The clean-up crew tank
80 × 35 × 40 cm · 112 l
Built for a tank that gets real light and grows real plants — which also means it grows algae. Rather than fighting that with chemicals, this stocking eats it.
What the engine says
Using about 14% of the tank's bioload capacity, on weekly 25% water changes. Engine 0.1.2.
The water this tank needs
- Temperature
- 23–27 °C
- pH
- 7–7.5
- Hardness (GH)
- 6–15 °dH
This is the overlap of every species in it — the narrower it is, the less room you have to drift. Check it against your tap before you buy anything: tap water tool
The stocking
Why it works
Each of the four does a different job: otocinclus take the soft green film off leaves, nerites take the hard spots off glass, amanos take hair algae nobody else will touch, and the cherry barbs are simply the fish you watch. One warning that matters more than the rest: otocinclus starve in clean new tanks. Add them last, months after setup, when there is genuinely something for them to graze.
Make it yours
Opens in the planner with the tank and every fish already in place. Change the numbers, swap a species, add your tap water — the verdict updates as you go.
Open this tank in the planner