#CLEANING TOAU FISH FULL#

Mystery snails, on the other hand, are more like pets than janitors, so get them if you appreciate their appearance and behavior rather than their cleaning abilities. We personally like ramshorn snails, nerite snails, and Malaysian trumpet snails (which burrow and clean the substrate). They consume fish waste, algae, rotting leaves, and even dead fish, breaking down organic material even further for plants to use. They’re one of the best cleaners in the tank because they eat almost anything. Not everyone likes snails, but we always recommend them to our customers. Platies come in almost every color and pattern combination, and their drive for food will make them the tireless workhorses of your aquarium. Best of all, they reproduce quite readily, which means you’ll have platies of all different sizes – from 3-inch adults to 0.5-inch babies – that can fit into different types of nooks and crannies to look for food. Like the flatfish, they have a similar mouth shape that’s adept at pulling off algae and grabbing half-buried morsels. Not many people think of the colorful platy fish as potential clean-up crew members, but many livebearers are known for their insatiable appetites that cause them to constantly pick at the ground, plants, and décor for edible snacks. The strong pink color and nicely rounded abdomen are signs that this albino cory catfish is healthy and well-fed.

#CLEANING TOAU FISH FULL#

For more details, check out our full care guide. They can’t survive on only crumbs though, so make sure to specially feed them sinking wafers, frozen bloodworms, and Repashy gel food to keep their bellies nice and full. Like a living robot vacuum, cory catfish happily suck up any food that gets past the surface eaters. As peaceful scavengers, they use their barbels (or whiskers) to search for scraps, worms, and tiny crustaceans hidden in the substrate and between objects. The beloved cory catfish comes in many varieties and sizes, such as the 1-inch dwarf corydoras, 2- to 3-inch normal-sized cories, and 4-inch larger Brochis types. As a type of killifish, they can get a bit rambunctious, so make sure to keep them in a 20-gallon or larger aquarium with other fast tank mates.įlagfish are one of the few clean-up crew members that can live in unheated aquariums. Their mouths are also uniquely shaped for easily pulling off hair algae and black beard algae, although they may end up damaging more delicate plants in the process.

The males of this North American native fish have a beautiful pattern that resembles the stars and stripes on the United States flag. (If you don’t have live aquarium plants, you must remove the waste via water changes more frequently to keep your fish healthy.) Consider adding eartheaters as a fun and docile bottom dweller for any community tank that is 55 gallons or larger.īecause of the way eartheaters sift through substrate to find food, they tend to prefer sand over gravel. Any edible leftovers are swallowed, digested in their gut, and broken down further so that plants can more easily absorb the remaining waste byproducts. This group of South American cichlids consists of several genera, such as Geophagus and Satanoperca, that are known for scooping up substrate into their mouths and filtering it through their gills. Redtail sharks are great scavengers for large aquariums with similarly sized tank mates. As a bonus, they come in many variations, such as black, albino, and even Glofish colors. However, they can be a bit territorial, so only put one shark in a 29-gallon or larger aquarium to prevent aggression. Both species are scavengers that clean up any excess food that gets between decor, rocks, and equipment, and rainbow sharks will even eat algae as part of their diet. These freshwater “sharks” might seem like an odd group to start with, but you would be surprised at their janitorial skills. Keep reading to discover our top 10 favorite clean-up crew members that every freshwater aquarium should have. However, many animals do an excellent job of eating leftover food, algae, dying plant leaves, and even pest snails. Looking for a fish or invertebrate that will clean your aquarium so that you never have to do tank maintenance? Sorry, that mythical creature doesn’t exist.

Cleaning toau fish