"Christopher" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
What would everyone suggest for the proper number of algae eaters in a
tank?
I assume this varies a lot from tank to tank, but I'm up to 7 SAE, 3 CAE,
and 1 pleco and I still have visible algae in my tank, nothing terrible
but
its still there (I'm not counting the spot algae on the glass). What I'm
wondering is is it safe to get a couple more SAE's for my 125g or is it
best
to leave a surplus of algae at all times? I would hate to have a SAE
starve
to death from lack of algae (i do have tabs though).

someone else will tell you to loose the CAE, so I won't mention it *smile*

In it's previous life, my 125 heavily planted south american (mostly) tank
had the following algae eaters. They did a great job. no algae on plants,
very little on rock. There was one peice of driftwood that they never
touched, though. Maybe it tasted funny.

Anyway, here is what I had in it for cleaning up.

3 SAE (was 6, we had some jumping mishaps)
40 to 50 ottos (these guys are real cheap in indianapolis)
5 common pleco's
3 to 4 dozen ghost shrimp. I know they don't eat algae, but they clean the
bottom REAL good.
1 to 2 thousand MTS. hard to tell for sure.

All the above was in addition to the stuff I was growing to show off, which
were 5 large angels, and a school of about 50 or so neon's, and 5 clown
loaches.