Otocinclus Catfish - Best Algae-Eating Nano Fish? 

If your tank is lacking algae, put some medium size stones in a cup of dechlorinated water outside in a place with sun and let them sit. Eventually, algae will grow on them and you can stick them in your tank for the ottos to graze on.

I live in Maine and we can get them here in the LFS’s but I haven’t found any in the last 2 months. None of the stores have been able to get them lately. Thank you for posting this video though ! I really wanted to learn about them.

@@mainelybettas847 My pleasure! Best of luck getting them on store sooner than later.

Sorry not related to otos but do you have a current stocking list of your shy guy tank?

@@gttkp Oh good question! I originally stocked it with 6 kuhli loaches, 6 celestial pearl danios, and 1 peacock gudgeon. Now I have 1 betta, 1 peacock gudgeon, 3 otocinclus, 3 hillstream loaches, 3 amano shrimp, 5 kuhli loaches, and 4 green laser Endler's livebearers (which replaced the CPDs). I usually don't like having so many different species in one tank, but since I've been going through some algae troubles, I wanted to experiment with multiple algae eaters and see which species ate what. So far, I've been very impressed with the hillstream loaches. 👍

Awww, thank you so much! That warms my heart. 😊

She sounds like she’s talking to you and not at you

I mean it seems like she loves her swimmy pets at least as much as I do.

Agree

That would be a personality, voice inflections, enunciation, and a nice smile.

Haha, she knows she's cute so I have to be careful she doesn't get an inflated head about it...

Yeah duh! All minorities in the US, especially latinos and Asians are actually multilingual with the exception of a few.

@@natep6729 thats sadly not true. Many parents were coerced into not teaching their children their native language in an effort to assimilate to American society better

So correct about the shoaling behavior, I love to sneak up and check out what they’re doing.

Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun making this one. :)

Yess! Great minds think alike. 😜

I actually tried to look for frozen squash/zucchini because I remember seeing it before, but couldn't find any. Great shortcut!

Wow I never thought of this

Yay, glad I could help!

Yay, hopefully it'll inspire more people to give them a shot!

My Kuhlis are out and about all the time. I 10 in a 42gallon bow front and have a river rock set up with lots of plants and have caves against the glass so I can see inside. Looking at my aquarium at any given moment I see 1-3 lounging or sifting they really thrive in this set up.

Thank you so much! Haha, now my son wants to show up in my videos.

Thank you so much!

You totally should! I love this little catfish.

Samee

Yay, I hope you'll give them a try!

My pleasure!

First mistake you made was Only buy 4! 2nd mistake was that LFS sold you Only 4! Oto's are shoal fish keep at least 10. Your fish where getting shy, feel unhappy, stressed out, stop eating and eventually die. and 3th I think you tank wasn't ready (cycled/matured) for Oto's. Hard lesson but learn from it ;)

Yay, glad to hear it!

It’s definitely worth a try, but I wouldn’t do it without having a backup tank already set up. The odds that the beta wouldn’t like the others is so high, a backup would be needed for immediate removal of the beta is aggressive. I’ve heard of people co habbing betas but it doesn’t always work out.

Awesome! my second tank is almost the same! Ive got neon tetras, a few nerites, and now im contemplating do i get Amano shrimp or a few otos!

I love this! Thanks for sharing how long they live; I totally forgot to look that up since I haven't had any die of old age yet.

@@shockadellick If they look good in store generally they are fine. Biggest problem is water quality and getting them to eat. If you do a 30% water change every week and clean the debris out of your filter once every 3-5 water changes then unless you have CRAZY stocking then you should have perfect water. If the ottos look good in store they are probably eating and will be fine also. I actually have really "bad" stocking in one of my tanks with 9 full Platy, 9 Neon Tetra, 6 Ottos and 14 Corydoras - 38 FISH in a 33 Gallon/125 Litre tank. But they are all peaceful fish, during the day they stay out of each others way and I have enough plants, rocks and wood for them to "sleep" in their own spots at night so they don't really have any stress. What kills fish is mainly stress first, then bad water quality, then lack of food (other than disease or injury). So stock your tank to minimize stress, I have corys for the bottom, Ottos and Neons for the middle then platies which roam around, they kind of stay out of each others way except feeding and none of them bother each other. Then I religiously do water changes every 7-10 days, usually a Monday or Wednesday and every once in a while maybe 4-6 weeks I take the filter out and remove build up and thats it. Maybe 2 hours maintenance per month for a clean healthy tank. My Corys keep the sand spotless, the Ottos keep everything free of algae. I feed once a day mostly mini sinking pellets which all fish eat as they're really small and flake also only really because it occupies the platys at the top for long enough to let the pellets reach the bottom. 2 to 3 times a week I feed 1 cube of frozen food mostly bloodworms and mosquito larvae and every other day I put in a slice of cucumber or a piece of canned green bean or carrot for the Ottos(you want it cooked or soft so they eat it easier). I also keep my tank light on 10 hours a day which I know creates algae since it used to create small algae build up every 2 weeks from being on 7 hours a day before I go the ottos but the ottos never let me see the algae as they are eating it before its there. They constantly graze so every 1mm of algae that pops up is took away. After years in the hobby you slowly build up your knowledge and skills through experience. If I tried having 38 fish in a 33 Gallon tank in my first year it would have ended in disaster but after knowing what works and what fish are compatible and to be vigilant with water changes and for me only feed big once per day, I have things dialled in. When I was 1 year in I didnt know how long to leave lights on, was feeding 3 times a day or so, did a water change every 2 or 3 weeks, bought new fish at random and sometimes like 5 guppys and 8 cherry barbs at once to a tank that already had platys, mollies and rasboras and wonder why a lot died quickly when now I know I added them to probably poorer water and to fish that already filled their roles and stressed them all out. Now if I am getting new fish I do a water change a day or two before to make sure water is at peak cleanliness and I have heavily researched the fish and know I have room and they are compatible.

If I have multiple tanks could I put 1 or 2 temporarily in my 5gal to clean the driftwood and plants? (they mainly be in my 40 breeder)

Another cool bottom feeder(not algae though) is the Pygmy corydora. Because of how small they are you could go with easily 8 or 10 in your 20 gallon and would have a blast watching them zoom around together on the bottom. I have 5 in my ten gallon and plan on getting a couple more, and they’re easily my favorite to watch. Cheers, and have fun with your tank!

Another cool bottom feeder(not algae though) is the Pygmy corydora. Because of how small they are you could go with easily 10 or 12 in your 20 gallon and would have a blast watching them zoom around together on the bottom. I have 5 in my ten gallon and plan on getting a couple more, and they’re easily my favorite to watch. Cheers, and have fun with your tank!

Haha, mine used to go crazy over zucchini, but now I think there's plenty of algae to feed off and now they're just too full 😂