How Many Ottos?

[Stoty]

I wasnt sure whether to put this in the catfish section or not, but here it goes. I got two ottos a few days ago to take care of my algae problem. I have heard horror stories about them and how they usually die within a couple weeks do to stress and condition they were kept in while in the LFS. I am proud to say that mine are fine so far. They are eating and pooping. I have two now. What is a good number for these guys? I have a 20 gallon medium planted tank.


FISH-
2 swordtails
9 neons
4 gold barbs
6 corydoras
1 mystery snail
2 ottos

Plants:
Moss ball
Banana plants
Mondo Grass (i think)
Creeping Charlie (also called Jenny)
Ancharis


I know my tank is a bit overstocked but I take good care of it and change out 25 - 35% of the water weekly. All of the fish are happy and healthy. Should I add more ottos? I was also thinking about adding another female swordtail to the tank becuase the male is always trying to mate with the one female and i want to give her a break. Should I not?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Ottos like groups of 6+ I got this from another forum member when I wanted to know about stocking my 14 gallon

Mondo grass is not aquatic it will die in 2 or 3 months but u can use it for a ground cover outside

 

[Stoty]

Hmmmmmmm. I might not have enough room for 4 more. It might not be mondo grass. This is some sort of grass i got from petsmart. It was in the same tank as the ancharis. It was $2.50 a plant which is cheaper than mondo grass, and was not kept with the other semi aquatic plants.

 

[Fishy friend2]

Was it corkscrew what does it look like does it have spirals can u put up pics

Detailed description please

I made the mistake of buying mondo grass now it is in my hermit crab terrarium

 

[Stoty]

Any more advice on the ottos

 

[Fishy friend2]

Not from me I am not very informed with ottos all I know is that the like groups of six but since u can't have that many maybe 4 or 5 is okay but don't just take my word for it many other people have many other opinions

 

[soybean]

I only have 3 otos. I'd love to up the numbers but I don't have an algae problem anymore (new tank) and don't really want 3 more catfish to feed on top of 8 corys. But I may add one more...

They are social, and as they're only small, I think in your case you should add at least one more.

Swordtails can grow large and I'm not sure you can get away with a third. Plus you then risk a population explosion. Maybe rehome them?

 

[Stoty]

Yeah they do get to a decent size. I doubt there would be a population explosion. Fry make a good meal for the rest of the fish. I even have a smaller tank where larger fry are eating the smaller fry. Glad im not a swordtail. Thanks. I might get two more ottos. I have lots of algae in there now but the ottos are eating away. I want to make sure there is enough food for two ottos before i add any more.

 

[waterdrop]

Sometimes the problem with ottos is that they clean out the algae and starve. A good trick to keeping this from happening and to help feed them on an ongoing basis is to keep a supply of smooth pebbles in a bucket in the backyard sun (or in your pond or whatever) so that algae grows all over them. Rotate a couple that have a lot of algae in to your tank and once the ottos eat the algae you can swap them back outdoors and bring in a couple that have algae.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Inchworm]

Otos are very small and won't cause much additional bio-load in the tank. They seem to be seasonal so if you have a chance to get them, take advantage of it while you can.

I like waterdrop's idea about growing algae outside but in the off season you can also feed them zucchini or other vegetables.

 

[Caprichoso]

Any more advice on the ottos

Otocinclus can be finicky about water parameters and they need to be supplemented with veggie matter if you don't have algae. They don't tend to do well long term unless they are in large groups. At the very least you should have 5 but they will do better if there are more. Since it is only a 20g tank you may run into the issue of running out of algae more so than if the tank was bigger but it's easy enough to give them some veg. If you have a healthy established tank with a suitable pH and temperature for them, there is no reason why they won't do well. The biggest issue with them is making it from the lfs to home and surviving the first couple of weeks. If they do, chances are they will do just fine. If I could give you one bit of advice it would be to increase the % of water you change per week since you yourself agree that your tank is overstocked. Big water changes are almost always a very good idea, especially when you are pushing the limits of fish numbers. You can also create more filtration and add more plants as well to help deal with the added bio-load.

Good luck

 

[CrazyAirborne]

i had one otto in my 20g and one in my 50gal, ive since lost the one in the 20g completely, bad feeling hes gone and been eaten. Ive never seen either of them actually EAT any thing i put in the tank, algae wafer, zucchini, etc, my one otto is always just on the glass somewhere or on a leaf or peice of wood. I definately think he could use more weight on him, but i never see him eating! the one otto that i think is now lost, once the algae was gone on the wood he always munched on, thats about the time i noticed him missing. i probably wont be buying anymore ottos, as i seem to have a problem making sure they are eating enough!

 

[Fishy friend2]

So can I have 4 or 5 ottos and they will be fine