Algae eating fish (blenny?) options

[Thalia]

I'm just stocking my 75 gallon. It has 2 sailfin mollies, 1 scissortail and 3 more in quarantine. I have on order a pistol shrimp, 2 Bangaii cardinals and a yellow watchman (or false yellow watchman depending what the store can get). I'm starting to see green fuzzy algae in the tank that the mollies, snails and hermit crabs are either ignoring or not eating enough of to control it. Can I add (after quarantine) a lawnmower blenny? Or another type of algae eating fish? I'm concerned because I've read horror stories of lawnmowers getting aggressive with other fish.
Future stock list are clown fish x2 (mocha), Springerii damsels x3, mandarins x2 and betta. I have no interest in tangs, I don't think my tank is big enough.

 

[tbrown]

You can add a Lawnmower. I've had two that were model citizens (not together). You can also consider a smaller Tang such as a Kole or Tomini. Another option is a Hector's Goby but they do stay smaller.

 

[Thalia]

You can add a Lawnmower. I've had two that were model citizens (not together). You can also consider a smaller Tang such as a Kole or Tomini. Another option is a Hector's Goby but they do stay smaller.

And they shouldn't fight with the other gobies? That's my biggest worry...

 

[The Ugly Phase]

wow i think i'm tired i read the title as some algae was eating ur fish

 

[tbrown]

And they shouldn't fight with the other gobies? That's my biggest worry...

Depends on the other gobies. The YWG and Lawnmower inhabitant different parts of the tank and have different diets. My Lawnmower only really had interactions with the Starry Blenny. I had a YWG, a Diamond (for a little bit), and a Twin Spot in with the Starry and Lawnmower.

 

[tbrown]

wow i think i'm tired i read the title as some algae was eating ur fish

 

[Thalia]

wow i think i'm tired i read the title as some algae was eating ur fish

LOL not a little shop of horrors situation, no. I do have macroalgae though, will these guys eat it?

 

[Thalia]

Depends on the other gobies. The YWG and Lawnmower inhabitant different parts of the tank and have different diets. My Lawnmower only really had interactions with the Starry Blenny. I had a YWG, a Diamond (for a little bit), and a Twin Spot in with the Starry and Lawnmower.

I forgot that I have macroalgae in the tank too, do I need to worry about them destroying it?

 

[tbrown]

I forgot that I have macroalgae in the tank too, do I need to worry about them destroying it?

In my 8 gallon I have a Green Banded, a YWG, and a Hector's Goby. The Hector's doesn't seem to touch it. I'm not sure if the Lawnmower would. My Starry seemed to leave it alone when I added some to my 70. But it did eventually disappear (not sure if it was the Foxface, Starry, or Tomini though), but it was just a small clump in the DT specifically for them to eat.

 

[tbrown]

It keeps growing.

 

[Marine Betta]

I'm just stocking my 75 gallon. It has 2 sailfin mollies, 1 scissortail and 3 more in quarantine. I have on order a pistol shrimp, 2 Bangaii cardinals and a yellow watchman (or false yellow watchman depending what the store can get). I'm starting to see green fuzzy algae in the tank that the mollies, snails and hermit crabs are either ignoring or not eating enough of to control it. Can I add (after quarantine) a lawnmower blenny? Or another type of algae eating fish? I'm concerned because I've read horror stories of lawnmowers getting aggressive with other fish.
Future stock list are clown fish x2 (mocha), Springerii damsels x3, mandarins x2 and betta. I have no interest in tangs, I don't think my tank is big enough.

All of the options everyone has mentioned would be fine. How old is the tank? It sounds like it was recently cycled. If it’s green hair algae, some fish may not have an interest in eating it or enough of it to make a huge difference. I think bristle tooth tangs and zebrasoma tangs are the best work horses for algae control fish wise. Enough crabs and snails would also wipe it out. Just a word of caution, if it’s dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria, nothing will it eat. These can look similar to green hair algae. Those can only be removed by correcting the nutrient imbalance and/or other means which might include dosing various chemical products.

 

[Thalia]

All of the options everyone has mentioned would be fine. How old is the tank? It sounds like it was recently cycled. If it’s green hair algae, some fish may not have an interest in eating it or enough of it to make a huge difference. I think bristle tooth tangs and zebrasoma tangs are the best work horses for algae control fish wise. Enough crabs and snails would also wipe it out. Just a word of caution, if it’s dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria, nothing will it eat. These can look similar to green hair algae. Those can only be removed by correcting the nutrient imbalance and/or other means which might include dosing various chemical products.

It is recently cycled, started just after Christmas. The fish wouldn't be going in for at least a month. I just want to know what I should add

to my wishlist with the fish store that sells quarantined fish
I've got multiple little clumps of this showing up.

 

[Marine Betta]

All of the options everyone has mentioned would be fine. How old is the tank? It sounds like it was recently cycled. If it’s green hair algae, some fish may not have an interest in eating it or enough of it to make a huge difference. I think bristle tooth tangs and zebrasoma tangs are the best work horses for algae control fish wise. Enough crabs and snails would also wipe it out. Just a word of caution, if it’s dinoflagellates or Cyanobacteria, nothing will it eat. These can look similar to green hair algae. Those can only be removed by correcting the nutrient imbalance and/or other means which might include dosing various chemical products.

It is recently cycled, started just after Christmas. The fish wouldn't be going in for at least a month. I just want to know what I should add

to my wishlist with the fish store that sells quarantined fish
I've got multiple little clumps of this showing up.

That looks like green hair algae to me which is good. What are your nitrates at now? Lowering those should naturally reduce the gha, but your clean up crew will take care of it as well. Is this going to a reef tank or a fish only system? Either way, there a lot of great fish that you can put in a 75 gallon.

 

[Thalia]

That looks like green hair algae to me which is good. What are your nitrates at now? Lowering those should naturally reduce the gha, but your clean up crew will take care of it as well. Is this going to a reef tank or a fish only system? Either way, there a lot of great fish that you can put in a 75 gallon.

Reef tank! I just put in a bunch of soft and easy lps corals today! Nitrates are 10 ppm. Or were a few days ago when I last checked. I have mollies but they're ignoring it and the snails/hermit crabs don't seem to be touching it.

 

[Marine Betta]

That looks like green hair algae to me which is good. What are your nitrates at now? Lowering those should naturally reduce the gha, but your clean up crew will take care of it as well. Is this going to a reef tank or a fish only system? Either way, there a lot of great fish that you can put in a 75 gallon.

Reef tank! I just put in a bunch of soft and easy lps corals today! Nitrates are 10 ppm. Or were a few days ago when I last checked. I have mollies but they're ignoring it and the snails/hermit crabs don't seem to be touching it.

What lights are you running? Certain spectrums seem to promote gha growth more than others because 10 ppm for nitrates isn’t really that high. That’s a decent target for most coral, and you could ultimately go as high as 15 ppm and be safe. Some people run their nitrates even higher. I know WWC used to run their acropora tanks in the 30-40 ppm range. If you don’t have them, I would 2-3 Mexican turbo snails. They’re bigger than your average turbo snail, and they should clean it up really quick. You can also try an emerald crab, but I’d get him out of there as soon as the job is done. Every time I’ve ever tried one, it always eats something it shouldn’t, but they are great algae eaters.

As far as fish suggestions go, it comes down to what you want. You have a good fish list, but I’m happy to give you more ideas. I have always been a fish guy lol. I think tangs are great for reef tanks, and your tank should be just fine with a smaller species like the tomini tang. Bristle tooth tangs are some of the best algae eaters out there. As a side note, the marine betta was a great choice. They’re nearly bullet proof, and once they get over their shyness, they’re very personable. I had my last one for 17 years, and he would eat nori from my hand.

 

[Thalia]

Yeah I keep looking at tangs but they seem like they really should have a big tank to swim in, I also worry their activity will intimidate the gobies. I do have bristle tooth on my maybe list though, so if the algae gets real bad I might bite the bullet. I also have Halichoeres leucoxanthus on my maybe list but I worry about the safety of my CUC and other shrimp/crabs. I want pompoms, Sexy shrimp, porcelain crabs and maybe Pitho crabs. I'm also picking up a pair of skunk cleaners next week I would be really sad if they got turned into a fish snack. That's really cool about your betta, that fish and the mandarins I'm the most excited about.

 

[Thalia]

What lights are you running? Certain spectrums seem to promote gha growth more than others because 10 ppm for nitrates isn’t really that high. That’s a decent target for most coral, and you could ultimately go as high as 15 ppm and be safe. Some people run their nitrates even higher. I know WWC used to run their acropora tanks in the 30-40 ppm range. If you don’t have them, I would 2-3 Mexican turbo snails. They’re bigger than your average turbo snail, and they should clean it up really quick. You can also try an emerald crab, but I’d get him out of there as soon as the job is done. Every time I’ve ever tried one, it always eats something it shouldn’t, but they are great algae eaters.

As far as fish suggestions go, it comes down to what you want. You have a good fish list, but I’m happy to give you more ideas. I have always been a fish guy lol. I think tangs are great for reef tanks, and your tank should be just fine with a smaller species like the tomini tang. Bristle tooth tangs are some of the best algae eaters out there. As a side note, the marine betta was a great choice. They’re nearly bullet proof, and once they get over their shyness, they’re very personable. I had my last one for 17 years, and he would eat nori from my hand.

Oh and my lights lol I'm running fluval aquasky and Coralife actinic 39w t5 ho and 10k 39w t5 ho

 

[Marine Betta]

Yeah I keep looking at tangs but they seem like they really should have a big tank to swim in, I also worry their activity will intimidate the gobies. I do have bristle tooth on my maybe list though, so if the algae gets real bad I might bite the bullet. I also have Halichoeres leucoxanthus on my maybe list but I worry about the safety of my CUC and other shrimp/crabs. I want pompoms, Sexy shrimp, porcelain crabs and maybe Pitho crabs. I'm also picking up a pair of skunk cleaners next week I would be really sad if they got turned into a fish snack. That's really cool about your betta, that fish and the mandarins I'm the most excited about.

Halichoeres leucoxanthus are great fish. They’re great for pest control, but your other inverts may not be safe. If you want a wrasse, possum wrasses, flasher wrasses, and fairy wrasses are good invert safe choices. Possum wrasses are shy, but they’re neat fish. I would be careful with the sexy shrimp. They’re so small that a lot of fish will go after them. Even ones you wouldn’t expect. My betta never touched a single tank mate, and I had tiny nano gobies with him. Do you have a refugium? You will likely need one for the mandarin gobies, or you will have to add copepods pretty frequently. I wouldn’t add them for the first six months to year to build up the pod population. Even the captive bred ones need a stable supply of pods. The sexy shrimp could go in the refugium without an issue!

Ok, I don’t think the light is the problem. It’s probably just the ugly phase. Don’t get discouraged if gets worse. It happens to virtually every new tank, and it will get better.

 

[Thalia]

Halichoeres leucoxanthus are great fish. They’re great for pest control, but your other inverts may not be safe. If you want a wrasse, possum wrasses, flasher wrasses, and fairy wrasses are good invert safe choices. Possum wrasses are shy, but they’re neat fish. I would be careful with the sexy shrimp. They’re so small that a lot of fish will go after them. Even ones you wouldn’t expect. My betta never touched a single tank mate, and I had tiny nano gobies with him. Do you have a refugium? You will likely need one for the mandarin gobies, or you will have to add copepods pretty frequently. I wouldn’t add them for the first six months to year to build up the pod population. Even the captive bred ones need a stable supply of pods. The sexy shrimp could go in the refugium without an issue!

Ok, I don’t think the light is the problem. It’s probably just the ugly phase. Don’t get discouraged if gets worse. It happens to virtually every new tank, and it will get better.

Ooh I didn't realise those wrasses were invert safe. Should I add them before or after the damsels? I have no plans to add betta or mandarin for at least a year. I would feel awful if they starved to death. I was planning on getting the sexy shrimp after the anemone so they can do their thing with the anemone like they're supposed to and hopefully get some protection.
I had some amphipods hitchhike in on some macroalgae and I just put in my first litre of pods. I'll be dosing the tank with pods regularly until it's crawling lol.
I only have a 2 chamber sump, so I do have some live rock in it but no room for chaeto and light

 

[Marine Betta]

Halichoeres leucoxanthus are great fish. They’re great for pest control, but your other inverts may not be safe. If you want a wrasse, possum wrasses, flasher wrasses, and fairy wrasses are good invert safe choices. Possum wrasses are shy, but they’re neat fish. I would be careful with the sexy shrimp. They’re so small that a lot of fish will go after them. Even ones you wouldn’t expect. My betta never touched a single tank mate, and I had tiny nano gobies with him. Do you have a refugium? You will likely need one for the mandarin gobies, or you will have to add copepods pretty frequently. I wouldn’t add them for the first six months to year to build up the pod population. Even the captive bred ones need a stable supply of pods. The sexy shrimp could go in the refugium without an issue!

Ok, I don’t think the light is the problem. It’s probably just the ugly phase. Don’t get discouraged if gets worse. It happens to virtually every new tank, and it will get better.

Ooh I didn't realise those wrasses were invert safe. Should I add them before or after the damsels? I have no plans to add betta or mandarin for at least a year. I would feel awful if they starved to death. I was planning on getting the sexy shrimp after the anemone so they can do their thing with the anemone like they're supposed to and hopefully get some protection.
I had some amphipods hitchhike in on some macroalgae and I just put in my first litre of pods. I'll be dosing the tank with pods regularly until it's crawling lol.
I only have a 2 chamber sump, so I do have some live rock in it but no room for chaeto and light

The most invert safe of the those is probably the possum wrasse. The flasher should be fine, and the fairies are typically safe except for the larger ones like the Scott’s can eat small inverts. The flasher and fairies should have very little impact on the pod population, but the possum wrasse will eat pods, so you may want to hold off on one of those. Springeri are typically docile for a damsel, but you may want to consider adding the flasher or fairy wrasse first to be safe. There are a ton of options to choose from in either species at varying price points. That’s a good plan for the sump, and you’ll still get some pod propagation without the light. My only other warning about the sexy shrimp is that clowns will sometimes attack them if they want to host the anemone they’re in. Sexy shrimp are awesome, but they’re best for small nano tanks. They’re easier to see that way too lol.