Just a quickie please

[B75]

I need a bottom feeder / algae eater.

Has to be small when fully grown.

Is very friendly with platies, guppies, angels and RTBS.

I appreciate your ideas.

 

[jflowers]

Oto's, apple snails or ghost shrimp? What do you consider small?

Jon

 

[B75]

Well the thing I have been looking at the bristle nose which I always believed was a good choice but I am struggling to find any room in the tank for the bogwood that they need, so I suppose what I am looking for is an algae eater that does not grow bigger than 6".

I have a few apple snails already but I didn't know if oto's were algae eaters.

 

[jflowers]

Oto's are good algae eaters and won't get over two inches at most. Also, they eat algae for thier life time, BN's tend to go off algae as they mature.

Jon

 

[B75]

I like the look of the golden oto. If they eat the algae then thats what I will go for.

Cheers Jon

 

[jflowers]

Be careful, I have never seen a golden oto, it may be a golden algae loach which is a colour morph/albino chinese algae loach. Only eats algae while young, grows big and get aggresive when it gets larger.

Jon

 

[Inchworm]

Hi B75

jflowers is right. You can make a terrible mistake by buying something that is sold as a golden algae eater.

Here's a link with pictures of the real otos:

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...cl/g_thumbs.htm

 

[B75]

I love the look of the zebra oto, but the thing is I have a ph of 8.0 and they prefer a ph range up to 7.5. Do you think they will get used to a slightly higher ph?

 

[Fishy411]

probly but Zebra otos are expensive

 

[jflowers]

Aclimatise them properly and they should be fine, stable PH is more important than the perfect PH. Don't just float the bag for fifteen mins and release them. Float the bag to equalise the temp, then open the bag and add an egg cupful of tank water, repeat every five mins for an hour, then release. I peg the bag to the tank side while doing this. This process will reduce PH shock. If the lfs you are getting them from is nearby, then they will probably already be in your tap waters PH, ask and if they don't know the PH, go elsewhere.

Jon

 

[B75]

Cheers Jon.

I'll pop along to Maiden aquatics, they have a shop in Bristol ( 30 mins away), they are the nearest to me apart from Watermarque in Yeovil, but the last time I bought a fish from Watermarque the fish had whitespot and fin rot, now cured.

 

[plecoguy]

just to let you all know, BN do not go off algae when they get older, most common plecos will, but the bristlenose eats algae its whole life, that is why most people consider it one of the best algea eaters.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi B75

If you are thinking about buying otos, here's a thread that has information that will help you pick out healthy ones:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=75879

 

[jflowers]

just to let you all know, BN do not go off algae when they get older, most common plecos will, but the bristlenose eats algae its whole life, that is why most people consider it one of the best algea eaters.

I stand corrected I should have added IME. My BN prefered blood worm, pellets and even flake at 4" +. Its 6" now and still living happily after 6 years.

Jon

 

[plecoguy]

you are like me...you spoil your fish!