The Puffer Forum

You could try some nerite snails or some cherry shrimp. We're trying some shrimp with our betta right now.

will shrimp eat the algae? and, will the snails be effective enough with the algae, without infesting the tank?

are you having an algae problem?

If not I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you get the right plants and it is "heavily planted" they will suck the nutrients out of the water before algae has a change to grow.

Shrimp are excellent algae eaters (and quite cute). We try to grow algae in our shrimp tank and have yet to be successful However, many bettas eat shrimp so it would be best if you could find them from a fellow hobbyist or a cheaper source (they're about $3 each in the stores here or 50c each from another person).

I don't know how good the nerite snails are at eating algae as we just got some and don't have much experience with them. However, they're quite pretty (they come in different colours) and they don't breed in FW at all so what you buy is all that you'll get.

I tryed cherry's with my betta and he sucked up every single one of them. It was nothing more then a 30 dollar snack.

Id go with simple pond snails, usually can pick up a couple for free most places. When they start to over populate just feed them to your puffer

i wont have a puffer then. i have to give my gsps to the lfs until i can afford and have room for a suitable tank

I found my nerites perfect for algae and the great news with them is they are hard if not impossible to breed so no influx. Also they are the one snail designed to have hardly any of its body outside of the shell which is perfect if the betta decides to have a go.