Good Cuc?

[am3ience]

Hi, it's me again, still with my 36g tank, heavily planted now! Current Stock:
 
5 cardinal tetras
3 honey gourami
2 rams
3 otocinclus
1 SAE
 
I was wondering if there were any good scavenger fish or invertebrate that you guys can recommend for me, for my tank, just incase I have any leftover food that sinks to the bottom. Also, should I add a few more otos? or do you think 3 is enough? 

 

[attibones]

Yes you will need more otos, at least three or four more. The SAE should not be in this tank, by the way. They can get really aggressive really quickly and only eat algae when they are young. Then they start attacking other fish by sucking the slime coats off of them. You also need a few more cardinals.

As for scavengers, some amano shrimp would work well in this set up. Some cherry shrimp. I wouldn't get anymore fish, but some snails like mystery snails would be good, though they can attain a decent size.

 

[am3ience]

Yes you will need more otos, at least three or four more. The SAE should not be in this tank, by the way. They can get really aggressive really quickly and only eat algae when they are young. Then they start attacking other fish by sucking the slime coats off of them. You also need a few more cardinals.

As for scavengers, some amano shrimp would work well in this set up. Some cherry shrimp. I wouldn't get anymore fish, but some snails like mystery snails would be good, though they can attain a decent size.

 
Ok, i'll look into getting the SAE into a better home. Is there differences between the shrimps, like cherry, amano, ghost? How many snails do you think would be good?

 

[Lillefishy]

Oto's are best kept in groups of at least 6 so get a couple more.
If you have a true siamese algae eater they're better kept in groups too, they're often confused with Chinese algae eaters & flying foxes so get a positive ID before getting more

 

[attibones]

Cherry shrimp are very small, but they will eat plenty of stuff. Amano shrimp are larger and enjoy algae. Ghost shrimp are good scavengers, inexpensive, about an inch long. Cherries will breed readily in the aquarium, but ghost shrimp are harder to breed. Not sure about amano. Any of them will work for your purpose. It's just a matter of which ones you like best and which ones you can find locally. I would think that one or two snails would be plenty if you didn't want to be overrun with baby snails. 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The above info regarding SAE is incorrect. They never stop eating algae until the day they die. They are almost never aggressive towards anything. I have kept SAEs for about 12 years now.
 
I believe the poster has confused SAE with CAE which are exactly as he described.
 
I am not sure what size a 36  gal is, but a 3 ft. tank is the minimum one should have an SAE in (and they are better in groups).