Question About My Stocking

[nukeonekitty]

In my 20 gal, I currently have 2 bolivian rams, 5 dwarf rainbows and a bn pleco. I am planning on adding 4 or 5 oto cats. Once I do this, am I full? Keep in mind the tank is going to be heavily planted and has an AC70 on it...

 

[rdd1952]

The otos really don't add much to the bio-load. With that many algae eaters though, you will have to suppliment their diet as there won't be enough algae to keep them fed. In my experience, otos are very picky eaters. I never got them to eat veggies or anything else.

 

[parker313]

You either get a few more dwarf rainbows for one large shoal, or I would get 5-6 harlequin rasboras and have 2 smaller shoals. 4-5 otos wouldn't necessarily overstock you, but you should keep an eye on your water conditions as everything gets settled in.

 

[nukeonekitty]

What success have you had with supplementing your otos? Will they eat flake that sinks or pellets?

 

[rdd1952]

I had no success with otos. I always ended up losing them. Once the algae was gone (brown algae), they never ate anything but just hung on the glass

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I've had success with my oto's moving them onto prepared foods like Xlarge algae wafers and cucumber, but i agree with rdd1952 about buying oto's though none the less. It took months for my oto's to move onto prepared foods, if i hadn't have had loads of algae growing in my tank at the time i bought them and it hadn't had lasted as long as it did, i would have probably lost my oto's. So i would only advise buying them if you have a lot of algae, and can somehow ensure it is always growing in the tank for a long time.
Most oto's are already quite starved by the time they end up in lfs's, so its vital you have a good supply of algae for them in your tank when you get them to help them acclimatise better to the tank in the long term and fatten back up to a healthy body weight.

Pic of one of my oto's pausing to eat an algae wafer with one of my albino corys;

.

Other than that, i would say that you could definately get away with some oto's in your tank, and probably some shrimp and large ornemental snails too quite easily .

 

[nukeonekitty]

I was thinking maybe just one oto and some cherry shrimp, but it is my understanding that otos like to be in groups of 4+.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I was thinking maybe just one oto and some cherry shrimp, but it is my understanding that otos like to be in groups of 4+.

Thats true too, oto's don't like to be on their own or just in couples, generally speaking the more the better. They tend to acclimatise better to tanks in the long run when introduced to tanks in large groups too, some people think the reason for this is that the special bacteria in their gut used to help digest algae begins to die off when oto's are starved in transport. However oto's also excrete this bacteria, and so when introduced in a large group in an algae covered tank they are much more likely to restore their beneficial gut bacteria than if they were on their own etc. This thus helps them build back their weight and helps them adjust to the tank much better in the long term .

I don't know how much of this is true, but i do know they tend to survive and thrive better in larger groups and appear to visably enjoy each others company- my oto's are almost always hanging around each other, side by side and never alone, such cute little fish .

If you go for shrimp, i'd also get groups of them too, i think cherry shrimo do better in groups as well (plus you are hardly ever going to see a single cherry shrimp hanging around in a 20gal anyway).