any of them and I haven't for a long time so to get right into that , the best s-level algae eater I think exists in this hobby is the Amano shrimp.

I mean, these things are basically world famous for their algae-eating lawnmower-like behavior and I've had them a lot over time. Over the years I have gotten tons of them from different sources. If you've been watching the channel for a while, you'll know that we probably did two or three different Flip Aquatics unboxings, where I got at least 50 of them. they really do the job, they don't work on all types of algae, that will be a common thing for all algae

eaters

, they won't eat everything you want, but these things will destroy hair algae, so basically anything. that's green and looks like some type of hair or string algae, these things are going to work and do a pretty good job since you don't need a ton of them, it just depends on you knowing the size of the tank. you're dealing with how much you have and then another factor that we're going to create.

I think the group here in a second. Monkeys are fairly easy to care for. I don't think they are as finicky as even cherry shrimp seem to be sometimes for some people who can handle a little colder water. I guess cherry shrimp can do that too, but I don't know. If I had to classify them as an abundant species, I would. I would say they're probably a little bit stronger than other shrimp, definitely compared to similar crystals or something, they also get a little bigger, which I think can be great for escaping, like having a shrimp that's a little bit bigger. big.

It's a cool thing and when they start swimming in the tank like they're doing the up and down thing, it can be kind of sweet. I remember the tank I used to have at one of my old places where we had a big pool. Glosa carpet we also had a hair algae problem. I threw, I don't know, probably between 25 and 30 am, monkey shrimp in there and they destroyed the hair algae in probably just a few days. Maybe I don't remember correctly and it took like a week or a little more, but it seems to work that fast, they are kind of a simple looking shrimp, which I think is good for you, if you are trying to focus on Aquascape and not get distracted with a lot of colors, huh.

I know it's a bit grasping at straws but they're cool, they look like this and they're one of the best, putting them at the top of the list if we were really making a list we're not and if you haven't figured it out yet we have stickers incredible ones that include a monkey shrimp that I'm going to use to cover the Nike logo torn off on my shirt, but then the question appears in the lines: why don't I have one? any amono shrimp could probably use them in this tank that has a ton of algae. I think they'd probably work with the stuff down here.

It's hard to say because algae eaters in general can be a little picky like them. We are not going to chase every type of algae. I don't think there is a fish, an organism, a shrimp or any living thing that decides to chew on Blackbeard's algae, for example. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, that's what I think. I have in my head, uh, there will always be circumstances where people say: I know I had this fish and it ate that algae and I'm not saying that's wrong, but it can depend on a few things and I think the most important one is it's like if you pour a bunch of fish food or food in general into your tank because if you do, it doesn't matter what kind of algae eater it is, if it's a mono shrimp, if it's a you know, any fish, if you feed a bunch of food and that fish decides to go after that food, then it probably won't do what you want and will eat a lot of algae, so that's the big disadvantage for the Amano shrimp and there are a few more, but If you're someone who likes too much giving food to your animals, that will hinder their ability or you know the task you want them to do, whether it's an algae problem or whatever else you want them to do. pick detrius trash, if they are part of the cleanup team you want them to be part of the cleanup team so you have to put in a little effort to promote that other big Amano shrimp drop and I think that's probably the main reason why I don't have none at the moment is because they are small like escape artists, they are practically like an octopus.

I'm pretty sure this shrimp originates from Japan or like the mountain streams in Japan where people see it. out of the water all the time I think if I remember correctly and I've seen it a lot out of the water U mostly on my carpet it's not going to happen all at once like you're not going to get them and then a week later all 50 will be on the floor, but over time, little by little, you'll start to notice that, hey, there's a piece of a Ruffles chip like under the edge of my couch and you.

I'll get closer and it will be on a monkey shrimp. I don't know if it's because these things just like to get some air, maybe they're trying to get a little tan, as I can understand. uh I just think it's in their nature to be crawlers and they just want to move around and explore, and you know, that's great if you have a lid on the tank, no big deal, but with a lot of these

aquariums

if you have big branches. If you just like the rimless look and you're not a cover guy then amono shrimp might not be the best use of your money, pretty much a rip-off for having shrimp in your tank, it's like a combination like if you have fish bigger ones like pretending these dwarf rainbowfish were just regular rainbowfish.

Those fish would try to attack the amanos and the amanos would be running around trying to hide from them all the time and maybe that would encourage them eagerly. jumping more out of the tank, I'm not 100% sure, but if I were a betting man I'd say it probably makes sense, although it will be a problem with almost any shrimp, so if you're going to go to the Amano route, you know you want to stick with fish that don't harass shrimp and that may limit you a bit and might take the amanos off the list, forcing you to think about some type of other natural algae eater before jumping into the S tier fish of the consumer world of seaweed, the last thing I wanted to mention was just the Amano shrimp, you know, it's a shrimp that people associate shrimp with like raising them and making a lot more, which is Chill your Rano shrimp that you will get and they will be buried with eggs, so you'll think, "Hey, this is cool, they're about to get a bunch more and I'm going to get a bunch more of this stuff that'll end my algae problem, but." Well, what happens is they need to get out of fresh water and into brackish water for those larvae to survive, so they don't like to just come out as shrimp as an intermediate stage that then has to be in salt water to become shrimp. that you are willing to take the shrimp out, move them to a different, completely different type of environment, encourage that whole part of life and then reintroduce them to fresh water later, then you are not going to multiply your amono shrimp, unfortunately, a species of Es Too bad, but it's just another thing to consider when you're thinking about what you want to introduce into your system as a form of algae control, right?

But you know maybe it's easier than I'm imagining if I think it sounds interesting. You want to try raising a monkey shrimp. Make sure you get some fried salt. Well, we all know that fried salt is the best salt. They sponsor the channel. We use many of their products. We like them. a lot and you know Fritz is great company, they have taken care of me over the years so if you want to try to get some Amano shrimp that actually eat algae and do a good job let me know if you decide to go that route I would really like I would be interested to see it.

I have never tried it. Fritz RPM salt would be a very good option because not only does it have salt, it has all the essential minerals and things that you need. I also need to create that really cool briny environment, so I don't know, check out the links below. Thank you once again, Fritz for sponsoring this video and this channel. Alright, the best algae-eating fish and of course we have a sticker too. It's the super beautiful Siamese Algae Eater, it's not a simple fish, right, Siamese Algae Eaters should not be confused with the Chinese Algae Eater, they don't want to go down that path, huh, or any other fish that looks like an Algae Eater.

Yes, in fact, there are some that have a kind of fake appearance, like they're like those flies that look like bees that aren't actually bees, yeah, no, you don't want to do that, you want to make sure you get a real algae eater. Siamese and from what I've heard, I have somewhere in my brain that the reticulated siese algae eaters are actually the best of the best, like the top tier ones, somehow I don't know if that's true. Not really me either. The way I think you'll get a good choice, basically I think the same as a monkey shrimp, at least what I've experienced in all these years of raising fish is that they can turn into ham. hair algae but but and this is this this is the big this is the big you have to get small ones, they seem to have to be very young, which is easy to do because most of the time, when you see them in a fish shop They are, they are very young, they are juvenile, so combine some Siamese algae eaters along with the fact that you are not putting food on them that they access all the time, hopefully, not much, right?

If you want them to be hungry, you want to give them that push so that they have to look for food in the tank, then they will probably do what you want them to do and they will mainly chew on algae that is from that chain or that variety of hair that is green, I think it is a good rule of thumb to use things like staghorn as BBA, it's like, maybe, I, I, I haven't seen it, these fish are going to do a good job for you, I think so. I will be happy with the results I get, but the unfortunate dark side of the algae-eating siese is not uncommon in what is seen in the common pleco.

What I mean by this is that when they grow up, they can live. For a long time, what happens is that as they grow a little bit and get bigger, they're going to stop being as interested in doing the job that you want them to do, so what you're left with is a bunch of fish. big ones that You know, maybe medium sized fish that are almost the size of a rainbow fish that actually don't look as good, don't behave as well as a peaceful fish. I wouldn't classify them as anything that's super aggressive. although I've heard people say they've had problems with them and then you say, "Oh, I've got these six algae eaters that aren't algae eaters anymore and I guess I'll hang on to them for a long time." Forever, I actually didn't know how big these things could get until, as I was in the back room of the Co-op aquarium, one time, a bunch of years ago, I looked over and saw an IBS algae eater that was so great that I didn't do it.

I didn't even think he was real like me. I didn't think it was an IBS algae eater, but it was. I don't know how old he was, but why could he have been older than me? Not really, but then going down the route of having to unload a fish that is so big that no one really wants to know the fishmonger with someone who doesn't know anything like that's a bit of a strange situation to have to be in. I don't like things. like that and that's why I don't really have them. I don't like having a bunch of newer ones to put in tanks, you know, they fit right in, like Hey, we're doing algae eater stuff. and this is the best way to do it because I don't necessarily think it's the best way to do it anymore because you have to think about all these things and only time will give you experience and experience.

Perspective to see if, hey, this is actually a good idea, but I definitely have an IBS algae eater in the big tank that has been enjoying writing the coattails of this tank forever. um, it's big like I don't know where this guy is. I saw him hiding as if I were sitting among the roots today, trying to convince him to come out with some food that we would like to feed in abundance so that a lot of it ends up at the bottom for him. I think the problem is also that he's kind of a little skittish like he's so big and I think he knows he's big, it makes him uncomfortable even though he's in this huge tank and he has tons of space, um, just a theory I have, maybe if I stay here very still and don't talk. out loud he will come out if this guy doesn't come out for some pellets I know he's playing tricks on me this has to work he's smart I'm telling you he knows what he's doing okay leave that alone you just ate a lot of food guys , we're hot on the road, I just saw him, he's in the back, can I hold the microphone and do the camera thing?

This guy is definitely smarter than me because he won't do it. He refuses to face thecamera and it's probably hard to tell how big it is. It's not gigantic, but it's past the point of doing anything useful for me. I don't have the heart to send him to another home. I don't have the heart to do anything else with it. So he's just going to live in this tank probably forever for his entire life, however long that may be. It's just one of those things with

keep

ing the fish, you know, I think I compared it to a regular pleco before.

No, it won't get that big, but it will be more or less like this and you'll see that it's gone, gone, but it's still the same. breath, that aquarium behind me hasn't had any problems with algae, maybe it's been eating all the algae and I'm making it all up right now, uh yeah, that's definitely not the case. I wish that were the case. I wish those things would happen. It just eats algae forever, but unfortunately it's not something to take into account. I promise this isn't a fish rice video, but today is an exciting day so we have to do this.

It is the first day that we can feed our fish. In several months, the surface water temperature is 72 and it will be sunny for the next few days. I tried to find some food that has a little less protein, although I don't think it really matters much as long as we give them food and they're going to have that food in their stomachs for a period of time in which they can digest it, so while water stay at this temperature for a couple of 2 three hours should be fine so first inspection here let's see if you can get a zoom they're eating it they probably haven't oh yeah yeah it's the first one once and for all that makes me happy, I'm glad I did it, I think so, we have to have more than three rice fish here that survived, right?

I think we did it. in the winter with like we had six, I'm not sure I know, like a couple of them passed away before we got to the really really cold months, like they just weren't meant to spend a season like these fish. I have never been outside before this is its first winter. I don't want to forget about our midnight black madas in this pond, so we'll spray them with some of that food and see if they decide they want to go for this stuff. I mean they should, they should be, they're probably just figuring out what normal fish food is, again, like they've had to pick random things in this thing all winter.

Upon closer inspection, there are four of these types that survived the winter. and again I think we went in with like six, so I think there's a very good chance, I mean, these fish are going to be very strong, these are going to be our healthy breeders, hopefully we'll have two females, two males or at least you know, at except us. to have one of each right like we don't want, hopefully, not all of them are men or all of them are women, that would be a bummer, but I hope we get lucky with them and then these spring offs that we'll get this summer.

These fish will be perfect. These guys just needed me to get out of the way. They found the food. It seems like they are biting her. They're happy too, so I'm not sure what the bill is at midnight, but I think it's nice. close to what we had for those galaxy pearls. I don't know, I never can. There are too many rice fish names. I can never

keep

track of them, but I just wanted to show this little pond. Yesterday came and did you know a A little bit of yard work obviously needed some Boll for this video, but I also just prepared the old minnow.

Pond pulled out some of the stuff and pulled out some of the Dead Iris that were in here, but the interesting thing about this is remember that I don't know if you saw the video, this thing completely froze, we didn't have any fish all winter, but everything was a solid block of ice and it seems that Jenny crawling survived, the iris survived, the svenia. didn't survive in the same way, the svenia didn't survive here even a little bit of freezing either, um, but the duckweed did survive, so you can probably see little pieces of it floating around, the duckweed, the Invincible plant , so pawn season is right around the corner.

I think I want to try to start relatively early. I feel like every year I usually start late and it's like the first videos at the end of May, but considering everything I did with the rice fish and all the ponds. that already exist and are still ready. I don't have to completely restart almost any of them. I think we're going to start that here very soon, so there needs to be a little more work to do. I finished this video first, for example, so let's see that there are pros and cons to everything in this hobby, absolutely everything, so I've made a lot of videos over the years talking about how good these two organisms are at eating algae and that is still totally true.

I wouldn't make them if that weren't true, but there are always downsides to anything that comes with the Pros, so keep that in mind, I probably should also have prefaced this video with the fact that there are plenty of other organisms out there that can handle algae. On top of that, everyone will have their own set of experiences with this particular fish and this particular type of algae, so I'm not saying these are the only two, I just want to make it very clear, these are in my opinion, the S level algae eaters and I think most people who have been in the hobby for a long time would agree that some of the others like the notable ones that I know a lot of other people talk about, are they snails? ?

Why do I have it in my brain like the flag fish eats a particular type of algae somewhere very well? I mean, there's like a million more. I could sit here and probably get a few more for you, but I think if you know, if you want to brave the round of shrimp, if you have a lid on your tank, if you're not worried about anyone getting out of there, then Amano shrimp They would probably be one of the best pets as long as since you don't have fish that are going to harass them, sometimes you don't know from the beginning and you have to figure it out or if that doesn't work and you want to go the fish route if I want to go with the algae eater Sies, is still a very good choice, just be prepared to keep that fish probably longer than you want.

Make sure you have a place for them to live the rest of their adult life if that's your decision or at least have a plan to get rid of them at a reasonable time before they get too gigantic. I think I addressed the fact that the whole pleco thing isn't as bad as a regular pleco, so don't do it. Don't worry about it, oh yeah, like autoc cats. You know, people say they're good at handling certain types of algae, like things that are on the green stain on the glass. I think that's true for the most part, but it's just one. one of those things where if you put a bunch of food in the tank and the fish decides to eat the food instead of what you want, then they probably won't eat what you want, they won't always. 100% of the time it's so many factors, so many factors in fish tanks, guys, um, but I just wanted to point out some of the best ones, some of the caveats about the best ones because I don't think I've seen one. dedicated video like this one before, but yeah, I think that's the whole video, guys, I'm going to go sleep some more.

I haven't been feeling very well this week. I don't know if they could. tell me, but maybe you could, uh, yeah, I'm like I'm almost completely there if you want to get some sweet stickers and you don't want to, you know you don't have a lid, you still want to have an Amano shrimp boom. There you have it, if you don't want to deal with a giant siy algae eater that no longer eats algae, you can get sticker links below to check out the sticker store and also legit fish food, check out the links and get a free sample.

If you haven't tried it yet, thank you very much for your support guys, see you next week with a better voice and another video to help you. I hope that is the goal. Thanks again for watching, guys, and I'll see you next time. time