Advice On Algae

[Night61]

my ten gallon tank (which i am hoping to replace with a twenty gallon if santa clause is nice) anyways it has developed a bit of alge an i would perfer to clean it up naturally. my idea is to either buy more or transfer a couple of nitrina snails into the tank to clean up. now i know these little guys go a great job cleaning up for they have done a wonderful job on cleaning up my two 5 gallon betta tanks. my concern is that two nitrina snails will leave no algae for the two ottocats. should i only add one, or should i hold off.
could i get some advice please.


also have a 5 gallon tank were i am raising 11 baby guppy fry. i was thinking of dropping a small mystery snail into the tank to eat the excess food. my worry is that myseries eat everything that maybe they could harm the babies. i vacume the bottom of there tank every day, i was just wondering if anyone had an opinion on the subject.

 

[Syphoniera]

Guppy fry don't tend to sit on the bottom to be eaten by snails, so I shouldn't think you'd have a problem there, unless you're getting a carnivorous, leaping, speed-attack snail, in which case, all bets are off, lol.

I'm no expert, and I'm surprised one hasn't shown up yet, but I have heard that otos need about 5 gallons each to assure them of enough algae, as it may be difficult to get them to eat otherwise, especially at first.
And they generally do need building up at first, with a good supply of soft, green algae available, if possible.
I didn't realize how plump and healthy-looking mine looked, until I brought home some skinny ones from the store.
As Nerites are very efficient - and do lay a lot of those blasted little eggs all over - I shouldn't think more than one would be required.
Two might very well eat your otos out of house and home.
I have one in a 15 gallon, (a bit larger but fairly close to your tank size,) which does a remarkable job.

Edit: may have yet another 'oops' posting here, as I 'saw' nerite' and you're asking about Nitrina snails which I've never even heard of.
So unless you meant 'Nerite', ignore me - everyone else does anyway, lol.

 

[loraxchick]

i dont ignore you...i love your posts...so scientific and informative (everyone should read them and learn a bit outside the box everyonce in a while)
and i know what you mean about ottos. never realized how fat they were either, until i took some new ones home.

 

[Night61]

Guppy fry don't tend to sit on the bottom to be eaten by snails, so I shouldn't think you'd have a problem there, unless you're getting a carnivorous, leaping, speed-attack snail, in which case, all bets are off, lol..

that gave me a good life after a long stressful day thank you.

as for the nitrina snail is another name for nitrate snail.

i have two kinds of snails mysteries and nirate snails. my two favorite invetibrate.

 

[aaronnorth]

otto's only eat the softer types of algae such as diatoms and greed dust algae anyway - both of which usually dissapear after a few months so you will need to feed them some algae tabs.

 

[Syphoniera]

Thanks, loraxchick - a much nicer way of phrasing things than 'lengthy and involved', lol.

Hi, Sailornight6, Nitrina IS a very pretty name for them; as I usually post when I can't sleep or am waiting for water to be ready or to get my mind off things, I do miss some very obvious things...
Snails ARE cool, aren't they?

Hi, aaronnorth,
I realize this is blasphemous to a planted tank expert, but, personally, I keep the lights on too long in my oto tank, which keeps them in unobtrusive but sufficient supplies of soft green algae, and as that (non-Walstad) tank has mostly hardy hygro, the plants keep going and growing - as long as they have that little smidge of Flourish, that is...
I don't know if Sailornight6 would want to go that far, but my otos refuse to eat algae tabs/pellets or vegetables - even boiled baby Brussel Sprouts, a plec favorite - although ONE (recognizable because rounder) will eat cucumber in a pinch.
They're supposed to love tinned French Cut green beans, and I've told them this repeatedly, although they couldn't see the links and apparently chose not to believe me.
And I have heard from others also having similar problems in algae shortages, the little suckers ignoring all lectures from concerned owners regarding starving otos in Siberia being very glad of such foods as they pass over...
What do yours eat, and how do you twist their little tails into doing so?

 

[aaronnorth]

I feed mine JBL NovoPleco algae tabs ( Click ) once a week, then once a month i put in some cucumber.

Maybe i am just lucky with mine feeding off of various foods