Thought help: Are there any small animals that eat algae? - Help.com

DancerLynn
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Are there any small animals that eat algae?

I have been thinking about building a paludarium and was concerned about the algae that will undoubtedly grow on the land portions. I don’t mind algae in general as I’m sure it will give the setup a more natural look, but does anyone know of any terrestrial or amphibian algae eaters just in case it gets out of hand?

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A-K-S offline Verified User (1 year, 6 months) Help.com Volunteer Moderator Long Term User Shouts: 2 #
Cape Coral, FL, US | 1 year, 4 months ago (4 minutes after post)

crayfish..thats what i always used. but they are climbers, so you have to take that into account. 4 crayfish kept my 50 gallon tank very clean.

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cookies and cream offline Verified User (1 year, 6 months) Help.com Volunteer Moderator Long Term User Shouts: 24 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year, 4 months ago (30 minutes after post)

catfish do, and there is another type
We call them sucker fish, i don’t know if thats their real name or not.
But they have big mouths and hardly ever swim.

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DancerLynn offline Verified User (1 year, 11 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
US | 1 year, 4 months ago (45 minutes after post)

A paludarium is part land, part water. I plan to have Otos and Siamese Algae Eaters to take care of any algae in the water part, but I don’t think they will be able to eat the algae growing in the moist land parts above the water line.

I didn’t know that crayfish eat algae. The crayfish that I’ve heard of grow relatively large and have a reputation for eating small fish. The paludarium will be pretty small, so there will only be room for small creatures that stay small. Do you know of any crayfish that don’t grow much bigger than 2-3″ that would be able to take care of land algae?

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A-K-S offline Verified User (1 year, 6 months) Help.com Volunteer Moderator Long Term User Shouts: 2 #
Cape Coral, FL, US | 1 year, 4 months ago (54 minutes after post)

the crayfish will come onto moist land, but the ones i had got up to about 3 inches long..they can and will eat small fish, and just about anything they can get thier claws on. Some snails will eat algae, ask at a fish store for the kinds that do.

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DancerLynn offline Verified User (1 year, 11 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
US | 1 year, 4 months ago (1 hour, 15 minutes after post)

I know of several snails that help with algae (Apple snails, Mystery snails, Ramshorns, Malaysian Trumpets, among others), but I was under the impression that they are fully aquatic. Are there any small, amphibious snails that I don’t have to worry about overpopulating my tank that eat algae?

I’m not worried about algae underwater, because I know what usually causes it and I can prevent it in advance. But since this is going to be my first paludarium, and there is little info on paludariums in general, I don’t know how much algae I’ll get on the areas just above the waterline where it will be moist enough for algae to grow, but dry enough that fully aquatic creatures won’t be able to get to it. I think with the shape of the land part and the small size of the tank it might be hard to remove by hand. The only option I can see at the moment is some kind of algae-eating amphibian.

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A-K-S offline Verified User (1 year, 6 months) Help.com Volunteer Moderator Long Term User Shouts: 2 #
Cape Coral, FL, US | 1 year, 4 months ago (1 hour, 28 minutes after post)

well, i guess i would recomend someone with a little more knowledge..

here is a link talking about algae. you might find more info if you click on the index

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants…

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DancerLynn offline Verified User (1 year, 11 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
US | 1 year, 4 months ago (1 hour, 57 minutes after post)

Thanks for the link. I think that there might be some insects, arachnids, or shrimp that eat algae, but there’s a good chance that the other inhabitants might eat them.

I’m wondering if I might even have an algae problem that would require that kind of attention. I plan to have one or two stream/waterfalls, and if they get algae like the way power filters do, it would defiantly be a bother. Maybe I can make them deep enough to let the fish swim up and eat the algae. I guess I’ll have to send a few e-mails to some people who’ve had paludariums and ask if they had any major problems with algae. I’ll tell you guys what I find out.

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slong400 offline Verified User (1 year, 4 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
Louisville, KY, US | 1 year, 4 months ago (7 hours, 27 minutes after post)

I dont know of any myself but the others seem to know good luck

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knowitall offline Verified User (1 year, 5 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
Plainsboro, NJ, US | 1 year, 4 months ago (1 day, 20 hours after post)

anything that will spend most of its time attached to the side of a fish tank does. Just ask any employees at the store. Most will know.

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Sirchasman offline Verified User (1 year) Long Term User Shouts: 0 #
Saint Louis, MO, US | 1 year ago (3 months after post)

I believe snails will eat alge…i think they help to keep a fishtank pretty well cleaned up. I could be wrong.

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lpjl offline Verified User (1 year, 1 month) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
Norwell, MA, US | 10 months, 2 weeks ago (5 months, 3 weeks after post)

Fish are not animals, however they do eat algae.
There is also a type of fish that will walk on dry land for short periods of time.

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rockstar7.mccor offline Unverified User #
An Unknown Location | 5 months, 3 weeks ago (10 months, 2 weeks after post)

Do CrawFish eat Algae?

Courtney McCord

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lpjl offline Verified User (1 year, 1 month) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
Norwell, MA, US | 5 months, 3 weeks ago (10 months, 2 weeks after post)

Tapoles eat algae, they turn into frogs and frogs are clasified as animals,
Please correct me if I am wrong.

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