OK, weird, but I need to GROW algae. Any thoughts?

HI everyone. My lady oto is full of eggs, and I've done a lot of reading about this. Apparently, the chances of success are very limited because the fry will starve to death unless my tank has loads of algae in it. My problem is this is a reasonably new tank (about 2 months), and the 2 otos in the tank have already made a great job at getting rid of the algae. I feed them flakes and sinking protein pellets, but apparently the fry won't eat that and need the live algae. So now am having to think of ways to ... grow algae!

Here's my setup: 2 otos (1 male/1 female) in a tiny 7G tank. I was thinking of putting the tank in front of the window, but they'll boil in a second seen as the tank is so small. I was also wondering if putting the tank in front of the window, but behind closed curtains, would help?

 

LOL I just responded in the other thread Put a container outside with rocks and dechlored water, rinse a filter pad in the water for food or the gunk you vac out of one of the tanks. Should have algae in no time( make sure it gets plenty of sun. I've seen sheet algae at teh pet store wonder if the otos will eat that?
Look at this premium farm raised algae
Carol

 

Wow, it obviously works!

 

yep it does I used a five gallon glass aquarium but any container the sun can get into will work.
BN fry eat all the time and can clean a good size rock in no time. I kept about eight rocks in the tank growing algae all the time and rotated them as needed. Took about three days for algae to grow on a newly cleaned rock.
I stirred the water really good at least once a day to keep it from becoming stagnant and added dechlored water as needed to replace evaporated water. A bubble stone would be nice but I didn't have an electrical outlet close by so I just stirred it really good once a day.
Carol

 

We're going on holidays. It'll have to be stagant and she'll have to refrain from laying her eggs until we're back!

 

let nature take its course. hehe my tank needs algae also.

 

Oto fry will starve in a matter of hours. Letting nature take its course is not an option if I want to see some fry am afraid. Mind, they simply won't stop mating, so even if this batch doesn't make it, there'll always be another chance. But I'll give them the best fighting chance, though.

 

Will otos eat that sheet algae I see at the LFS?
Carol

 

I've seen these on the Drs website, but never in the shops. I wondered if I could just put some algae that I buy for human consumption, to make sushI out of. I have some of that and, seen as I've become a vegetarian about 2 years ago, it's not like it's going to get eaten anytime soon!

Oh, and btw, I've done what you've suggested: I've put a deep salad bowl outside (plastic), filled it with established tank water and rinsed off one of the established tanks' filters in it, then I put a little castle ornament. We'll see what grows on it.

Oh, and I"ve changed the light timer regime. Now it's on for 13h, instead of 4hr on, 2hr off.

 

Hey Armadillo,

I've been thinking about your algae problem. At first I wasn't sure whether I would feed the baby otos norI or not (the sushI algae). NorI is made of Porphyra, which is a marine red algae, and I don't know whether it has similar nutrient requirements. However, this site says that it's an okay food for adults so I suppose you could try it. However, I read on that site and that you can feed baby otos little tiny baby brine shrimp (but not adult brine shrimp ... too big maybe?) crushed vegetable flakes or even boiled spinach.

I think boiled spinach might be a great choice as a first food for your little buggers, but I know you're probably going to be away on honeymoon since you're getting married. Still, I hope everything works out, and if not this time, perhaps it's useful info that can be used another time. Clearly you're doing something those otos like!

Short of the boiled spinach, all I can think of is picking a pet store and asking to buy their algae off of their tanks! Or, you know, take it for free. Whatever.

 

Thanks a lot, Carillon. I tried NorI and for sure the parent otos love it. I can't leave that in the tank while on holidays, though, but it's good to know there's yet another food item they perhaps like.

I am really relieved that you reckon crushed vegetable flakes are OK, as I have loads of those for my molly livebearers, and they're easy to fit in the automatic feeders.

I'll try boiled spinach when am back I think, but definitely high on my list of things to try. My mollies seem to be turning their snubbish noses at zucchinI and cucumber at the moment, rude people that they are.

 

for my plecos I feed them both a half of a algae waffer each some tiems a whole one how much should I feed them???

 

You could similarly just fill a jam jar with water and leave it in a sunny spot for a few days, then the jar itself will get some algae growth. If it's there for 48 hours or more, you shouldn't need to dechlorinate the water either

 

Man, that's clever!!! Why don't I think of these things?! Excellent idea, thanks.

You could similarly just fill a jam jar with water and leave it in a sunny spot for a few days, then the jar itself will get some algae growth. If it's there for 48 hours or more, you shouldn't need to dechlorinate the water either

 

;D You're most welcome.