Couple of pics of my cardinals & otos

[waterwatereverywhere]

Here are my 3 otos - you can see the one on top of the lettuce grip is the one with a missing eye but he seems fine otherwise. Tried them with some sprouts for the first time, they're avoiding it so far!

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

And here's one of them surrounded by a swarm of cardinals - they play nicely together!

 

[snowyangel]

Ottos are just adorable aren't they? Just love watching mine aswell. Great pictures

 

[NDIrish7]

do otos work the best for eating alge? also how many should be kept in a 30 - 40 gallon tank?

 

[Max]

mind me asking whats that clip for?

 

[jams.alaskan]

Your cardinals are very bright - what pretty fish.

ALASKA

 

[snowyangel]

mind me asking whats that clip for?

Looks to me like its holding food in place......

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

Yes, it's holding the food there. I hadn't tried them with veg before so I put it here because they spend so much time on the glass.

In answer to the other question, they do spend virtually all their time eating algae! - though they don't eat hair algae, which I'm battling at the moment. They enjoy being in groups, I think you could keep 3-4 in a 30-40 gallon, maybe more depending what other fish you've got.

 

[Fish Buddy]

You could keep 5-7 in a 30-40g (US Gallon). I have otos in most of my tanks and they do a wonderful job cleaning off the algea. Waterwater, have you ever tried a flying fox to get rid of your long haired angea? I had a problem with it growing in my 20g so I bought them and they cleaned it right up!! They eat other exotic algea too.

 

[waterwatereverywhere]

Yes, a lfs recommended a siamese flying fox/algae eater for the hair algae, so it's interesting you should say it worked for you. I'm just a bit reluctant... First because I hadn't really planned on one, so it'd take up space I'd earmarked for other fish. More important, though, I've heard that they're good at jumping out of tanks, and mine hasn't got a cover. So I'm a bit stuck, really. I've changed my lighting routine, will carry on pulling it out by hand, and a couple of bristlenoses are going in this week; I know they won't eat it, but their behaviour might at least disturb it. I'm hoping a combination of these will start to get on top of the problem. But thanks for the tip it's something I could come back to if I solve the tank cover issue.