penny

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if otos are also known as sucking catfish? I have seen these wierd looking catfish at my LFS which just hang on to the front of the tank by their mouths. The sign just says "sucking catfish".

agabr123

they are either otos or plecos, the both can look very similar when sucking on algae on the front of a tank. they could also be either siamese or chinese algae eaters.

otos
http://www.fishlore.com/profiles_otocinclus.htm

chinese algae eater
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-chinesealgaeeater.htm

plecos
http://www.fishlore.com/Profiles-Pleco.htm

siamese algae eater
http://en.microcosmaquariumexplorer....se_Algae_Eater

Nick Goody

Yeah, Oto's do that. Thats what they call them at my LFS. Although there are lots of fish that suck on the glass, so they might not be Otos!

penny

HMMMMM. I want to get some otos to help with algae control, but I do not want to get the chinese algae eaters, which sound nasty. I was hoping there would be a way to differentiate since my lfs just calls them sucking catfish, so I don't know what they really are.I suppose if I ask them, they might tell me which they are, because I really don't want any CAE's.

Fishies-for-me

I just got some otos 2 weeks ago from my local petsmart. On the tank they were listed as otos but on the receipt they were just listed as algae eaters. They are very tiny in the store and so cute. The ones in the store were all on the bottom not on the glass but at home they are all over my tank , glass , plants, bottom , decor and the veggies I add for them. If they are otos they are well worth getting as they are lovely little additions to a non aggressive community tank.

David C

There are several distinguishing marks for CAE's, just read the profile and compare to the oto profile so you can spot them yourself. It's best to know for sure and not listen to the LFS, you never know if they're just feeding you a line to make the sale or not, especially since they dont care enough to properly mark the species name on the tanks or the receipts. At least IMO

Butterfly

Penny they also do much better going into an older more mature tank. They tend to feed on algae and microorganisms that grow in an older tank and since most Otos are wild caught they will frequently starve before they figure out that the food your giving them is really food.
Carol

Fishies-for-me

I agree it is best not to listen to the advice of the lfs ...you need to learn what a fish looks like before you buy as so many look similar but have very different requirements and temperaments.

MeGustaUnaPez926

I would be very leery of any fish marked so generically. And yes, you should wait to get an algae eater, or ask your LFS if they feed the otto's algae pellets, because then they might recognize them as food, but that could still be risky. s

penny

Thanks for all your help guys. I crtainly will study the profiles to make sure I know what I am looking for before I buy any catfish. SInce my algae is not a real issue yet- just the odd spot here and there which I can scrape off, I am happy to wait a bit before adding any otos. My tank does get some indirect sunlight so I expect algae will become a problem at some stage .I also have some driftwood and rocks and a few artificial plants in there which I assume will eventually have algae growing on them for the fish to eat ( in addition to algae pellets of course.)