Flygon_trainer

I'm mainly here looking for advice with a fish experiment I'm trying to work on: Seeing if the presence of an algae-eating fish will adversely affect the growth of algae in the tank. I was intending for this to be a fairly short experiment with a single algae-eater, but I also want to conserve money and space. I've seen several references to needing giant tanks for single algae-eaters, and I'm planning to get the smallest one I can fesably find. Is that really needed? I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm getting desperate.

Butterfly

Bristlenose stay about 5 inches and Otos stay about 2 inches and they love algae.
Welcome to fishLore
carol

Dino

Pleasure to have you with us.

Flygon_trainer

Thank you for the suggestion. How about tank size for the experiment?

Butterfly

AT least a 20 g for bristlenose and 10G for Otos. They won't prevent algae but will eat it if it grows. If no algae is present then you have to feed the veggie rounds or fresh veggies.
Carol

Flygon_trainer

Why does such a small fish need so much space? I don't mean this to be offensive, I'd earnestly like to know.

Butterfly

No offense taken We like questions. Plecos of any kind are heavy waste producers so need bigger tanks. If you go by the inch of fish per gallon way of stocking your tank(this is a very loose way of figuring tank capacity) then you can have fewer fish in a smaller tank.
Carol

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore.. A BN Pleco probably would be best as they are more hearty than Otos, particularly when an Oto is alone. Otos need to be kept in a group of at least 2-3 and tend to have a rather high rate of death in the first month that you own them, besides being sensitive to water conditions.

≈ D ≈

Nice to meet you FT

Flygon_trainer

So if I got a 4-inch or smaller algae-eater, and made sure that the tank was clean, I could have a single pleco in a 5 gallon tank?

Thank you, HarleyMan

COBettaCouple

check http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog...?species_id=48 for the profile of a bristlenose pleco. I'm not sure how well a BN would do in a 5g so daily partial water changes of 30-50% would probably be a good thing, in addition to treating the water with Prime to help keep the toxins from being too much. You might consider a bare-bottom tank for easier waste cleanup.