Aquarium Fish Eat Algae?

mom's silverdollar fish eating an algae disk

Aquarium Freshwater Algae

The relationship between lighting and algae is complex. In an unplanted aquarium, the more light you provide, including direct sunlight, the faster algae will grow. But because many  aquatic plants can actively suppress the growth of algae when they are healthy (see Allelopathy below), brightly lit aquariums with a lot of aquatic plants can actually have less algae than dimly lit aquariums with no aquatic plants or only slow-growing plant species.

Controlling the lights’ illumination period in an aquarium is important. Aquatic plants do best with a regular 10- to 12-hour lighting period. Any lighting beyond this point will favor the algae. Aquatic plants do just as well if the lighting is broken into two five- to six-hour periods with a two-hour “siesta” in between, but for some reason, algae do not. Try putting your aquarium lights on a timer switch to see if that reduces algae problems in a planted aquarium.

Neale Monks studied zoology at the University of Aberdeen in the north of Scotland and obtained his Ph.D. at the Natural History Museum in London. He's also been a marine biologist, a high school teacher, a university professor and a museum's exhibit designer. But his real love has always been tropical fish. His particular interest in brackish water fish culminated in his editing of the first encyclopaedic book on the topic, 'Brackish-Water Fishes', published by TFH in 2007. Neale regularly contributes to all the major English-language fishkeeping magazines, focusing especially on community tanks, biotopes, healthcare and water chemistry issues. After living in London and then for a while in Lincoln, Nebraska, Neale now lives in a quaint cottage in a pretty market town in Hertfordshire, England, where he divides his time between teaching and writing.

Bloggin' in the Burbs: Maintenance Free Aquariums - Fact or Fiction?

The hobby of fish keeping has been around for decades. Even back in the 1900's, people kept fish in their homes as a hobby. Over the years, technological advances have brought us new filtration systems, bubblers, chemicals and even aquariums. Now we see our saltwater aquatic friends in our homes, living and breeding in the habitat we provide them. The maintenance of any tank involves required water changes, filtration media changes, gravel cleaning, algae cleaning and chemical balancing to maintain the perfect pH levels. We've all seen it stated in almost every book, on all sorts of aquarium websites and hear it in pet stores - remember to do a water change of 10% every week. With water changes, the fish in the tank seem to perk up, to swim quickly around the aquarium, as if they have received a new outlook on life. To maintain a healthy tank, it is essential that we change our media or filters in the filtration system.