Planted Tank

[homestar726]

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

[BigDaddy]

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

[plecoL83]

I have a "leopard pleco" that I got a petsmart for 15 dollars  (he's on my display pic) and he hasn't eaten any of my plants and looks really cool. 

[plecoL83]

American flag fish are great for eating string algea but are fin nippers to slower fish.

[Laura]

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.

[PrincessFish]

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.