Algae Eater Fish & Shrimp For Sale

Algae is not a pest that wandered in. It is your tank telling you there is more light and more nutrient than the plants can use.

That is worth saying first, because the most common mistake we see is buying a cleanup crew and expecting the tank to fix itself. Algae eaters are very good at holding the line and keeping surfaces clear. They will not out-eat a light that runs nine hours a day over a tank with three plants in it.

The second most common mistake is buying the wrong one. “Algae eater” is not one job — the animal that clears green film off glass is not the animal that touches hair algae, and almost nothing touches black beard algae. So start by looking at what you actually have.

Match the cleaner to the algae you actually have

Green film on the glass and hardscape

The soft green haze you wipe off with a finger.

• Nerite snails are the most reliable answer. They work glass, rock and wood without touching healthy plants, and they cannot breed in freshwater, so the population never runs away from you.
• Otocinclus catfish graze the same film and will also work the underside of broad leaves where a snail is slower to get to. Keep them in groups of six or more — singles do poorly.

Brown diatoms on a new tank

Common in the first two months while the tank settles, and it usually fades on its own.

• Otocinclus clear it quickly.
• Nerite and mystery snails help on hard surfaces.
• Do not overstock for a problem that is likely to solve itself by week ten.

Hair and thread algae

Green strands on plants, wood and equipment. This is where shrimp earn their place.

• Amano shrimp are the strongest grazer we stock for hair algae, and adults are large enough that most community fish leave them alone.
• Ghost shrimp work the same job in bulk and are the cheapest way to put real grazing pressure into a tank.
• Australian riffle shrimp are filter feeders rather than scrapers, so treat them as a bonus rather than the fix.

Soft green growth on wood and slower surfaces

• Bristlenose plecos rasp steadily and stay a manageable size compared with the common plecos people are often sold. Give them driftwood — they use it.

Black beard algae

The dark tufts on leaf edges and filter outlets. This is the honest part: very few animals eat it.

• The Siamese algae eater is the one that genuinely does, and mostly while it is young. Availability moves around, so use the back-in-stock alert on the product page rather than waiting on the collection to refresh.
• Everything else is treatment of the cause — less light, more flow, steadier CO2 and nutrients, and cutting out the worst leaves.

Detritus in the substrate

Not algae, but it feeds algae.

• Corydoras keep the sand turned over and eat what falls through.
• Malaysian trumpet snails burrow and stop the substrate going stale.

How many, for what size tank

A rough working guide for a planted community tank:

Two cautions worth more than the list above. Snails multiply to match the food available, so the answer to “my snails exploded” is nearly always less food, not more snails. And a brand-new tank has almost nothing on the glass yet — a large crew added on day one will slowly starve, so add them once there is something for them to eat.

What we keep in the room

We breed and grow out most of our invertebrates on site, across roughly 500 tanks and tubs over two levels at Wetherill Park. That shows up as depth rather than as a marketing line: on a normal week we are holding well over a thousand nerite snails and comparable numbers of ghost and algae-grazing shrimp at once.

It means you can stock a crew properly in one order instead of buying three snails at a time, and it means the animals were raised here rather than shipped in for the order.

If you would rather not assemble the crew yourself, our Ultimate Cleaner Crew Mega Pack bundles 24 cleaners across species, and the Algae Eater Fish Bundle is the fish-only version. Both are sized for a standard community tank.

Frequently asked questions

Which algae eater is best for a beginner?

Nerite snails. They eat the film most people are actually looking at, they cannot overbreed, and they do not need a group to be comfortable.

Will algae eaters eat my plants?

Nerites, otocinclus and Amano shrimp leave healthy plants alone. Bristlenose plecos can rasp on very soft leaves if there is not enough else to graze and no driftwood in the tank, so give them both.

How many otocinclus should I keep together?

Six or more. They are a shoaling species, and single or paired otocinclus tend to stop feeding properly and fade over a few weeks.

Can I keep shrimp and algae-eating fish in the same tank?

Yes, with peaceful species. Otocinclus and corydoras coexist with adult shrimp without trouble. Shrimplets are a different question — anything with a mouth will take them.

Nothing is touching my black beard algae. What now?

Treat the cause. Reduce the photoperiod, improve flow past the affected spots, keep nutrients and CO2 steady rather than swinging, and manually remove the worst leaves. A young Siamese algae eater helps, but it is a supporting move, not the fix.

Related: Algae eating snails · Corydoras · Plecos · Shrimp essentials