Amazing Algae Eater

[Carolyn N]

Yesterday on the way home I stopped by the local PetsMart. Was looking at their fish when I noticed this tank with lots of little fish madly swimming around. Well, they were Otocinclus catfish. I had heard of them and they were on my list. I went home with Three little buggers.
I put them in a 3 gal. that had been used as a quarantine tank for a couple of months. Had Sponge filter, Heater, Hornwort and Light. It had a light coating of algae on all surfaces. Within 7 hours they had cleaned it up. I couldn't believe it. No algae visible.
Here are a couple of pictures I took, Sorry only belly view. Also, a copy of the description of the fish from Axelrod's "Handbook of Tropical Aquarium Fishes"
They are strictly algae eaters, vegetarian. Now that they have cleaned that tank, I need to get some veggies for them.
Aquarium Co-op has a video about these little fishes. Mine are only barely 1 inch long.

 

[Byron]

Lovely. Otocinclus will readily eat common green algae (before you even can see it on surfaces) and diatoms, but not "problem" algae like brush, beard. It is a good idea to get them onto prepared foods to ensure they get all the nutrition they need, which veggies alone cannot provide. Omega One's Veggie Rounds are about the best, and otos will become familiar with grazing these sinking disks once they find them.

Welcome to TFF, you and your oto shoal!

 

[JuiceBox52]

Otos are great! I would reccomend getting 3-5 more though. They are super good algae eaters for sure! Once my 55g got so bad I couldn't even see the fish inside. I picked up 5 of these little guys. 6 days later my tank was super clean!

 

[utahfish]

Otos are great! I would reccomend getting 3-5 more though. They are super good algae eaters for sure! Once my 55g got so bad I couldn't even see the fish inside. I picked up 5 of these little guys. 6 days later my tank was super clean!

I dont know that a 3 gallon tank can handle any more fish

 

[JuiceBox52]

I dont know that a 3 gallon tank can handle any more fish

Isnt this just for a quarantine tank? If it is long term it's not suitable for even 3

 

[Carolyn N]

Yes, tank too small. This is just quarantine tank for them. I have 3 which I will be putting into a 20 gal. It is all set up and has fish and live plants in it.
I will also go get some Omega One's Veggie Rounds this weekend. Thanks for the tip. I put some cooked peas that I shelled and squashed. I don't think they touched them. Right know they are working on the heater. It will soon look like new.

 

[styla12]

Lovely. Otocinclus will readily eat common green algae (before you even can see it on surfaces) and diatoms, but not "problem" algae like brush, beard. It is a good idea to get them onto prepared foods to ensure they get all the nutrition they need, which veggies alone cannot provide. Omega One's Veggie Rounds are about the best, and otos will become familiar with grazing these sinking disks once they find them.

Welcome to TFF, you and your oto shoal!

I've tried feeding my otocinclus some Hikari Algae wafers and they just don't realise it's for them and the other fish end up getting them lol.

How do I go about making them realise it's algae for them?

 

[angelcraze]

That's the trouble with otos, they don't usually do well in QT because there is not a lot of natural algae built up. I lost almost all my otos QTing them in a 5.5g that was "too clean" even though it was established for years.

It is also difficult to get them to eat prepared foods that they are not accustomed to in the wild (since they are mostly wildcaught). They might be more apt to eating Repashy gel food spread on rocks to mimic algae and encourage natural grazing habits.

Another alternative is to grow your own algae. This could be a shallow dish of water (with rocks inside) in the sunshine or even set up an artificial light in colder climates.

 

[snailaquarium]

7 huors that's amazing, check out my youtube channel I have a sort of time laps of snails eating algae from a bottle that had built it up over several months. They made it spotless!

 

[snailaquarium]

Thanks angelcraze! Please subscribe if you like!

 

[Byron]

I've tried feeding my otocinclus some Hikari Algae wafers and they just don't realise it's for them and the other fish end up getting them lol.

How do I go about making them realise it's algae for them?

If the otos are in a QT, you can easily get them eating from the sinking disks. Over-feeding in a QT is easier to deal with than it would be in the main tank, so you can put several disks in the tank and the hungry otos will explore everywhere and soon find them. I have had wild caught fish a few times that I left in the QT for several weeks until I was certain they had "learned" that the Veggie Rounds were food. You can easily siphon out the excess periodically as needed, but the Veggie Rounds can stay in the tank a couple days with no problem.

The Hikari algae wafers are less quality than the Omega One. We had a thread on this a couple weeks back, but the additives/binders in the Hikari are less beneficial to the point of being detrimental, whereas none of these are in the Omega One Veggie rounds.

 

[snailaquarium]

If the otos are in a QT, you can easily get them eating from the sinking disks. Over-feeding in a QT is easier to deal with than it would be in the main tank, so you can put several disks in the tank and the hungry otos will explore everywhere and soon find them. I have had wild caught fish a few times that I left in the QT for several weeks until I was certain they had "learned" that the Veggie Rounds were food. You can easily siphon out the excess periodically as needed, but the Veggie Rounds can stay in the tank a couple days with no problem.

The Hikari algae wafers are less quality than the Omega One. We had a thread on this a couple weeks back, but the additives/binders in the Hikari are less beneficial to the point of being detrimental, whereas none of these are in the Omega One Veggie rounds.

Great, this can be my first match, Hikari vs Omega One!

Cheers buddy!

 

[Carolyn N]

Hi, I got the Omega One's Veggie Rounds as suggested above. Within a couple of hours all three of my Otos were eating the 1/2 wafer I dropped into the QT tank. Every time I check on them at least 1 is at the now softened Veggie Round. Thanks for the suggestion. Now I won't worry that they will starve. They have pretty much cleaned up this 3 gal tank, in a couple of days I will move them to a 5 gal QT that has an algae growth. After a few more days I should be able to put them into my community tank.

 

[angelcraze]

Oh i'm so happy for you. I couldn't get mine to eat them so I had to give them to my friend with a more seasoned tank. I wish mine would eat wafers! My mom's otos eat mushrooms lol! Thanks for the update!

 

[Carolyn N]

Since my Otos have been in the 20 community tank they have discovered Shrimp pellets. They love them. Now I don't have to worry about them starving. They have kept the tank spotless and
they readily eat the Veggie wafers and Shrimp pellets.