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My tank glass is invaded with algae! It began to increase after I rehomed my L-144(False) Ancisturs(due to aggression) and brown algae(guessing its diatom) has invaded the tank glass. So what would help me rid of this? I cant see through properly because of it! Well another problem is because its next to sunlight. But I havent anywhere else to move it yet, except other places with sunlight(well my house is pretty sunny ).
So Ive been thinking and I thought a shoal of otos would clear it up. Good idea?
The current stock is 7 pygmy cories and lots of Neocardina shrimps. Tank size is 14.6 gallon(tall). Also, the temp is 22-24 and water is 6.0 in acidity. It is very heavily planted in various moss, pellia, nymphagea, marimo balls, microsorum(java fern), floating stem cuttings and duckwed. Feeding is done by pellets(hikari crab bites), algae wafers, hikari frozen bloodworms, decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, courgette slice and tetra min flakes.
First i thought otos and pygmies are too much of a bottom feeder, but otos seemed to hang ot on plant foliages(which i have lots of) and driftwood(also in plenty here) and pygmies also hang out on bottom and leafy zones. So, whaats hould i do. Amano shrimps arent an option, since they compete wiht my neocardinas for food and eat soft plants(I have already tried, and I had trouble getting em out.), but hillstream loach might be another option, but they need loads of aeration, and the shrimps would not like that.
So i need a shrimp friendly(even the tinies) and non territorial algae eater for my 14.6 gallon tank. Would otos be ideal?
Any suggestions, hints and other comments are greatly appreciated!!!

You mentioned it's a tall tank, but can you remind us of the dimensions of the tank again.

Heres an article I found in Shane's world.
http://www.planetcatfish.com/shanesworl ... d+aquarium
Seems Otos would be a very good choice for the tank, the numbers you can keep of course depends on your current stocking levels, dimensions of tank, more importantly amount of surface area for sufficient oxygen diffusion. It probably wouldn't be bottom feeder overkill, the planted set up seems fine for these as they will be amongst the plants, And I have good news also, they are completely harmless to shrimp. No need to move the tank either as a good algae supply will actually help them.

Its 46cmx30cmx40cm and stock is 7 pygmy cories, uncountable number of Neocardina(since they hide and breed a lot ) quite a lot of driftwodd, as in a quater of the tank is filled with driftwood(maybe more) and is healvily covered in various moss and pellia other than the corners, which lacks of vegetation(its for swimming space for the cories) and top is covered with patches of duckweed(for some reason, like a third of it is left uncoverd-probably due to surface disturbance and water movement. Algae covers all glass, though lacks of it lower down.
And thank you for the detailed comments.

If you go for otos, go for at least ten, they will do better in schools. Only buy healthy ones. If they are pale or slim/flat bellies, it will be a huge gamble and losses are very likely. On the other hand they will probably do quite well if you allready have the tank running for a while and a good load of algae/"aufwuchs" is available.

otothyropsis piribebuy is a very similiar small catfish. They are usually not as fragile as otocinclus. I like them as much as otos. They are also more likely to take industrial food like pleco wafers than otos. At some point your algae will be eaten and you need to keep them well fed afterwards. otothyropsis piribebuy seems to be easier to handle.

sadly I cannot find those in this country. the few choices there are is otos(mixed species), niger oto, some species of hypoptopoma and paraotocinclus maculicauda.

In my experience, Hypoptopoma are excellent algae eaters, but they do get a bit bigger than Otos.

shrimpkeeper222 wrote:sadly I cannot find those in this country. the few choices there are is otos(mixed species), niger oto, some species of hypoptopoma and paraotocinclus maculicauda.

niger oto might just be what I was talking about. Not sure though. Not sure if O. piribebuy and H. leucofrenatus are being distinguished/labelled correctly in lfs... Maybe someone has more insight on this?

Nooo Everything except otos are out of stock. I looked up green farlowella, niger oto, hypotopoma, paraotocinclus in like 7 websites and noooo! Out of stock-seriously? So Im left with otos only.

Maybe wrong season, I know that feeling . You going to order via internet? I ordered otos via internet twice and I had some casualties both times. They are quite fragile. So consider ordering 10-20% more than you actually want to keep. It's really sad but it's reality.

Well, otos i can get from my LFS. And also yeah sad that I cant find rarer species

Gonna fetch a group of them today!

Noooo! Out of stock again-wow.

YES!!! GREEN WHIPTAIL IS IN STOCK!!! Would you recommend them for my tank? Planning to get 2 if so. Or maybe they are too sensitive for my skill.

Do you have the exact species name, some can get big.

Just checked, these dont get big, so could be ok, but clog page says they fare better in a speecies tank, and are quite sensitive, apart from this I dont know much about them, hopefully someone who does will chime in.

Hi all,

shrimpkeeper222 wrote:YES!!! GREEN WHIPTAIL IS IN STOCK!!! Would you recommend them for my tank? Planning to get 2 if so. Or maybe they are too sensitive for my skill.

If "Green Whiptail" is ?

I think that only Jools? has managed to keep them alive for long. <http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... um#p264071>.

cheers Darrel

That's what was on the clog page under the common name of green whiptail I did notice Jools was one of the very few keeping these on the forum.

They are Acestridium dichromum! They come her eby shipping, and my tank is well aeriated, with PLENTY of vegetation.
Plus 1 for $15 in korean money its 15000 wons.

planning to of these guys soon. Would shipping be safe?

Im sorry that i keep on changing my mind, but Im gonna keep otos-I dont think green whiptails can survive the cold shipping journey.

The ID of the niger oto proved to be Schizolecis guntheri(well they say-will check Id)-supposedly less sensitive, and also stay small, maybe going get a trio or so!!! This fish havent been kept much, so its gonna be guite interesting to observe behaviour .

My otos, sadly not niger oto, are here!

Good for you. So what did you get now?