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70G heavily planted - covered in algae
exturnal fitler


how many ottos to add to
current stock

1 angelfish
5 cories
12 H rasbora
6 glowlight tetras
3 ottos
6 neon dwarf rainbows


cheers Karl.

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

What kind of algae is it? Otos might not like it.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

10+

What is your reasoning for having the ottos?? As algae control(what type)? or do you just like them?

The angel likely will one day see the ottos as food.

A BN pleco can be helpful with algae.

i've got green spot, and what could either be thread, hair or even stag. or even all of them.

i love ottos,

as for the angel, he is huge and has never even attempted to eat any of the fish in the tank, must be well fed!

the ottos i have now are trying their best all have huge bellies, just the tank is too big.

cheers Karl

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

Karl,

I believe that once the "threads" reach a viewable size the Otos are not gonna go after them anymore. They like the tiny fresh alage that the human eye can barely, or not at all, see.

You can for sure double your number of Otos, without any doubt at all. I would even go so far to say that 10 will be fine, but then it is time to check if there is enough fresh young algae for them to eat and if not to supplement with wafers.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ottos add practically nothing to the bio load of a tank, so I rarely see a problem with buying half a dozen or more and hopefully most of them survive the stress of moving and aclimating to a new tank. However, they may not be very interested in the algae you have--it's too tough for them. I still totally advocate getting some ottos, but you might want to think about nerite snails for your algae. They'll scour off greens pot algae from your glass, and they've been eating some kind of glue-green algae off my anubias which makes me very happy. The thread alagae might be a problem they might not be interested in, though.

What you really need to do is figure out what nutrients your plants are missing that is allowing the algae to move in. I Used to have a very similar problem that was caused by a lack of ferts, unstable DIY CO2, and overfeeding. Now I use virtually everything from the Flourish line of plant supplements, and I'm having much much better luck.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I had a golden apple snail until he pigged out on what I found out was blue green algae. All I found the next day was an empty shell and some very happy little fish. I dunno if BGA is toxic, but I sure think it is. Come to think of it, I'm glad the fish survived.

Ottos add practically nothing to the bio load of a tank, so I rarely see a problem with buying half a dozen or more and hopefully most of them survive the stress of moving and aclimating to a new tank

Is this really true? As grazing algae eaters I would think they'd be little poop machines...

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Back in the saddle!

Is this really true? As grazing algae eaters I would think they'd be little poop machines...

True NowherMan6, but they are tiny fishies. Compare their body mass to a common Pleco, you can easily fit 10 Otos in one of them (ok, not a baby Pleco). Even if the Otos would eat 24/7 thei wouldn't make a huge dent in a heavily infested (algae) tank. What they are good at is avoid any new algae growth (of the type they actually eat) that develops slowly.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

True NowherMan6, but they are tiny fishies. Compare their body mass to a common Pleco, you can easily fit 10 Otos in one of them (ok, not a baby Pleco). Even if the Otos would eat 24/7 thei wouldn't make a huge dent in a heavily infested (algae) tank. What they are good at is avoid any new algae growth (of the type they actually eat) that develops slowly.

I guess I'm just comparing them to my old BN, he was only 4 inches long but could cover the substrate with poop in 2 days. I know the BN - which is small as plecos go - has more mass than the average oto, but what about the combined mass of say 10 otos?

I do have no experience with them, so all the oto owners here would know much better than I, I'm just trying to think through the same problem as SheKoi. If they make as little poop as you say they do then I'll believe you, but lots of people around here suggest BNs all the time without mentioning that they're huge waste producers, and I assume that the huge amount of waste production comes from the fact that they're algae grazers just like otos, constantly eating - thus the connection to SheKois oto question

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Back in the saddle!

Is this really true? As grazing algae eaters I would think they'd be little poop machines...

Hi NowherMan
Ottos do excrete as fast as they graze (which is to say, all the time) but they are terribly tiny, and with a diet of 98% plant matter, they simply don't produce the kind of noxious waste a larger omnivore would. I'd even go so far as to say that they produce as much or less waste than an average cardinal tetra. They are just cool little fishes!

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Yes BGA can be toxic. I had the same problem with a mystery snail. If this is your only tank I would scrub the algae off the glass nearly triple your Otto's (from what I understand its one to two otto's per 5 gallons and even more sometimes) For the thread algae your looking at a MALE molly unless you want to create live food for your angel and get a pair. I would always recommend a BN for that size tank, I have a pair in a 90 and they keep it squeaky clean, but are not for all tanks. The trouble with the Otto's is they can't dispatch current algae only prevent it. So you can either get a BN and put him in another tank after he cleans it, or get one and then sell him back (someone told me to do that with a clown loach for snail control.)

It is important to figure what nutrients are out of whack, and it may even help to get some MTS to put in there because they will eat the detritus and help control the wastes before they become way out of hand, plus they wont eat your plants. I keep a full clean up crew spread out thru all 12 of my tanks so that I can transfer them to a tank that needs cleaning of a specific type. Though all and all my recommendation is a BN and Molly till its under control and you balance your nutrients.

cheers for all the replies.

i have just brought 5 more ottos, taking my stock up to 8.

i'm also getting some shrimp to help clean up dying leaves etc?, how many would people suggest and am i right in thinging that shrimps do eat dead leaves as well as algae.

i do have a BN in my 40g (UK) the problem with transfering him, is he is very active and i'm worried he will damage my plants, and i would find it very hard to catch him in a heavily planted tank,
my 40G has alot of open substrate so it's easy to clean up after the BN, as he does produce loads of waste. i can do a gravel vac and a couple hours later it doesn't look like i've do anything - i do have 2 other plecs to.

thanks again

Shekoi

ps, i'm now adding flourish excel and i have setup diy co2 for now, already the tank looks better, just hope it stays that way.

www.blooming-brilliant.co.uk

Toxic BGA?

Look no further ...

Mind you, not all cyanobacteria produce toxins of this level of lethality. Be aware however that there is quite some potential for toxicity among this ancient group of organisms ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002