Re: Algae Eater suggestions for Yoyo aquarium

[Dan234]

Hello folks,

I have a 38 gallon with tiger barbs and yoyo loaches; the tank has been in operation for about 2.5 months and I am starting to turn my thoughts to an algae eater. Recommendation? I am concerned that a bristlenose plec. will out compete the yoyos. Yoyos are 2.5".


Reason for hesitation with Brist.Plecs:
I have a 20 gallon tank with rummy-nose tetras, bolivian ram, corydoras and a bristlenose pleco and I find that the pleco can not only find the food before any other residents, even if she was in hiding, but out compete for whatever pellet is dropped in. Even if I bait the pleco with zucchini [her favorite vegetable], she will go for the pellets immediately, while shooing away the corydoras or ram. I pretty well hand feed the ram frozen bloodworms to ensure he gets something. Bristlesnose is 4".

In the meantime, I have been scrubbing the sides of the glass aquarium once/week but some decorations are beginning to look unsightly.

Thanks,
Dan

[MTS]

A bristlenose might out compete your other fish but the yo-yos will grab and run. I don't think you'll have a problem. Put in enough so there's plenty for all without over-feeding.

You might consider putting the bristlenose from your tetra/ram tank in with the yo-yos and getting ottos for that tank.

[helen nightingale]

i dont have any experience with bristlenoses, but i have yoyos and cories. the yoyos are a lot more bolshy than the cories i have kept, they seem to be much more greedy. cories are much more well behaved, in general. MTS is right about yoyos grabbing and legging it. it is a comical sight to see a loach darting off with a chunk of pellet hanging out it's gob, and you can see it looking over its shoulder to check nobody is coming to steal its food from it

how many yoyos do you have?

[mickthefish]

i'd think BN's would be alright with your loaches, but the only prob i can see is they are'nt that great at keeping your algae problem down unless you have quite a lot of them that is.

if you could cut down on your feeding for awhile the barbs will go for the algae.

mick

[Mad Duff]

BN's are fine with loaches, I keep ate least one in all of my loach tanks and they grow well so must get plenty of food.

[Blue]

I agree. Yoyos would actually be the ones who will really outcompete the BN. They're quite comical when they strip all of competition for food. Any pics of the tank, Dan? I'd love to see it.

[Diana]

BN are great algae cleaners, but get too big for a 20. Ditto MTS: Move your existing BN to the larger tank and get Otos for the small tank.

[Dan234]

Thanks for all the suggestions folks. I'll nab the 4" BN out of the 20g. and see how it goes with the loaches in the 38g. I've had her for about 2 yrs. now and she's still scared of me if I get too close; scoots under a piece of driftwood. Yet she does do a super duper job of cleaning the algae. Her love of raw vegetables is quite something, she'll actually turn her nose up at slightly cooked or frozen/thawed vegis.
On a side note, I noticed the yo-yo loaches seem to like zucchini too...slightly cooked though

I'll see if I can find some ottos for the 20g.; I've heard they are super sensitive and some folks have trouble keeping them alive for long...is this a rumor or is there any special care required.

I keep both tanks ~ 80F., stats are inline with ammonia,nitrite being 0, nitrates ~5-10ppm
Oh, you asked about number of loaches; there are 3. All are ~2.5". I currently have 8 tiger barbs as well. Interesting loach behavior, when it's feeding time they are the worst of enemies. When it's resting time they huddle together side by side, on their sides....cute. I'm now a fan of loaches

It's a bit of a trade off I know between algae and the poop factories that plecos can be. I'll just have to be more vigilant about cleaning the gravel when I transfer pleco in.

I'll monitor the progress and let you know how it goes...hopefully it won't be world war 3 b/w the loaches and BN. By the way, I can't seem to find those sinking carnivore Hikari pellets, so I feed them HBH shrimp pellets,Tetramin trop.tablets,HBH Krill soft chow, Hikari algae wafers and a frozen meaty/vegi nasty mix I made that they seem to enjoy. I suppose that's good enough to meet their needs.

I'll take pics. soon.

Dan

[starsplitter7]

Ottos are great! I absolutely adore mine. Here are two things I have learned.
1.) Acclimate very, very slowly.
2.) Get a group.

1. In my own experience, they are very hardy as long as I acclimate
them when they arrive (quick acclimation and they die within a week). I drip acclimate them over a period of an hour or two. I use an air hose and tie a knot in it and slowly drip water from the tank into a bowl where I have the Ottos and their bag water.

I bought about 7, 2 months ago, and they are going strong. In all I have about 14, and they are all doing well.

If you water quality drops, Ottos are like canaries in the mine shaft.

2.) Ottos like to be in a group, so get as many as you can have without overstocking your tank. Mine travel in a herd, swim together, eat together, rest together, mow down algae together.

When you buy your herd, look for healthy individuals from a healthy tank. If they don't zip away from the net that's trying to catch them, there's something wrong. They are super fast when they want to be.

[jones57742]

Folks:

I know that this is sorta off topic but I felt that some might be interested.


Tanja:

I have wanted some Oto's but I do not enjoy the appearance of the Oto's typically available.

I searched PlanetCatfish for Oto's and found Otocinclus cocama, aka Zebra Oto, which appeared to be a very pretty fish.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=353

I have tried to locate a vendor for these fish for many months to no avail.

This morning I found a listing by CorysRUs for these fish on AquaBid and have ordered seven.

If anyone is interested in purchasing Zebra Oto's I recommend that you contact Bryan at CorysRUs.com immediately as they may not last long.

TR

[ey]

Ottos are great! I absolutely adore mine. Here are two things I have learned.
1.) Acclimate very, very slowly.
2.) Get a group.

1. In my own experience, they are very hardy as long as I acclimate
them when they arrive (quick acclimation and they die within a week). I drip acclimate them over a period of an hour or two. I use an air hose and tie a knot in it and slowly drip water from the tank into a bowl where I have the Ottos and their bag water.

I bought about 7, 2 months ago, and they are going strong. In all I have about 14, and they are all doing well.

If you water quality drops, Ottos are like canaries in the mine shaft.

2.) Ottos like to be in a group, so get as many as you can have without overstocking your tank. Mine travel in a herd, swim together, eat together, rest together, mow down algae together.

When you buy your herd, look for healthy individuals from a healthy tank. If they don't zip away from the net that's trying to catch them, there's something wrong. They are super fast when they want to be.

Hi starsplitter7, just wondering how your otos are doing?

Here in Australia, I have not seen these commonly sold around LFS, but ironically enough, I almost always see a group of them in the display tanks of various LFS.

I was thinking of adding either otos or bristlenose to my large tank (360L) - do you know if otos poop as much a bristlenoses do?

Are they hardy fish once they settle into the tank? Do your loaches harrass the otos much?

[Bully]

My experience with oto's is that once acclimated right they will be very hardy. Remember that 95% if not more are wild caught from S. America so they will not tolerate base and hard water very well.

Like previous posters, mine were all acclimated for at least an hour before introducing to the tank. I have 6 and they have positively thrived in the 12+ mths I've had them, one of my females gets so fat with eggs she looks like a tadpole on times I would say that they are not a solution to algae though, I find they prefer the newest growths of algae and tend to leave the older stuff alone.

Here's a vid of Otocinclus being collected in the wild:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnitMs1LRk

[ey]

My experience with oto's is that once acclimated right they will be very hardy. Remember that 95% if not more are wild caught from S. America so they will not tolerate base and hard water very well.

Like previous posters, mine were all acclimated for at least an hour before introducing to the tank. I have 6 and they have positively thrived in the 12+ mths I've had them, one of my females gets so fat with eggs she looks like a tadpole on times I would say that they are not a solution to algae though, I find they prefer the newest growths of algae and tend to leave the older stuff alone.

Here's a vid of Otocinclus being collected in the wild:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnitMs1LRk

Cool thanks for the info Bully, I'll keep this in mind.

Which type of otos do you have? I need to do some more research on these guys but as I hardly see them in the LFS apart from in their display tanks, I do wonder what type of otos are those in their display tanks or in a lot of the photos people post up. I'm wondering if there is a common/more popular type of oto most people get.

[Diana]

The Otos commonly available may or may not be all one species, but, to me they look the same: One dark (almost black) horizontal stripe.
I like the looks of the Zebra Otos, and do intend to get some when I find them. They cost a lot more than 'regular' Otos, though. I think Zebra Otos ate some Black Brush Algae growing in one tank. (Other fish were Rams and Harlequin Rasboras)

I have various Ancistrus species in most of my larger tanks.
One set up includes a pair of 29 gallon tanks with a hamster tube (2" PVC pipe) and the BN was the first one to go from one tank to the other. He is keeping both tanks cleaned of the flat sort of stuck on algae.

[Bully]

The Otos commonly available may or may not be all one species, but, to me they look the same: One dark (almost black) horizontal stripe.

That's pretty much how it is for me, I think they are most likely Otocinclus vittatus - http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/sp ... ies_id=107

I have three supposed vittatus, and three possibly something else, maybe O. vestitus

Whatever they are, they are beautiful fish