nippy

We recently added 2 otos to a 10gal tank. We had quite a bit of algae in the tank. The little buggers seem to be eating machines. I have 2 questions:

1: Do I clean the algae off the glass/subtrate, or is this taking food away from them?

2: How do you know if there getting enough to eat and when to give them other food like algae wafers, etc.?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Lucy

Hi Nippy welcome to FishLore.
Otos sure can make quick work of algae can't they?
1: Let the otos take care of the algea.
2: Happy healthy otos will have nice little rounded oto bellys. Not a bloated or skinny look.
It might take them time to get used to wafers. You can also feed them zucchini (blanched and peeled)

JennDFK

I have three otos in my tank and they cleaned up almost all the algae and were looking a little thin. I started feeding them veggies (lettuce, cucumber and zucchini)... and adding in an algae wafer maybe twice a week. The other fish in my tank (platies) like the wafers and veggies too so I don't usually have any leftovers. They seem healthy and happy now.

nippy

Thanks for the welcome & quick replies. I was hoping to be able to feed them something like the wafers or prepared stuff i can buy at the fish store.

The replies have brought more questions:
If I put veggies in, how much & how often? How do you get it to the bottom? Will veggies change my water parameters?

matt6765

Get a veggie clip from your LFS..... If you leave it in to long it will raise the phosphates and lead to a algae problem... leave it in for 1-2 hours

Lucy

You can leave the veggies in over night, they should be ok.

enthusiast

any veggies u put in it i'd take out after a couple hrs, although i'd agree overnight is a good enough time period to give the fish plenty of time to eat whatever of it that they were going to.

as far as when to add the veggies, or even algae wafers, just because you have alot of algae in your tank doesnt mean that you still shouldnt add these other foods. you will keep your fish their happiest and healthiest by feeding them a range of different foods. While they may have plenty of algae in the tank, you should still supplement them with the wafers and pieces of veggies regularly.

i feed my fish about 10 dif. kinds of foods, and also keep otos.

whisper

I love my little oto's. They're like the clowns of the tank or the class clown. They love veggies.

aquarist48

Welcome to Fish Lore Nippy. Seems you have great information above.
Enjoy the site !
Ken

Neji

I have a whole bunch of tropical fishes in my tanks and I feed them ALL tropical fish flakes, and my otos come up to eat the flakes as well, and they have nice beautiful rounded bellies. So they also do a good job on cleaning the algae off my tank All I have to do is just feed the fishes and the otos come up and eat the flakes.

And then weekly water changes + siphoning the gravel and then RO water or Amazon River water does the trick. Usually I use the Amazon River water instead of RO. The water filling station is a little bit far.