Do bottom feeders do more good or bad

Question

I have a 55 gallon tank with an oscar, 2 blood parrot cichlids, 1 pleco, 3 silver dollars, 3 black skirt tetras. Now before yall freak out, im getting rid of teh silver dollars and putting the black skirts in a 10 gallon tank.

Now that leave an oscar, 2 blood parrot, and a pleco. I wanted to get a bottom feeder like some sort of catfish. Now, would getting a bottom feeder help keep the tank cleaner, like eating scraps off the bottom, or would they just add more waste than neccessary. If they are good, what type would you reccomend for a tank this size?

Answer 1

You've already got a bottom feeder in your pleco.  He'll eat scraps of fish food off the bottom along with algae.  With an oscar you are living dangerously as it is by having other fish in the tank.  They are pretty aggressive, so I hope the other fish are all the same size as it is.  Otherwise the oscar is liable to try to eat them.  I've seen too many questions on here that go something like "My oscar ate my pleco and now it's stuck in his mouth!  What do I do?"  You are already pushing the limits of your tank by having more than just the oscar in a 55 gallon as it is.  Don't get any more fish.

Answer 2

They do very well they even eat all the bacteria on plants and decorations They make your tank a safer and better place for all your fish to live in they even eat food that falls on the bottom of your tank and if u had no bottom fedder and no fish saw or ate it it would turn to slime and harm your fish so yes it does very well

Answer 3

I would suggest if anything, a decent sized synodontis catfish. Cats will eat anything and everything that they can get ahold of and make great "vacuum cleaners" for any tank.