What are the best fish to keep a planted tank clean and healthy.
I have a bizillion ramshorn snails (by accident), and a shrimp.
I want to maybe introduce a pleco, and maybe somwe loaches. Is there any better idea to what i should get to keep the algae levels down (including string algae)?
Thanks
A few suggestions.. but depends on the fish you keep
Shrimp - amano, ghost, cherry
All pretty good at dealing with cleanup to one degree or another.
BN Pleco
Smallish pleco, does a good job on algae, won't damage or uproot plants
Otos
Small in size but great little algae eaters, especially brown algae
SAE - Siamese Algae Eaters
The god send of a planted tank. One of the only fish that feeds on BBA, relatively docile and not a bad looking fish to boot
That's just a quick start
I have a "leopard pleco" that I got a petsmart for 15 dollars :o (he's on my display pic) and he hasn't eaten any of my plants and looks really cool. :)
American flag fish are great for eating string algea but are fin nippers to slower fish.
Be careful with the fancy plecos as many are not algae eaters and need much meatier food - they won't do much for algae.
Also consider the size tank they are going in - a small tank is great for a group of ottos, SAE are happy in a school and can get to 6" so are better in a larger tank.
You mentioned loaches, there are a number of smaller sp. of loach suitable for smaller tanks although many loaches will eat your shrimp and snails. They won't do anything for your algae though.
I bought two SAEs (Siamese Algae Eaters) a month ago and they are doing a great job of cleaning up. As a bonus, they are a blast to watch as they love to chase each other around and seem to be quite playful.