The Fish Head

Hey all, I need a good bottom feeder for my tank, noticed a lot of people on here like the ottos, do they do better than the corys?? I just have a community tank with all peaceful fish like platys, mollies, etc. Thanks!!

Mike19

Hello and Welcome

I have never owned ottos so i cant really comment on them, although i have a pair of albino corydoras they seem to do the job, they are also peaceful.

The Fish Head

Hey Mike, thank you sir, great name btw (lol my name also of course), I will take your advice, always hear good things about corys.

Mike19

before you take my advice i would advise you too do some more research and thought into which one you choose. as i said before i don't know much well anything about ottos, i would wait for others to help out in here or just do the research yourself.

Mike welcome once again.

The Fish Head

Great Mike, thanks, I will do that. The LFS sold me a Chinese Algae Eater (which died the next day), failing to mention how aggressive they get when older, so definitely learned my lesson to research fish before you buy because LFS advice is about useless, as we all know.

Dozey

Fish Head,

Filling out your "Aquarium Info" sheet will help members answer questions like this one. It will be tough to advise you when we don’t the size of your tank, how heavily it is stocked, etc.

Near the top of the page you will find a link “My Settings”. Under that you will find “Edit Aquarium Info”. Fill out your aquarium info as accurately as you can and save it.

It only takes a few minutes and you will get far better advice for doing so.

Mike19

Have you seen Fishlore's Fish information section its really useful its on the main page of the site. CAE, get pretty big from memory right?


thanks dozey, i missed that one. i owe you one

The Fish Head

Thanks guys, I will definitely fill it out. Yeah Mike been studying the fish information (Jack Dempseys looks like awesome fish, lol, my tank isn't big enough), they both look perfect, just wondered with people who have had them, if they preferred one or the other.

Dozey

Corys can grow to be as large as 5" and prefer to be in schools of 6. Although many people keep just two and they may only grow to be 2".

The Fish Head

Thanks Dozey, have you ever had the Ottos? That's the tough thing with these fish, know they pretty much all prefer schools of 6, it's like you want to accommodate them, but it's like you don't have room or you want to add other stuff also, instead of the whole school.

Dozey

I'm new to this game. Now that I have my tank care facts straight I'm in the same faze as you. Fish stocking research.

The Fish Head

Cool Dozey, we definitely found a good place to learn. How did your water change end up going yesterday?

Dozey

It was actually a gravel change and a large water change. It's done but the blue gravel filled pantyhose sure are an eye-sore. It's going to be long two weeks waiting to take those out.

The Fish Head

You can impress the women in your life that you have pantyhose in your tank

So you put your old gravel in the pantyhose to start the new cycle, correct? After your done with it, do you put the old gravel back to the original tank?

Lucy

I love little ottos. I had 3 and lost 2, they can be a little sensitive to water parameters if I recall.

I think corys....my daughter has 3, do a good job of cleaning up left overs. The ottos will go for the algae.

Ottos can get to be about 2" and corys 2.5. Something to take into consideration.
I think I've heard both can do well in groups of 3

The Fish Head

Great Lucy, thanks, sorry about your ottos.

dancerhas

http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/otocinclus/

There's the Otto cats forum, there's a care sheet at the top with a lot of information about caring for Otto's, as well as their special needs. You may find that helpful.

We opted for Otto Cats instead of Cory Cats....Heidi thought they were cuter.

The Fish Head

thanks dancerhas, that's great info, thank you for posting!

Dozey

It's actually the same tank. I'm just keeping the old gravel in the tank to keep the cycle going while new bacteria grows in the new gravel.

CoreyCat

cory's for sure, but if you do corys make sure to get at LEAST 4 depending on the size of the tank. they are happy in schools and bring livelyness to the bottom of the tank

The Fish Head

Thanks Corey, decided after reading, I'm going do the Corys, the other ones seem a little harder to maintain. Will get at least 4.