Butters

Hey, I'm redoing my 20 gallon tank somewhat and what some assisstance on algea cleanup. Should I get 3-4 otos? a small colony of amano shrimp? or a BN or pitbull pleco?

Money is a serious factor with me now and otos run about $3-4. Amano shrimp are $5 for one and I'm not sure how much the pleco would be, but what do you think I should get? thanks!

Ghostfish

I never had amano shrimp but I do have ghost shrimp. I think ottos do the best work myself.

sirdarksol

Otos are the most fragile of the listed fish, but are also the best cleaning crew for a small tank (and appear to be one of your cheaper options)

Amano shrimp are most effective en masse, and are really only good for a very small amount of algae buildup, so they're out.

A pleco (bristlenose or rubberlip, I believe, are the two smaller algae-eating plecos) wouldn't be a horrible choice, either.

Fish Addict

I would probably go for pleco, since I have had both ottos and amanos, and all of my ottos died, and the shrimp don't help much with the glass...

Beeker

Butters,
I'm in the same exact position as you: 20 gal., lots of algae, little money. I am thinking of going with Otos. Let me know what you plan to do.

rosalie68

my tank had tons of algae and i bought a few ottos and they cleaned it up in about a week. now everything is clean. i think they do a great job. better than any pleco ive had! they stay pretty small though so just make sure nothing is big enough to eat them! they clean glass and ornaments, gravel, everything!
kim

Butters

Well, I took a trip down to the LPS today and ended up getting one very good looking clown plec. Thye were out of otos, it was either shrimp, clown, or bristlenose. I chose the clwon becuase they stay a little smaller and it was about $4 cheaper. I'll let you guys know how it goes!