LFS Mentioned these to me, what are your opinions

[bethyMT]

Another vote for otos. They clean glass very well, and if you provide supplemental food and acclimate slowly when you bring them home, they will be fine. I have six, only lost one. They do need a school.

That said, they are reputed to be tricky. But that doesn't mean they won't work.

[Hardy85]

Whatever I end up with be be acclimated via the drip acclimation (thank you AC)

That being said, my options are otos, whiptail catfish (pleco), or rubber lipped (even though he gets a bit larger than I would like), any other recommendations?

[Hardy85]

Two more to add... anyone have either of these? How are they? And what is a typical $$ on them

Gold Nugget
L340 - can't find much info, but looks like they prefer meat diet and wouldn't eat any algae (unless anyone has had different results)

[mizzoutank]

Down here in Missouri-a gold nugget pleco runs about 50-70bucks.

really cool looking fish, but not ready to spend that much for one fish. (especially since it was at petco)

the rubberlip should be fine in a 55-it gets 7inches? and that'll work in your set up.

[Nephalem]

With all due respect to Miz (and I do respect you based on many other posts I have participated in with you) I just don't agree. DGs are very easy to sex as it sounds like you know. Also there are a fair number of algae eaters that can and will make a reasonable dent on your algae.

Now, that said yes even with female DGs you will likely have issues later on. They won't be as bad as with males but particularly during courtship it is normal for the females to pick one that is the least worthy breeder and terrorize her relentlessly. If you want a community of gourami I would try a different species like for instance thick lipped gourami. I have a community of 4 (1m/3f) and they all get along very well after the first week of working out the pecking order. When they spawn they even all spawn together. It's a party.

As for the algae eater, we have a green phantom plec (L200 hi-fin) in our 55g and he took the wall from so covered you couldn't see through it to almost completely clean in a single night. Now he does end up fairly large, but not monster big. Also with them you have to remember they have a huge bioload so I have traded clean walls for substrate covered in pleco poo and as a result am vaciuming more often by far than I ever cleaned the glass. But I like him which is the main point so he is worth it.

If plecs aren't your cop-o-tea I have also found Garra to be particularly effective at algae removal. We have a panda Garra and he not only stays small but is also much more active than most plecs and gets along well with our loaches as they are closely related. We love him.

There are also many snails you could try tho they aren't usually as effective at cleaning a large space as plecs or garra. Merited are attractive and only eat algae so they do not become pests. Japanese trapdoors are my personal favorite but thy gt pretty big and are very slow even for a snail. They also spend long periods dormant.

Anyway there are plenty of options. You just have to consider the trade offs and that the entire point is to appreciate them as an animal not just a tank cleaner. But it sounds like you are already doing a good job of that so you are doing the right thing.

[mizzoutank]

Disagree away-its a discussion on this topic! I'm open to it and you are respectful about it-so not a worry.

I do agree that the sexing wouldn't be an issue if/when you had the appropriate fish.
I was more commenting on the lines of that its tough to tell one sex from the other when they are juvenile fish. And that it can will be an issue if end up with the wrong sexes on these fish. That is what I was going for. I'm all for people who want to breed/calm aggression w/ male/female ratios-it just is a gamble on certain fish and you can find out the hard way if you are wrong.

I sadly forgot about snails
they tend to do a good job with cleaning stuff up too.

but I would like to reiterate that point you made: appreciate the fish because you enjoy it, don't get it to do a "job" (that is the target of all my posts :) )

[Nephalem]

Agreed.

Btw as I'm sure you all figured that word up there was supposed to be "nerites" not "merited"... Stupid auto correct.

[Hardy85]

I like the panda garra, looks awesome, only concern would be similar to the hillstream loach, does the garra need a fast curent? I have two filters that move the water well as well as a bubble wall for more air...

Would it be better to have a m/f ratio of 1:1 for the dg? I don't plan to breed. Just like the females too lol

And im glad we are able to have a peaceful debate without ppl getting all upset. I am liking some of the ideas so far. I love pleco type fish, but hate the bio load. Love the hillstream and really like the garra from some quick research I did

[KevinVA]

My vote's for a school of Otos! I love these little guys and they're diligent workers. They eat algae all day and night - they love the stuff. They also eat it anywhere - glass, wood, plants (leaves/stems), substrate - doesn't matter, they'll eat it.

Not only that, but they're extremely peaceful and pretty damn cute.

I have 4 in my 10gal. Had 5, but 1 died after a day (was sick with ick). These 4 have done extremely well. Alone, they'll be pretty elusive, but adding 3-4 more will make them much more comfortable and confident.

As for plecos... there are some species that will eat a good amount of algae, like Bristlenose, and many others that won't. A lot of people think that all plecos will eat algae, so they'll be disappointed that when they purchase them, they won't touch the stuff. That's an example supportive of andreahp's argument about not buying a fish merely to eat algae (or solve a problem in the tank).

[steeler1]

+1 Kevin makes a good point, the Otto's will eat the strains of algae the pleco's won't touch.