blaxicanlatino

I heard that I can grow algae by taking a rock and placing it in a jar in the sun with water. How long must it be in the sun? I put a clay pot in the small container I bought my betta in with aquarium water and a small piece of cucumber. Its been about a week and the water is turning green and I see small strands of mesh on the pot. Is this normal? When do I put the pot in the tank?

David C

I farm algae for my otos and it usually takes a couple of weeks for them to get a green slime coat going on. i use tank water and then swish my filter around in it because i heard it helps. once you get the algae seeded on the rocks (this takes the couple of weeks) it only takes a few days back in the algae farm for a rock to regrow its algae. i have a dozen rocks i rotate out from being munched on in the tank to being re-seeded.

Lucy

This is interesting, can you go into a little more detail?

Do you 'farm' in a tank with a heater? Treated water? In the sun?

I want to add a couple ottos as soon as I have an empty Q tank.

David C

I use rocks out of my tank already and I put them in a tupperware container with a saran (spelling) wrap lid. i keep them in direct sunlight on the windowsill and use tank water and swish the filter in the water (someone said that helps)... since the rocks from the tank already have a little algae on them, you just have to let them grow. i dont use a heater because its sumemr and 80degrees constant in my house (thank GOD for A/C)... thats all i do

Lucy

Thanks, that sounds easy enough.

Sorry for the hijack blaxicanlatino.

Laelanna

How much algae do the oto's need? I picked up three of them because the tank looked horrid from all the algae spots on it (it gets a good bit of sunlight as well as strong plant lights). Do I need to 'farm' algae for them or should what grows in the tank be good enough?

David C

im sure theres enough for them already in the tank. my tanks stay pretty clean, i only scrape algae maybe once every 6 weeks or so and thats why i supplement with the rocks. im not sure why the algae isnt growing in the tank, but you wont hear me complain

Laelanna

Ok, my next question is, how many oto's do you recommend for a 55 gal tank? The three I have don't seem to be putting too much of a dent in the algae. I can see where they have been at it, and they are always on the tank wall. The algae just seems to be getting worse though. My hubby does plan to get a pleco down the road. (when we can afford what he wants with shipping charges) I think he is settling for a gold nugget or a sunshine pleco. I can't remember for sure though. The tank is starting to look more green than clear though!

On an off note, the oto's are so stinking cute, almost as cute as my cory's. Hubby doesn't think so, but I love watching them.

David C

I heard somewhere that you should have 1oto per 5gal, or maybe that was a maximum amount i dont remember. I have 3oto's and 2 tiger oto and they seem to do a pretty good job. i still have some leftover snails though that the yoyos havent finished off so i dont know how much they're helping out.

How bad is your algae?

Ghostfish

Its pretty bad and I swear you can see how its grown over night. I'd take a pic, but well my kid broke my digital cam so I'm SOL on that. The front of the tank isn't so bad, but the back and sides are looking pretty bad. I can see trails through some of the worst spots of algae.


On another note, I'm very quickly becoming disappointed with the petstore that opened up here. Its nice to have one, other than walmart and the teeny hole in the wall that has mostly oscars, but when I saw about 25 oto's in a 10 gal tank with dwarf gourami's that were so hungry they were chasing the gourami's around, and the Painted Glass fish, and the hand painted mollies, and the dipped parrotfish .... :;kmg well I was very unhappy to say the least. The only problem is, the closest other pet store is Pet smart and thats like 30 mins away. I want Animal Jungle back. Either that or I gotta come up with money to run my own pet store.

Laelanna using Ghostfish's account

pinky93

can someone post a pic cuz i tried and wasn't successful so... i want to try again

David C

Oto's in tanks at the LFS with no algae is one of the reasons they're in such bad shape when they finally go home with you. they need to eat constantly and they are basically starved by the time you get 'em. i feel so bad everytime i see them. luckily, my LFS leaves a single tank with some algae for the oto's, but it's still not enough to feed them properly.

If your algae is getting that bad overnight, you may have a water quality issue or too much light. i know there are a couple threads dealing with ways to cut back the algae, i'll try and find one for you.

Laelanna

I would say its probably too much light. I know my hubby has been keeping the light on for aobut 12 hours, I didn't know if I should turn it off sooner or not.

David C

Try decreasing to 11hrs and go from there. If the plants don't seem to be adversely affected and the algae gets better, than it worked

Test your water also and see if there are excess nitrates or otherwise poor conditions... you could also be overfeeding which supplies excess nutrients for algae growth... keep an eye on it and im sure your problems will clear right up.