Thinking Of Stock.. Otos And This Pleco?

[Aviici]

Hi all, I have a 200l Fluval Roma and the cycle is coming along very nicely, as it's a day off today I've been sat watching the fish for a while, and come up with a few questions about the stock for my latest tank.
 
I have a growing Long finned BN pleco (at least that's what I think she is), who's got white tips and tbh, I've not seen one like her! The new tank is big compared to her little home at the moment, and there's probably going to be a lot of algae, and I've got a lot of bogwood in there - is one small bn enough for this tank?
 
Should I add 4 or 5 Otos to the stocking plan? are they compatible with a female BN?
 
The tank's got good filtration, sand substrate, going to be heavily planted.
 
Thanks.

 

[techen]

Man, Otos are hard to keep. They have a habit of dying after 5 minutes of being in the tank and they also have a habit of not feeding/starving to death.
 
That being said, Out of the 4 otos I had 3 lived and got insanely fat. I had a ton of algae they would feed on for days.

 

[Aviici]

ahh didn't realise they were a tricky fish to keep, but if you said they eat a lot of algae it may be a risk I'll have to take.. or could I add another pleco ?
 
Put a guppy fry in my cycling tank a couple days ago, and he's feeding well and is really active haha. I also just hated having about 20 fry in a breeder so I've put all of them in the 200l now, you reckon as they grow they'll help the tank to cycle?

 

[techen]

You can try some otos. There hit and miss, Just be careful when adding them.
 
And I don't understand what you mean,Guppy fry? and tank cycle? 

 

[Aviici]

To help cycle my tank, i thought it would be interesting to add one of the baby guppies I had about 3 days ago, woke up today and he's absolutely fine, feeding well and is very healthy. So i decided to add all of the fry into the cycling tank. If my theory is correct, as they grow larger, and produce more waste, they'll help to slowly build up healthy bacteria in the tank and speed up the cycling process. Just an experiment but I think it'll work, and haven't seen or heard of anyone else trying it

 

[techen]

It's possible but I've always seen frys more ify in terms of ammonia. So if there was a big spike I doubt they'd cope that well as there immune system is poor at the moment.

 

[JenCliBee]

Yes it will, the bacteria will colonise as the bioload increases, infact it's the same method as if you already had a cycled tank and then you add more fish, over time as the bioload increases so does the bacterial colony...however, adding adult fish to a cycling tank is detrimental to there health, adding fry will likely end in death as the ammonia concentration grows.... due to there much more fragile nature. This also can cause stress to there fish in which they are more seciptiple to diseases which you really could do without when you planning to add your true stocking plan.
 
As to the otto's, i completely agree with techen, they can be very finicky eaters at best of times and renowned for being hard to get feeding, the deteriorate very quickly and way more die than really whats needed...they are much better suited to a established tank rather than a newly cycled/cycling tank. You would be much better getting another BN, you have a female?.... getting another female or a single male would be the better option, in your sized tank they will be fine together and aslong as you give each one sufficient space to call there own you may even get them to breed if you go for a male.

 

[Aviici]

thanks JenCliBee, great answer explaining pretty much everything there
 
I'll probably end up getting another female BN then, as I don't think I'd be able to deal with a batch of fry. Another thing I've thought of is some shrimp, such as amano shimp - my friend has shrimp in his 450l rena and they do a great job keeping everything tidy, working well with his common pleco. I just don't want them to be eaten or terrorised by other tankmates. Cories should be alright with a decent sized colony of shrimp shouldn't they?
 
Otos are maybe something I'll consider a long way down the road when the tank's been well established and stocked for a good 6-10 months.
 
Cheers for the advice.

 

[Wildbetta]

Really you would be better off with another BN pleco.  Otos just about require an established tank of at least 6 months with a decent algae growth.  They are very rarely bred in captivity and when caught in the wild are very fragile coming into the aquarium trade.  They are notorious for not eating prepared foods and hence they are bad to starve to death.  They also do not do very well with any fluxations in the water parameters.    Shrimp are another one that do not handle uncycled, unestablished tanks very well.

 

[JenCliBee]

thanks JenCliBee, great answer explaining pretty much everything there

 
I'll probably end up getting another female BN then, as I don't think I'd be able to deal with a batch of fry. Another thing I've thought of is some shrimp, such as amano shimp - my friend has shrimp in his 450l rena and they do a great job keeping everything tidy, working well with his common pleco. I just don't want them to be eaten or terrorised by other tankmates. Cories should be alright with a decent sized colony of shrimp shouldn't they?
 
Otos are maybe something I'll consider a long way down the road when the tank's been well established and stocked for a good 6-10 months.
 
Cheers for the advice.

 
Shrimp are a good choice with cory's and plecs, adult shrimp will be perfectly fine... young baby shrimp may get eaten.... it's not that the plecs and cory's will actively hunt them but if they happen to be in an area under the fishes mouth, they will get eaten if they don't move quick enough... amano's get much bigger than you average shrimp though and you normally buy them at a size way out the the of size where the plecs/cory's would even contemplate eating them .
 
 
 

Shrimp are another one that do not handle uncycled, unestablished tanks very well.

 
This is partly true, shrimp wont do well in a cycling tank, basically there is a high risk of them perishing...even more so than fish fry...however as long as the tank is cycled, they don't need an established tank.... there not an overly active grazer and require in comparison very little food, they will eat added food just aswell as most fish.... the problems you have with adding 'certain' shrimp (ie. crystals, tigers etc etc) is the fact they require certain parameter (PH,TDS, nitRATE).... this is usually why these fish perish in alot of peoples tanks. Shrimp like amano and cherry species are very adaptable and often thrive in most conditions.