If you are familiar with saltwater aquariums, you will know that there are a lot of different options for tank cleaning. A lot of these are snails or crabs, which are amazing creatures and love to munch on algae and debris!
But, did you know that some fish also love to clean up your saltwater aquarium!?
Let’s look at the top tank cleaning fish that are suitable for both beginner hobbyists and novices alike!
Yellow Tangs
Everybody loves tangs and the yellow tang is probably one of the favorites amongst aquarium hobbyists. They are wonderful to watch and pretty simple to take care of.
The yellow tang comes from the Hawaiian islands and is, you guessed it, a beautiful bright yellow color!
It likes a tank with plenty of space, so an aquarium of over 50 gallons is perfect for the yellow tangs to stay happy and content. This species is easy to take care of and pretty hardy, so a great choice for beginners. But, pay attention to their health as they are prone to suffering from marine ich. This is a disease that is caused by parasites but thankfully can be treated.
The yellow tang is a herbivore so eats plants, and loves to munch on algae! They are active fish and normally spend a lot of their day grazing on the algae in their tank, so perfect if you have an algae issue that needs a constant cleaner! They eat hair algae and macroalgae. If there is no algae in the aquarium, the tang can eat dried seaweed and vitamin flakes.
They are pretty peaceful fish, and are coral safe, but might get aggressive to other tangs. It is best if you have only one adult yellow tang in your aquarium unless they are both introduced to the tank at the same time.
Diamond Watchman Goby
Gobies are another great addition to your saltwater aquarium if you are looking for fish to keep it clean.
The diamond watchman goby is perfect for beginners as it is easy to care for and has a calm and placid nature. These fish rarely get ill. They are quite small, only growing about six inches and have beautiful orange spots!
They need an aquarium of at least 30 gallons and because they are sand sifters, need a sand substrate in the aquarium. They dwell at the bottom of the tank and spend their time going through the sand, looking for debris or anything else that they can feed on. They also make themselves shallow burrows in the substrate for them to hide in. This helps them feel super safe and calm!
These fish are great because they keep your substrate clean, scavaging any rubbish that is wasted by picking up sand in their mouths and sifting through it. This also means that the substrate oxygen levels are kept healthy as the sand is constantly being moved and sifted.
These gobies are carnivores and eat shrimp and krill, so make sure they have enough food in the tank to keep them strong! They are generally peaceful and are good with a range of tankmates who are not aggressive.
However, they do not like being around too many other sand sifting gobies and will get territorial. Because of this, we advise you to keep either just one or a mating pair of gobies in each aquarium.
Lawnmower Blenny
Blennies love to eat algae, especially hair algae. Because of this, they are a great addition to your saltwater aquarium as they will go ahead and keep themselves busy with any algae in your tank!
They are pretty easy to look after and suitable for aquarium size as small as 30 gallons. They need a lot of live rocks and caves for them to hide in. They are pretty peaceful fish, however can get aggressive to other blennies so it is best to keep them the only blenny in the tank! They are not reef safe as they will nip and bite on the corals.
These blennies spend all their time going from rock to rock munching on algae in the aquarium, grazing on the rockwork. They are so interesting to watch as they peck away on each rock, getting off all the algae they can! They especially love hair algae but are known to eat other types.
You must make sure they have alternative food if the algae runs out and can be fed dried seaweed. They have big appetites so keep your eye out on the algae levels in the aquarium!
Final Thoughts
These three fish are wonderful additions to your saltwater aquarium because not only are they easy to care for, they help you to keep your tank clean!
So next time you are wanting to bring in a hardworking cleanup crew, give this fish a thought! You won’t regret it when your tank is looking as good as new.
