choochiegirl

My new otos have cleaned my tank of algae, even got the diatoms off the bubble bar (would have been interesting to watch) I have seen them now going thru the gravel on the bottom of the tank so I'm guessing the plants and decos are clean and they are running out of algae to eat. so now what? the algae wafers i throw in get eaten by the Platys, corys and the guppy. I put in cucumber and the platys go after it only. What else should I try? is spirulina any good? or the sea weed sheets i have heard some mention, is that something I can get at my LFS? and for lettuce, which is better, the green leafy stuff like romaine or more crunchy like iceburg?

i'm worried about them not getting enough. Also how often should I add the veggies, daily, every other day?

armadillo

Hi Choochiegirl. Please refer to the food section of the oto caresheet. Hope this helps. I had the same problems as you so I decided to write the caresheet as it's a FAQ. Good luck!

http://www.fishlore.com/Forum/index....5887#msg115887

Tazmiche

Do as Arma says but just to let you know my otos were the same to start with so don't worry too much yet. Mine now eat and play in the air bubbles, i guess they are shy!

choochiegirl

ohhh good article!! I like the idea of farming algae, wonder how that will work in a cooler climate. With winter coming, i keep my blinds closed to keep the heat in and there is less sunlight, there is a window near the tank, would letting sunlight in more help as well? I have the light on for 12 hrs as it is.

Do you change the water often in your algae farm bowl? would discarded water from a water change work if i put it in there I wonder...

something to think about

COBettaCouple

i think you could google information on using fluorescent lighting and a container to grow algae. maybe not as effective as sunlight, but it could be a 24/7 source of light and overall generate more algae.

armadillo

Thanks, ChoochieGirl.

I have the colder climate dilemma myself. I think I'll just bring 'the farm' inside in the winter, and keep it next to a window. Am sure algae don't mind the heat that will undoubtedly result from so much wind-protected exposure to sunlight. Haven't changed the water once.

choochiegirl

I'm going to try growing some i have no glass jars so will hit the dollar store this weekend. I had a cucumber in the tank today and it was pretty much gone, but I dunno who ate it

COBettaCouple

you could probably find plenty in dorm room fridges at the local college.

choochiegirl

probably!!!

hubby said to use the test tubes (smacks) then what do I test my water with?? i'll get something I'm sure, just the stores will be nuts this weekend

Now if I seed my "farm" water with rinsing my filter in the water I will have to treat my water so not to kill my good bacteria on it. I can't handle another mini cycle...

armadillo

OK, here's what I did with the algae farm. There's a lot more room for play as there's no fish in it. I basically conditionned it (once), put some established gravel there (otherwise, for some reason, there's no algae at all for weeks), then put my jars and ornaments and whatever else I wanted in there, then covered it up with an upside down transparent bowl and presto! Never did a single water change.

Oh, and for the glass jars, we use rinsed out sweetcorn and pea and sauce jars that would have normally ended up in the glass recycler.

choochiegirl

I was able to finally get something for the algae to grow on, now sure if it's getting enough light tho, had them in for a week and no sign

COBettaCouple

what type of light? how many hours per day?

armadillo

Have you used established gravel in the bottom of your algae farm? That's what didn't work for me at the start.

choochiegirl

wow the new forum layout, i completely lost where all my posts were!

I did take some gravel from the bottom of the tank and put in the jar. I'm not sure on the amount of light per day, the window faces west but i have a lot of trees at the end of the yard. winter is coming soon too as well, so the sunlight is getting less & less each day and soon the window will have a lot of snow (ugh)

armadillo

Oh that must be frustrating. I couldn't get it to grow and as soon as I put gravel in bang! What also worked really quick for me was to squeeze the contents of a used filter in the water in the jar. But then the problem is that algae establishes itself on the particles in the water too, and as otos are stickers for clean water, I didn't want to do that.

Is there perphaps another, South West facing window in the house at all?

If you could get a tiny fish bowl, instead of a jar, maybe then you could buy one of those clip-on aquarium lights for small tanks. They're on this extensible foot, like these flexible desk lamps. I never bought one, but they look like they can't cost more than a few dollars. I see them in the aquarium store all the time. If you get a powerful one of these, surely that should bolster things a bit?