Pleco vs. shoal of oto's

[doug z]

It was suggested to me that if I am going to get a pleco solely for algae control, I might be better served getting a shoal (school, what is the correct usage for each term?) of otos, as the dietary demands of the bristlenose pleco is a bit daunting for a noob..

Firstly, what are otos?

Secondly, there's a whack of different scientific/common names for what appears to be the same fish..

Ancistrus Temmincki , Ancistrus dolichopterus

Bristlenose catfish, bristlenose plecos..

Can someone help clear these points up for me a bit?

[Incredulous_Ed]

Ottoclinus affinis i think is their scientific name. they are small ctafish that stay small and are very good at eating algae. But you would need a large school.

i wouldn't reccomend a pleco because they get incredibley huge and usually eat plants. Bristlenose cats stay smaller and I've heard they dont eat plants but am not sure.

[doug z]

Yes, I'm thinking of the 5" (max) pleco/catfish..

Catfish, plecos.. I've heard them called both (bristlenose).. It's confusing!!

What constitutes "large" for a school of otos?

I would like to get 1 male swordtail, 3 females, 15 cardinals, 4 zebra loaches, and however many otos would be best..

I will have a min 55g tank, 70 max..

[Incredulous_Ed]

i would get 10 or 15.

The general name is bristlenose catfish/pleco

[doug z]

10-15, eh?

That would be overstocking it, at 55g..

If the swordtails can get up to 5", say, that's 20g I'd need, right there..

4 zebra loaches at 4" a pop: 16g.

12 Cardinals @ 2" = 24g

10 ottos @ 1.5 = 15g

15g + 24g + 16g + 20g = 76g

Something's gotta go..

The loaches? I would already have a bottom feeder if I got ottos..

But I wanted an algae fighter and a excess-food cleaner upper.. :)

I was hoping 1 bristlenose dogfish would go for the algae..

Get rid of the swordtails? But they were going to add some contrast to the tetras..

Get a bigger tank? :)

Suggestions?

[Harls]

bristlnose will clean up excess food and will eat algea. for a 55G i would suggest 3 little ones and as they grow and so does ur hobby u can put them in other tanks if needed

[Nautilus291]

as long as you keep up on tank maintenance you should be fine. Ottos arnt really bottom feeders btw. and livebearers like higherph's then most of the fish you are looking at. And trust me once you get a 55g tank you will want a bigger one.

[doug z]

livebearers like higherph's then most of the fish you are looking at.

You mean the swordtails?

Get rid of them and just have Danios OR Cardinals?


Ottos arnt really bottom feeders btw

What, and where do they eat, then?

I'm not stocking my aquarium with just maintainece in mind..

But it'd be nice if they were part of the solution.. :)

[squirt_12]

don't forget that if you get otos.....you will have to suppliment them with algae wafers, zuchinni, cucumber..etc. as they will eat the algae FAST. So you would have to let the tank run for a while before you get it. they get to be around 2".

[doug z]

Well, I'd get them as the 3rd fish to go in, after a month or so..

Fist Danios or Cardinals, then Swordtails..

By then there should be a fair bit of algae, I should think..

Then I get a bristlenose pleco/catfish, or the shoal of Otocinclus..

[squirt_12]

honestly....IMO i would wait longer than a month to get them because with my 10g tank i have had it for about 2 months and there is no algae in it. So i would wait and let it be the last fish you last and let your tank be well established before you add them. or else you will be feeding them prepared foods for the whole time that you have them.

thats just my $0.02

[mitcore]

brislte noses are awesome cleaners i know them as a bristle nose sucker fish sorry for any more confusion, the sword are great and if you have a pair they will breed fairly fast and lots of fry, i dont have ottos but thanks for asking i was wondering what they were, now i know,dont know anything about danios
or cardinals though i am assuming they are a tetra breed,
as far as the scientific names goes dont worry to much, just ask for the common name though the fish have a few as you can see,
i use common names and will clarify if there is confusion as will all members here if you ask them too, even though you are a noob as you have said doesnt mean you are stupid, my advice listen learn and think about it yourself before you do it, what you read in here might not be right for you or there might be some conflicting info from amongst the members as there usually is, and that only because we think and do some things different,

enjoy this site and the members i can tell you personally this is the best site around and the members are awesome, i learnt this the hard way

post pics when it is set up i would love to see them
sorry about the length i thought id give you a hand
good luck

[doug z]

Thanks, Mitcore..

I'll for sure take lots of pics of my tank set-up, etc..

As I explained before, it will be a fairly drawn-out process, I'm afraid..

The supplies I'll be getting here and there from various mail-order places, and they will be trickling in over the next couple months..

And I won't be getting any plants or fish till I get back from my trip to Ukraine in July, because I don't want to get everything set-up, only to come back to a mess (algae all over the place, dead fish, dead plants, etc).. I know my dad, and he would find a way to screw up all my intial hard work.. :)

[Tolley]

Ottos have a minimal bioload thats why you can have a fair few of them.

[doug z]

What's bioload?

How much ammonia they produce?

[fins_n_fur]

Bioload would be the "strain" or "load" on the aquarium by the fish(es) in question, i.e., how much waste they produce, how much oxygen they use up, how much space they take, etc.

[doug z]

Gotcha, thanks..

Yeh, they're not that big..

None of my choices are, really..

Swordtails at a max of 5" would be the biggest..

[Incredulous_Ed]

10-15, eh?

That would be overstocking it, at 55g..

If the swordtails can get up to 5", say, that's 20g I'd need, right there..

4 zebra loaches at 4" a pop: 16g.

12 Cardinals @ 2" = 24g

10 ottos @ 1.5 = 15g

15g + 24g + 16g + 20g = 76g

Something's gotta go..

The loaches? I would already have a bottom feeder if I got ottos..

But I wanted an algae fighter and a excess-food cleaner upper.. :)

I was hoping 1 bristlenose dogfish would go for the algae..

Get rid of the swordtails? But they were going to add some contrast to the tetras..

Get a bigger tank? :)

Suggestions?

Tobe honest, that is not overstocking at all. That may be understocking. Forget the 1 gal per fish, 1 inch of fish per gallon, and all those rules. You can keep as many fish in the tank as you want provided they are not aggressive, and the water is kept clean. For some fish, the water is harder to keep clean because they are naturally messy fish. Compare this: 5 neons to 1 5 inch oscar. The oscar is going to produce more waste, just because they are messier fish. Ya know what im saying?

I would up the cardinal level to 24, 10 ottos, 4-5 swordtails, you can keep the loaches how they are. even with thse fish, if you have good filtration, you can put more in there with no ill effects.

I probably didnt explain this so well so maybe someone else can do it better than me :/

[doug z]

24?

In a 55g (I may go up to 72.. Oh who'm I kidding.. Probably will LOL)??

We'll see how many I can get.. :)

[Incredulous_Ed]

cardinals take up very little boload so 24 in a 55gal is more than fine.

[doug z]

From what I'm reading it can be hard to get them established..

Might HAVE to be alot, and see how many survive..

[NickFish]

Otos are very sensitive to being brought home from the petstores.
You shouldn't float them like other FW community fish, it is better to drip acclimate them and more will survive. IME after you get them used to the tank they are pretty hardy.

[doug z]

Ok, thanks for the tip..

I COULD pick them up in Vancouver and drive them home (12 hours), or see if I can get them flown up to Prince George, and drive them back to Mackenzie (they would spend about 4 hours in transit, this way)..

[Sam3G]

I have one otto, and since my 28 gallon is right in front of a window it has hella algae. The otto doesn't do squat for it. While the common pleco outgrows almost every conventional tank, there are other kinds of plecos that stay small such as my bristlenose (max around 4.5 inches). I believe the clown pleco remains even smaller. If you don't have absolutely horrific algae problems, a 4.5 inch pleco should keep it relatively clean.

[Tooch]

One oto may just not be enough for a 28gal with alot of alge. You may want to consider getting 2 or 3 more.

[NickFish]

I have otos in all my tanks, they usually don't do work unless there is more than one. I group of 6 or more otos can take almost any amount of algae in a month easy.

[doug z]

How many bristlenoses would you think to put in a 70g?

[NickFish]

You could fit 2 in there easily.

[doug z]

Yeah, 2 is what I was thinking.. A male and a female, ideally..

144a's.. The cute orange ones..

[NickFish]

sounds good, I've always prefered natural colors myself though.

[doug z]

"natural" colours? :)

A couple Queen Arabesques (L 260) would be nice, too..

[NickFish]

ya the natural tones, just a brown one. The oranges are really cool though, if I could find any around here.

[doug z]

Well, I figure they would stand out better with the black substrate and all..

[NickFish]

true true.