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I am planning on having 55g moderately planted community tank with schools of neon tetras, emerald barbs, and lemon tetras. There will aslo be some dwarf goroumis.
To take care of alage, I would like to get a little school of either Corys or Ottos. Are there any recomendations? I've owned Corys before, and they were very active and fun. I've never owned Ottos, but I've heard they like to hide a lot. Any personal prefrences, or is any one better at cleaning house than the other? How do they get along with YoYo Botia? (Their inclusion in my tank is stil debateable)
Would 3 Ottos and 3 Corys be happy in a tank that size, or would it be better to go with 6 of one or the other?
Thanks!

Having discovered that "Emerald Barbs" are a colour form of the Tiger Barb, my view is as follows.

You could have 12 Neons, 12 Lemons, 8 Emerald Barbs, and still have room for 8 Corys and 6 Otocinclus in a 55G. The Otocinclus would provide a superb algae cleaning crew, and the Corys would help with flake food that reached the bottom. I'd skip the Dwarf Gouramis. Although Tiger Barbs are regarded as being primarily incompatible with fishes such as Bettas and Angels whose long fins are obvious targets for the fin-nipping propensities of the Tiger Barbs, the long pelvic fins of Dwarf Gouramis might also come in for some unwelcome attention.

If you're looking for a 'show fish' that would be small enough not to overstock with the above listing, but large enough to coerce the Neons in particular into schooling, then a pair of Anomalochromis thomasi Cichlids could be your answer. Lovely fish, I had them as a teenager. They;'re probably the most peaceful of all the Cichlids, alongside the likes of Laetacara curviceps, develop astonishing colours when in breeding dress, and if you get a male/female pair, chances are they'll spawn in your 55G. They also make excellent parents when they do breed.

Best strategy is to settle the Neons in first, let them grow for about 3 months (which in a 55G they should do beautifully), then intoduce the Corys and the Lemons. Introduce the Otocinclus next, and prepare for their arrival by growing algae on rocks or bogwood bits in jars for them, so that they have a nice environment to come home to. Prepare these "Otocinclus Pet Rocks™" around a week in advance ideally, and make sure you have some in rotation for them on a regular basis to supplement the diet. Then introduce the Emerald Barbs. Make the thomasi Cichlids the last introduction. That way, the Neons should have grown to sufficient size never to tempt the Cichlids. Space your introductions accordingly to build up the biofilter, and also to give the smaller fishes chance to grow before the Barbs and the Cichlids go in.

With the above setup, you could have 8 Corydoras. If you go for a smaller species such as habrosus or Pandas, you could bump that number up to 12, and enjoy complete Cory comedy moment mayhem in the process.

Oh, and before you get any fish, try and obtain some intricately shaped pieces of bogwood that will form caves for the bottom dwellers when you position them in the aquarium. Ideal pieces will have lots of branched bits, and big hollow areas accessible by holes in the main body of the bogwood (a bit like my infamous 'bogwood boot'). Drape Java Moss over these, and position some Java Ferns strategically on them too, and you'll have easy maintenance plantings that in 12 months' time will help produce that nice 'underwater rainforest' effect. Make sure your bogwood is treated of course!

Be prepared to be patient, take time setting this up as outlined above, and you'll end up with an underwater rainforest to rival my Panda Fun Palace™ !!!




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

cories are happiest with 6+..ottos would be ok with 3-4 and are smaller. they dont really "hide" really but they are small and hard to find because of this. cories wont clean up alage as well as ottos would but it is a 55g tank so im not sure how much ottos could handle. if the tank is coverd in algae i cant say they could clean it up for ya. bother are sensitive to water quality and bother should be acclimated slowly.

about the yoyos. these guys are like cories they clean up left over food well but wont help much with algae. they will eat some algae and pick it up here and there but arnt conciderd a serious algae eater. these guys are very active but grow larger then both cories and ottos. they reach about 3-4 inches. They also enjoy their own company and spend a great deal of time with each other so 3-6 is best.

well theres some info now for opinions. i think its up to you to decide what you want because honestly you coudl have all 3. i keep yoyos and cories happily together in a 75g tank. if your just looking for algae i would get ottos they will do a better job or scratch them and get a small 5-6 inch pleco like a bristlenose. if your looking to be entertained i would go with either cories or yoyos both will supply yrs of entertainment.

another point that should be made that i forgot. yoyos will not breed in your tank but some cories will be more then happy to. this could effect your decision as ive heard of people getting 6 cories then upgradeing thier tank size to find they no longer have 6 they have 20 lol. this of course is not a daily thing and isnt something to worry about just something to keep in mind. you could go with a species that refuses to breed in a tank like agassazzi.

hope this helps, im sure more will chime in with info ive mistakened or forgotten
bottom line...you cant go wrong with any of them.

A couple basic choices for algae control are otos or BN plecs; in my opinion both take care of the job equally well. Otos aren't necessarily schoolers but do like company of their own kind. With BNs in a 55g you could have either one or a M/F pair.

Otos can be a bit more sensitive...[link=here's]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Bottom%20Feeder%20Frenzy/48796.html" style="COLOR: #FF66FF[/link] a link to a great oto article. Two major points I recommend for success with new otos is slow acclimation and making sure there is algae already established in the tank before adding them.

Either plec or otos will need to be supplemented with algae wafers of some sort; they also like fresh veggies such as cucumber, spinach, broccoli, etc.

Cories and loaches will clean up leftovers in the tank. I like both but personally prefer loaches. As stated previously, cories should be in groups of at least 5-6. Loaches like friends and 3-4 is the lowest recommended number to keep.

I find yo-yos to be as active and entertaining as cories. They aren't like other loaches in that they're active in parts of the water column other than the bottom. Another plus is that they like to eat snails, should that ever become a problem for you.

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Update to what Theresa said above.

The article in question is now a permanent part of FishProfiles. And you can find the permanent version here

Adam added it to the site about a month ago. Along with my Panda Cory and Lemon Tetra articles


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thank you everyone for your help! I should have presented a link to my other article:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/General%20Freshwater/57763.html?200504080900
This is a list of fish and numbers of each I am planning to keep in the 55 gal.
How many Corys do you think could go in this setup?

To Calilassia:
Thank you very much for the detailed advice! I will post pictures of my tank soon, so you can see that there are many alcoves and places to hide for the little guys. I'm not sure if they are small enough though, so you may be able to let me know. A question about the Anomalochromis thomasi though... their fins are pretty long too, aren't they? They seem almost longer than the Dwarh Goroumi's. Would they not be succeptable to the Emerald Barbs?

To Sin in Style:
I think it would be wonderful if my corys bred! I love the little guys, they'd only be more little guys to love! You said I could go all three, which would be great, but would there really be enough room in this particular tank? Is there even enough room for just 2 Bristlenose Plecos and 6-8 Corys?

To Theressa:
I do anticipate snails to be a problem, as this tank had them amazingly bad before I refurbished it, and many of the objects/gravel/etc are still in it from before. Plus I didn't buy my live plants from the best of sources -_-. So that is what originally turned me on to the Yo-Yos, but after much research I have just absolutley fallen in LOVE with these guys, and am very excited to have them as an addition to the aquarium and not just a "snail eater" =)


Last edited by yooki42 at 08-Apr-2005 12:12

Ah, that's the thing about the Anomalchromis thomasi ... it may be peaceful, but it can also look after itself if anything tries giving it trouble.

As for the fin length, only the males would probably pose any temptation to the Emerald Barbs, and then only out in the open. Once the fish was in a cave, the Tiger Barbs would be facing a well-developed mouth that would snap back if they mistakenly picked a fight. As quick and nippy as the Tiger Barbs can be, I don't think they'd pose problems to a Cichlid with a 'conventional' body plan like a thomasi.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Calilasseia-thanks for posting the link to your article. I read it when I was first interesting in purchasing otos and because of the success I had I often recommend it to others looking into otos.


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean