Algae Solutions

[SurgicalSteel]

Hey all,
Ok, so, background: I currently have a 55 gallon tank, in the past I've had smaller (20-30 gallons) tanks. In the smaller tanks we always went with one or two medium sized algae eaters, usually plecos. However, I was thinking about instead of taking that route, get a few smaller algae eaters. I have a little tiny otocinclus, and was thinking about adding a small pleco, and a little army of four or five shrimp. Would there be any problems with that that I'm not foreseeing? Thanks.

[Honey Badger 1]

I would add more oto's, they are very social and like large groups.

[SurgicalSteel]

I wasn't aware of that. Maybe I'll scrap the pleco and add a couple more otos instead.

[madagascariensis]

I would say that oto social ness is something debatable. I know many people report that their otos school, but this is my experience: I used to have three otos. Each did its own thing and seemed completely content with that. I heard about the "otos need to be in schools" thing and added four more. Now I have seven otos each skittering around on its own and content minding their own business.

[~firefly~]

I have 10 otos in a 120 litre tank and they're almost always together when feeding or hiding. I think they're recommended in large groups because that is how they exist in the wild.

[talldutchie]

Yep, they do.

otos are lovely fish but of course, the best cure for algae is tackling it at the root. Some algae is part of any tank but too much and there's excess nutrients, too much light or both.

[richberstler]

When I finally upgraded the lighting in my 20 long I had an algae bloom so bad the front glass became hard to see through. I bought some olive nerite snails, about 6. The glass was cleaned within a week (actually just a few days). No problems since, in fact I transferred 1 to each of my other tanks to help.

As a side note I do not buy fish for the job since I got back into the hobby a few years ago. I did try once and they all died, snails are just easier and frankly more fun for me