Which is the best

Question
Hello I'm interested in getting a fresh water fish tank. I have read on which fish are good and bad and so forth but I was curious about which is the best to have for algae? Snails or algae eaters? Also I have read that their are certain algae eater such as Chinese algae eaters are bad to have in a fresh water tank. Last question, how long do you let it go when it comes to cleaning the tanks? 2 weeks a month? Thanks for any help you can give.

Answer
Hi Frank
In all honesty, you shouldn't really rely on a fish or other critter to take care of algae problems.  Best bet is a good old fashioned cleaning with your hand and an algae scrub :)  There's lots to consider-what kind of algae you're dealing with-some fish will only eat certain algae, what size is the tank, how large will the fish grow-some pleco varieties will grow over 18+ inches, etc.  And always keep in mind, regardless of what kind of fish or snail, you're still going to need to supplement their diet with algae wafers, vegetables, and shrimp pellets, etc.  

Chinese algae eaters do have a bad reputation-I've never owned them due to that, but I've never really heard much positive about them.  As they get older and larger, they tend to stop eating the algae, and get territorial/aggressive towards other fish in the tank.  And they can grow to 9+ inches, a lot of times it's a bit larger then what most people can accomodate in a tank.  

I have/have had several different types of algae eaters over the years.  Snail wise, I just got some Malaysian trumpet snails, and they are remarkable.  By far the best I've ever seen at helping out with algae in my opinion.  Other good options for snails are apple & mystery snails, and ramshorns-but these tend to multiply very very quickly, which doesn't bother me but a lot of people hate them.

Fish wise, plecos are usually pretty good.  I've only had the common varieties-which grow large and need a large tank, are pretty good.  I have one I put in my pond in the summertime, and I let the algae grow in one of the tanks during that time.  The glass will get pretty green, and he'll have it cleaned spotless within 24 hrs. There's lots of varieties of plecos as well, some will stay smaller like bristlenose, clown, and rubber lip plecos.  But they do have different requirements.  

Other options, oto cats, they stay small-about an inch and are very sensitive to water quality.  Best in a community tank set up, 1 per 10 gallons, and they do prefer to be in groups.  

Siamese algae eaters are good, but be careful a lot of stores mislabel them and Chinese algae eaters.  Know how to tell the difference between the two-which is actually pretty easy once you see the differences.  

That's all I can think of at the moment for algae eaters.  I can't recommend one over the other, I've had them all and yes, some were better cleaners then others. I don't mind algae in my tanks, it's not a "bad thing" like people seem to think.  All I can say is to research thoroughly the fish or snail you'd like to get.  Make sure you have the proper tank size for it so you don't end up with a tank buster foot long fish in a 10 gallon tank, and will be able to provide the proper supplemental feedings for it as well.   It really comes down to personal preference as well which you'd prefer-the snails or fish.  LIke I said, I'm really impressed with my Malaysian trumpet snails, only had them a few weeks now, and they're neat lol.  They're also good at sifting through the substrate-which is great if you have sand.  

For tank cleaning, I always recommend 25% water changes/gravel vacuums done weekly-and that's for a normal stocked, filtered, and fully cycled tank.  If a tank's overstocked obviously it'll need more water changes done weekly, but that 25% weekly is the minimum to maintain a healthy tank.  

Hope that helps and good luck!

Christy