Bettas and oto cats?

[Anonymous Fox]

Are bettas and oto cats compatible?
Tank size: 10 gallons
future stocking ideas(?): 6 oto cats(??) 1 female betta, 1 female Ramshorn snail, 1 female mystery snail

Gh: 7
pH: 7.5
No2; 0
No3:0

 

[Byron]

Short answer, no. Reason is that otos will spend their time on surfaces grazing algae. This takes them up to the surface if plants are close to the surface, or with floating plants (which a betta really needs), and that means they are in the betta's face. The betta may or may not tolerate this; the norm is that he won't, so don't risk the poor otos.

On another aspect, I don't think six otos should be in a 10g. I had five in my 4-foot 90g heavily-planted tank and they were kept busy with all those surfaces (they eat common algae that we cannot even see when it appears naturally).