The Puffer Forum

I've decided to set up a 55g brackish tank for Figure 8 puffers but I've been told I need something to control the algae or it'll get out of hand. What would work as an algae eater in this tank? I was thinking about putting the salinity at 1.004 but I'd be willing to go a little lower to accommodate.

1.004 is barely brackish. There's not much for suitable brackish algae eaters. You could go with a handful of nerites. The usually keep their shells close enough to the glass to avoid being picked at.

Depends on the type of algae & how agressive your puffers are. Molies ate all my hair algae but eventually, the puffers ate the molllies.

Would you say an algae eater is necessary? The guy at the fish store (locally owned, not a petsmart or anything, very experienced guy) told me too much algae would grow without one. Said a pleco would be ok in 1.002ish water.

bigpuff wrote:Would you say an algae eater is necessary? The guy at the fish store (locally owned, not a petsmart or anything, very experienced guy) told me too much algae would grow without one. Said a pleco would be ok in 1.002ish water.

They aren't necessary, as long as you have a good amount of water flow and your lighting isn't too strong then algae growth will be limited so that it doesn't really become visible on the glass and substrate unless you haven't cleaned the tank in a couple of weeks. Algae will always build up but good maintenance will keep it at bay.

Said a pleco would be ok in 1.002ish water.

Please do NOT listen to so called "experts"! Plecos are softwater fish--the opposite of BW.

I have had a brackish tank with just one F8 and some ghost shrimp for almost a year with no algae problems at all. Maybe that's because it's still a relatively new tank, but I also have LED lighting and some live plants in there which help eat the nutrients needed by algae to grow. I've tried many different plants but it's difficult to grow in brackish water. Java Ferns, Java Moss, Banana plants and Marimo Moss Balls do quite well though!

Like the others have said, regular water changes, low lighting and good maintenance help the most with controlling algae. I don't think you NEED an algae-eater if you do the work and have a couple live plants to help out.