Should I buy an algae eater or snail for my tank of mollies?

Question

I have a 20 gallon tank with 4 adult mollies and eight babies around 1 month old. The tank is getting a little grimy and I frequently have to scrape algae off the glass. Because I do have salt in the water, I'm not sure what kinds of tank cleaners to buy. Would a Chinese algae eater survive? Do I even need to get rid of the algae, or will the mollies eat it?

Answer 1

I used to have a snail for a small tank we had years ago & then we had more & more snails till there were so many it was ridiculous.  I went with the algae eater after that.

Answer 2

Mollies will eat some of it.  A 20 gallon tank is too small for most of the plecostamus or loach types of algae eater.  They grow very large and tend not to eat much algae as they get larger.  

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Answer 3

Snails multiply rediculously fast and are hard to get rid of.

And I would imagine that a Chinese algae eater, snails, or pleco would eat off of the plant anyway.

Just every few weeks change some of the water, rinse out your filter and all the tubes that come with it, scrape down the algae. Your mollies will probably eat some of the algae but not enough to do much help in keeping the sides clean.

My best recommendation would be to get a small pleco. It did grow rather fast but I think it stopped growing because I like you have a 20 gallon tank, and fish adjust their size based upon their growing room. I also have mollies with added salt and everyone gets along just fine. Good luck!

Answer 4

I lost my mind for a moment and brought home the cutest little snail.  All was fun til the games began. I was pulling 25 to 30 out every weekend and not keeping up. I tore the tank down and bought new rock just to get rid of them.  I feel you would have room for a Chinese algae eater. I have my first albino bushy nose pleco. They stay smaller and are very interesting to watch. They claim they only eat green, so on top of them cleaning the tank, you still have to drop in algae disks for them. I hope I was of some help to you. (Also if your mollies drop fry, these bushy nose pleco wont eat the fry)

Answer 5

Go with some snails. And learn about water quality to getting rid of the algae.

Answer 6

I would recommend getting rid of the alge and than purchasing the snail, because the alge eater may eat the mollies .