Feeding And Alternatives To Otos

[celaeno]

i tried putting 2 of my 4 otos from the 10g to my 20g, and see if they would do well with the rosy barbs and krib.
turned out to be a bad idea as the barbs thought any fish smaller than them were food and tried to eat the poor little otos!
so now i have to somehow grow algae to feed my otos. this experience has led me to several questions:

1. is a 5500k daylight 9w compact fluorescent bulb going to be good for growing algae in a 10g?

2. should i feed zucchini even when there's a supply of algae in the tank? (i found that my otos usually ignore the zucchini and algae wafers.)

3. what algae eater can i get that wouldn't be picked on by the barbs? i know it must be have a larger than 2.5" adult length. i'd get a bristlenose, but would a 20g long tank be too small for them? do they also require wood in their diet to survive?

thanks in advance

 

[darkwolf29a]

Barbs are known fin nippers. Otos are eternally peaceful. The combo doesn't, usually, work. But, there is hope...I would get a bigger pleco. Otos are dwarves to begin with, so they won't get very big. If you can find one that's as big as the the Barbs, they should leave him alone...or, at least, he should be able to defend himself. I have 2 Otos in with some guppies, and they get along fine, since both are small. But, I had a small pleco in with some Tiger barbs...it didn't work at all.