Hi. Something interesting that I have discovered - Lemon tetras eat brush algae.

I have a guppy tank outdoors which has got brush algae at the moment. Too much light and the CO2 ran out..... anyway, I've had no time to get siamese algae eaters to put in that tank to eat the brush algae. But seeing the brush algae bothered me so I moved the worst brush algae covered plants into another tank indoors which contains (amongst other fish), siamese algae eaters and lemon tetras. The idea was for the siamese algae eaters to clean the algae off the plants before putting the plants back in the guppy tank.

While I was looking at the plants, waiting for the siamese algae eaters to nibble at the algae, I noticed the lemon tetras were swimming by the plants and making flicking movements. When I looked closer, I realised that they were nipping off the brush algae, chewing it then coming back for more. They don't nibble like the siamese algae eaters but the nipping action doesn't cause any damage to the plants and the lemon tetras are faster to get going on the brush algae than the siamese algae eaters which are a little nervous.

Thought I would let you know.

Hmmm... time to get some lemon tetras I guess...

Thanks for the info.

And lemon tetras breed really easily too. I had some lemon tetras in a tank with a pair of angelfish and lots of java moss - the floor of the tank was covered entirely with java moss - and one day I noticed little tiny lemon tetras swimming in the java moss.

I also left a bucket of water from washing the filter from one of my tanks untouched for almost a month and later found a baby lemon tetra had hatched in the water.

Makes you wonder how many times we've thrown out fertilised fish spawn when we do our water change!

wonder how does your java moss grown on the ground
mind to teach me how to grow those java moss on ground?
thanks!

Just put it into the tank - it sinks.

i tried that
hehe
but it didn't work for me...
the water flow makes it fly here and there

anyway thanks
will try to use something to hook on them to hold

wow bonus... have 48 lemon tets...just keep swimming...
i hope they don't find my moss tasty...otherwise you will see for sale thread...

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Gus-Gus,
Weren't you worried about 'spreading' the brush algae from one tank to another?. Or am I just paranoid?. I am always worried about algae getting transported when plants or just water on my hands move from one tank to another.

I'm not worried about the brush algae "spreading" because algae cells are in the water anyway. Whether or not the algae multiplies (and the type of algae that grows) depends on whether the conditions are there for the various types of algae to grow or not.

The conditions in the tank (that I have been putting the plants into for the fish to eat the algae) are not good for algae growth - light, CO2, plant fertiliser levels are in decent enough balance that algae can't take hold in the tank. Or at least grow to levels that the siamese algae eater and other algae eaters can't keep in check.

It's no use being paranoid about algae because it is as present in water as dust is in the air.

Thanks for that. I've just fought off brush algae in my 4 ft. with high CO2, H202 and SAE. So far, (fingers crossed) tha tank is brush algae free. I still have some plants with brush algae in my 2 ft tank....... so now, I'm going to tranfer them into the 4ft tank for cleanup!.