In the past I have had many problems with algae eaters. All of my algae eaters died rather premature. I have never really known why my algae eaters have died. Most freshwater tanks have at least one or two algae eaters. Algae Eaters come in many varieties and some will eat different kinds of algae than others. I have never seen an Algae Eater that will eat hair algae. Hair algae is the stuff that grows on the glass on your tank and can get pretty long.
They usually eat either the stuff on the gravel or the microscopic algae on the glass or on objects in the aquarium. Don't expect it to clean hair algae because they usually won't. If you want to get rid of hair algae you can scrape it off with an magnetic algae scrubber or the fish net. If you don't have any live plants or any algae eaters you can use algaecide which will wipe out all plant life usually.
I have had experience with two types of Algae Eaters: The Sucker and the Chinese Algae Eater. My favorite so far is the chinese algae eater. I have however heard that you need to be careful when the Chinese Algae Eater matures because it may have some bad qualities. I don't know what those charicteristics are but when I find out I will add it to this article.
If you don't have a good supply of algae in your tank and you think your algae eater is not getting enough or if you have too many algae eaters you may want to but algae wafers. I think there are many names for them but they are basically freeze dried algae that your algae eaters may like better. You can usually get them where you get your fish or you can ask your fish retailer to order you some. It is a good idea if you have too little amounts of algae for your algae eater or if you have a new tank.