The Puffer Forum

Hello Everyone,

I wasn't sure where to post this so I decided this would work. I have a 20 gallon tank at my home with a wonderfully happy Saddleback Valentini named Lazarus and a few other small fish with a variety of invertebrates (nassarius, hermits, sea star, and a sea urchin). Unfortunately I can't be home much now since I just finished my first year in college and now my job calls for me to be 4 hours away from home. Since I haven't been able to be home as much my father has graciously been willing to take of the tank. But unfortunately he can't understand the affects of overfeeding and the need for constand cleaning. Does anyone know of any super algae eaters that I could add to my tank? Right now it's brown algae that's ruining the look of my tank. I know that some is good but eveytime I come home it looks like someone forgot about it for a year. I even have my light on a timer; what can I do??????

What other small fish do you have? How long are your lights on for each day? How much are you/your dad feeding?

Sounds like you've probably got too much livestock in the 20gal which is contributing to the issue.

As far as algae munchers, for diatom (brown algae) control cerith snails seem to be about the best though finding them is often annoyingly difficult.

If it's brown, it's probably diatoms. I agree, your tank is way overstocked.

Snails are really the only solution to this. Though they probably wont work because of your hermits and maybe your valentini..