grungefreek Posted March 27, 2004 Share Posted March 27, 2004 Hi Guys, After setting up my planted tank, it was time to buy some form of algae control. Seeing as it was a little tank, i decided to buy an oto. After reading about them, it seemed they were excelent at eating Algae. But what i am finding is that they are very lazy and dont do much at all. Previously in the tank i had a sucker mouth cat, the ones that grow real big and eventually kill other fish, like $2 to buy, and it was a trojan, no alage to be seen and it never rested. So when i bought the famous oto, i thought it would do a better job, but mine doesnt. It sits sucked onto plants, and i have to claen my tank to free the glass of Algae. Are all oto's this lazy or just mine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeW Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 Hi GF - I thought I'd move this to the catfish forum and see if the catfolk can help you out ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 I have found that Otocinclus spp. are great algae eaters...but you need a few of them. They do not attack other fish or destroy the plants. How big is your aquarium and can it accommodate a few more? merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted March 28, 2004 Author Share Posted March 28, 2004 Hey, My Tank is 17L. Currently the occupants are 1 male Dwarf gourami, 2 female dwarf gourami and an Oto. Yes it is over stocked, but the female gourami's are half the size of the male, It is heavily planted and i also have a pretty large filter, a resun HF2001 which runs at 340 L/H. So i dont know if i need another oto with the size of the tank, or if i can fit another one in without maxing the tank even further. Ok Thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmiccreepers Posted March 28, 2004 Share Posted March 28, 2004 i agree with merjo, definetly need more than one. no less than 2. mine are very active, always mucking about. it's very entertaining! also they can be shy in a new environment. how long has it been in the tank? it may just need a friend and some time to settle in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted March 29, 2004 Share Posted March 29, 2004 Ottos tend to be most active at night, but I have to say that BN appear to be more hardy, and don't get too big. Saying that, my smallest tank is over 30L... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 3, 2004 Author Share Posted April 3, 2004 Hey, Do your oto's usually eat hair algae (think thats its name). My tank has now got long thin strands of algae, but the oto doesnt seem to be eating it. Should i still get another oto, or buy an SAE instead?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinh Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 I would go with Siamese Algae Eaters & also take extra steps with water specs & lighting. About 70% of the time, the fish can’t do it alone. No algae eaters will touch long string algae from my experience unless some one has had results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 Ottos definitely don't touch hair algae; SAEs are better at it. For me, it was a sign of poor circulation, and when I improved circulation (in my 270L), it disappeared without having to change anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grungefreek Posted April 12, 2004 Author Share Posted April 12, 2004 Well, i couldnt find any SAE's at the shop i went, so i grabbed another oto. Having another in there definately made a difference. Both now are very active and have cleaned the tank up pretty well. The long green algae actually went red in colour, but it seems most has gone now. The oto's seemed to clean up the shorter of the hair algae, then there was only a few longer strands left. Dont think i have a flow problem, My filter does 340LPH on a 17L tank, so i get a fair bit of flow going. The outflow of the filter is below the water surface, so the water doesnt have to drop into the tank, so maybe that is taking some of my flow. Ill investigate and get back to u all. Grungie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHL Posted April 12, 2004 Share Posted April 12, 2004 It's not so much how much flow your filter puts out, as is water being moved in every corner of your tank. In my case, due to the tank design, there were spots that didn't have enough flow, and had hair algae due to relative stagnation. Once I created better circulation of water, and no dead spots, the hair algae went away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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