Oto's

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Mossyboy
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Wow, I introduced 4 Oto's to my 125ltr tank which is (was) very badly affected by brown/black diatoms.

I bought the fish Thursday morning from MA in Edinburgh and after aclimation, put them into the tank late in the afternoon.

By lunchtime today (Friday) the tank was absolutely sparkling and clear, these guys have been working overtime. They have very fat bellies. I have had Oto's in the past but these 4 are unbelieveable.

My problem now is, what do I feed these fellas if there is no more algae (diatoms).

I put in half an algae wafer to see if they would be tempted, we went for our evening meal, and when I returned to the tank the wafer had gone but I did not see who ate it.

Is there a way to encourage a little algae without it getting out of control?
LookoutTrout
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I manage that quite nicely since I started putting ferts in for my plants, not loads but there's always some for the various algae grazers to eat. I don't think I could achieve that level deliberately, and it would probably get out of control of I didn't have the snails.
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Mossyboy
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LookoutTrout wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 19:35 pm I manage that quite nicely since I started putting ferts in for my plants, not loads but there's always some for the various algae grazers to eat. I don't think I could achieve that level deliberately, and it would probably get out of control of I didn't have the snails.
My tank is only lightly planted (gradually adding new plants weekly) but I have just started dosing a small amount of liquid ferts daily.
I will see how it goes, don't want to starve the algae eaters.
Thanks for your reply.
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Stephen
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I also have Otos, some are around 5 years old and fairly big (for an oto)
I do not intentionally feed them but they find food somewhere.
Sometimes I spot them on the glass (at night), sometimes on leaves or wood but mainly on the outlet pipe.
I just leave them to it knowing that they find food (algae) somewhere, there's plenty of food around the outlet pipe and under the aquarium braces at the rear.
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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plankton
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You can grow algae by putting pebbles in a bowl of water and leaving it on a windowsill. ;)
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Mossyboy
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Stephen wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 23:02 pm I also have Otos, some are around 5 years old and fairly big (for an oto)
I do not intentionally feed them but they find food somewhere.
Sometimes I spot them on the glass (at night), sometimes on leaves or wood but mainly on the outlet pipe.
I just leave them to it knowing that they find food (algae) somewhere, there's plenty of food around the outlet pipe and under the aquarium braces at the rear.
Thanks Stephen, that is reassuring.
As I posted in another thread the diatoms I have or had look and sound very similar to the problem you had in your 120ltr. I followed both your tank log and your thread on the algae very closely and found it very helpful.
Fingers crossed that the Oto's and other steps I have taken will cure the problem.
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Mossyboy
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plankton wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:13 am You can grow algae by putting pebbles in a bowl of water and leaving it on a windowsill. ;)
Thanks Ian, I will set that up today and give it a try. Need to find a windowsill where my OH won't notice.
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Stephen
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@Mossyboy
Mossyboy wrote: Sat Sep 18, 2021 9:02 am
Stephen wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 23:02 pm I also have Otos, some are around 5 years old and fairly big (for an oto)
I do not intentionally feed them but they find food somewhere.
Sometimes I spot them on the glass (at night), sometimes on leaves or wood but mainly on the outlet pipe.
I just leave them to it knowing that they find food (algae) somewhere, there's plenty of food around the outlet pipe and under the aquarium braces at the rear.
Thanks Stephen, that is reassuring.
As I posted in another thread the diatoms I have or had look and sound very similar to the problem you had in your 120ltr. I followed both your tank log and your thread on the algae very closely and found it very helpful.
Fingers crossed that the Oto's and other steps I have taken will cure the problem.
I think the problem I had with the 120L was a severe case of "new tank syndrome" combined with too much lighting (too intense), poor water flow and other factors (it was bad).
The issue continued for 3 to 4 months since which (after the initial issue improved) I totally re-vamped the aquarium and re-planted.
The 120L aquarium is now looking good and was the TOTM winner in August.
I have also removed the Juwel internal filter and replaced it with an Eheim Pro4 250 external filter.
I have otos in both my 120L and 550L aquariums, they do a great job of keeping the air-line tubing clean (my point of reference) as well as other areas clean of algae.

Otos do continuously feed and as long as there is food (green algae and brown algae/diatoms) they will be fine.
The natural algae can be supplemented with algae wafers, spirulina or blanched vegetables such as spinach, cucumber etc..
I have been know to throw in the odd algae wafer for the plecos in the 550L which all the fish enjoy and have a nibble on.
I have also thrown in the odd algae wafer for the otos in the 120L but they rarely touch it and I have had to syphon out the broken down algae wafer a few days later.
I only have the few otos and some tetra in the 120L.

I never "over-clean" the aquariums so that there is always some algae.
I do clean the front glass and the frontmost glass of the sides but very rarely touch the back.
I have 5 pieces of bogwood in my 550L and each piece gets an occasional scrub (not often) just as a tidy up.

Hope it helps
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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