Need Help Choosing A Cleanup Crew

[jiffy]

I currently have a 10g tank with 4 longfin zebra dainos and 5 cardinal tetras.

I will most likely be stocking it with 6 longfins (although I may stick with just the 4 that I have now) and 6 cardinal tetras.

I originally wanted 1 2 or 3 otto cats for my cleanup crew, but here is the question I have.

The cleaners will not be going into the tank for a few weeks yet. So far, I do not have any visible alge in the tank. However, when I redecorated my tank the other day, a fair amount of food and poop stirred up from the gravel. I do regular gravel vacuming, but I would like something that will help reduce the amount of food that stays on the bottom.

Will otto cats eat the flake food that sinks to the bottom, or do they only eat alge, alge wafers or things like cucumbers?

Also, the reason I do not know how many ottos to get is because I have heard many different things about them being good alone or good in groups.

So...will an otto suit my tank needs or is there something better out there that I should use?

And, can someone explain the purpose of a cleanup crew? Is it mainly to clean the tank of alge, or like I said with removing food that falls to the bottom as well?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi jiffy

Please do not think you can depend on any fish to do the work you should be doing yourself. The idea of some fish, often cory cats, being scavengers is an old one that is no longer accepted.

It is true, however that some fish will eat algae, but if you have dirt and uneaten food accumulating on the bottom, you are either feeding too much or not vacuuming often enough.

How often do you do a thorough vacuuming and water change?

 

[tear-scar]

Inch -- it's true that no fish, definitely not cories, should be tossed in and neglected as "scavengers," but it IS true that food can fall into places in the tank where danios and tetras can't find it. THEN I'd say cories could definitely do the job of finding the food hidden to the eyes of the other fish.

Anyway, jiffy, I don't think ottos will help you much with the task you're talking about. They are mostly herbivorous fish that examine each surface for algae in their spare time, and don't do much in examining the substrate.

At feeding time, Cories will use their sense of smell and digging habits to get at food that the danios and tetras might have let fall to the bottom. Keep in mind though, that cories require soft substrate that will not damage their barbels, and also require some type of school.

You might also consider going to the cyprinid section and inquiring about some of the smaller loach species.


These fish are NOT meant to be "scavengers," and you should do some research on their specific needs; they will however ensure that less of the food goes un-eaten.

You might also want to look into different species of tank shrimp.

good luck.

 

[bshockstubb]

Cories will use their sense of smell and digging habits to get at food...

Fish can smell underwater?

 

[Inchworm]

Cories will use their sense of smell and digging habits to get at food...

Fish can smell underwater?

Hi stubby0143

Well, they can't smell as we can, but there barbels are sensory organs that help them find food.



Hi tear-scar

Corys cannot thrive on leftovers. They need to have meat and vegetables (algae tablets) in their diet as well as flake to be healthy and strong. No fish will eat the waste products either.

To expect properly fed corys to do more than to supplement their diets will leftovers is to invite trouble. Rotting food is one of the causes of bacterial infections, which corys are especially prone to since they spend almost all their time on the bottom.

 

[tear-scar]

Hi Inch

If you read my reply thoroughly, it implies that cories cannot be made "the left over crew," and of course they shouldn't be eating rotting food.

What I did point out is that if there were cories in the tank, there wouldn't be as much rotting food, because the cories would have eaten it when it was fresh.

It is true that food sinks to places where danios and tetras may not notice it; but cories still will. Yes the cory's diet will still need to be supplemented with wafers and worms; however, that doesn't change the fact that their presence will decrease the number of flakes laid to waiste in the substrate, behind a rock, under the plants, etc.

To use a dinner analogy, cories don't "eat the left overs of others," but they do "Lick the plate clean."

 

[jiffy]

Hi jiffy

Please do not think you can depend on any fish to do the work you should be doing yourself. The idea of some fish, often cory cats, being scavengers is an old one that is no longer accepted.

It is true, however that some fish will eat algae, but if you have dirt and uneaten food accumulating on the bottom, you are either feeding too much or not vacuuming often enough.

How often do you do a thorough vacuuming and water change?

inchworm - either i typed what i meant unclearly, or you misunderstod. no harm.

I am not looking to get a fish that will mean I have to do less maintenance. I do weekly water changes, and weekly gravel vacuming (one section of gravel one week, another the next week and so on).

Some flake food falls to the bottom before the dainos or cardinals can eat it. I make sure that all the food is gone in about 3 minutes so that I don't overfeed. But..in that time some food falls to the bottom even though the dainos are madly eating everything at the surface and the cardinals catch what they can that falls.

So...because of this if there was a fish that would eat some of the stuff that fell to the bottom (in addition to its normal meal that I would be feeding it) it would help just that there would be less food wasting until I vacuum. I would never neglect the fish and think they can survive on merely what they find on the bottom. I would have appropriate food to feed them as well (I have done alot of reading on ottos because I thought that was going to be what I was gonna get. Thats how I knew about feeding stuff likealge tablets and cucumbers or zuchini).

So as you can see I am not looking to slack in my tank maintenance. I infact want something that will keep the tank cleaner for the fish IN COMBINATION with me doing my weekly maintenance.

tear-scar - My substrate is regular white gravel, and I feel this may be too hard for the cories. You do however have the idea that I was aiming for about a fish that will eat what falls to the bottom before it decomposes. BTW - Great "Dinner Analogy" You really hit the bullseye with that my desires are in a fish.


EDIT----
I may have thought of a better question. Woudl I be better off searching for something that will aid in keeping the bottom as food free as possible (as decribed above) or is it better to have something like an otto to control/prevent and future alge?

The more I think about it, it is easy for me to control the wasting food with the gravel vacuuming but if and when alge starts to grow that would be much more difficult to deal with. So mabey i am better off with ottos and continuing my ragular maintence schedule.

What do you say to that?

 

[tear-scar]

Thanks, I like analogies.

Anyway, if the substrate is too tough for the cories, go to the cyprinid and characin section and ask about some of the smaller loaches. They have barbels, but don't "scuffle" as actively as cories do; in other words, they won't hurt themselves.

Zebra and dwarf chained loaches grow to only 3", good luck

Edit: Most likely, you have not been having alge problems because of the frequent water changes. Frequent water change does a lot to stop alge growth. Anyway, it's up to you really.

 

[jiffy]

tearscar - you mentioned looking intto shrimp, and another forum I visit suggested the same. I think cherry shrimp look neat, but are pricey. I do not know much about amano shrimp. Ghost shrimp are neat and cheap.

One thing though is that I am worried of shrimp escaping my tank.
I do have a glass cover with that plastic strip thing on the back so you can cut out for the filter, but there is small amounts of room that I don't worry fish can get out fo but shrimp may be another thing....

Also, thanks for the tip on the cyprinid section. I have posted there as well...

 

[tear-scar]

I've never heard of escaped shrimp

Don't worry about it too much. Unless you stress them out lots, they'd much rather stick around the plants or rocks or gravel.

 

[jiffy]

I am starting to think a shrimp may be just what I need. Small bioload and scavenging abilities will help keep the tank even cleaner.

Also, I wanted a bottom feeded because of the diversity I would have in my tank. I couldn't imagine anything that would stick out better than a shrimp. Although, my gravel is white so ghosts or amanos might be a little hard to see. But those would be a nice diversity from more fish. And the small bioload is a great thing for a small tank like mine.

tearscar - its nice to know you have never heard of shrimp escaping. I always see ghost shrimp at the LFS and they crawl all over the glass and look like if they wanted to they could find a way out lol. And, Im sure I have seen less shrimp then you, but I never did see them get out. It only looked like they could.

 

[Jae1525]

I love my shrimp!

I have japanos amano shrimp and a their "daddy" a huge mountain shrimp.
The amano's are particularly hungry for algae and will scavenge the substrait and plants looking for a tasty meal and my mountain shrimp just sits under his bogwood all day like a grumpy old man until night falls and then he sits on top of his bogwood like a grumpy old man!

You can get special invert food for your shrimp 2 so they dont get left out! I think its v important to have shrimp in your life! Unless they are in a salad!!!!