Goldfish companion

Question
I have a couple of goldies in a 55gal tank. i was wondering if I could get an algae eater in the tank because the algae is getting pretty bad. I don't use a heater because I keep my goldies in an upstairs bedroom and in the winter, the lowest is 3celcious. I want to know if there is an algae eater that can survive those conditions. Also, what should I feed it? I heard that all you need to do is leave them and they will find their own food. My goldies are about 1 and a half years old so are they too big and will eat the algae eater? Thanks for all your advice,
Kaylie

Answer
It depends on how many fish you have. You don't want to overstock a goldfish tank. If you have just two goldfish, a regular Pleco should be fine. I'll warn you though, they do get to be HUGE, over two feet long in most cases.
They will probably not eat the pleco, since he will likely get bigger than them, and most plecos have very tough scales like armor plating.
They are veggie eaters, so you want to make sure there is some visible algae in your tank at all times. If not, you can drop algae wafers in it, or even pieces of cucumber or steamed zucchini.
Here is a website for you to check out plecostomus species -
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pleco.htm