What are ottos ?

What are ottos? Many people seem to like them as tankcleaners. Does anyone have any advice on them size and such. thanks alot. -tl

 

They're small catfish that get about 1 1/2" - 2".

Here's some info:
http://www.otocinclus.com/

-Chelle

 

I have 3 in my tank. They're great little guys. I find them to be much friendlier than my cory's. Mine are about 1 1/2". Mine are also the easiest to catch with a net. The don't even move.

 

cory catfish, there great tank cleaners i assume otto is the same as cories???

my boyfriend has about 12, and they are getting quite big now and having fun cleaning, but they only do the gravel, not the glass like a plecco, my plecco is a glasscleaner, he does a marvelous job!

 

My cories are great gravel cleaners too but my otto's mostly hang out on the glass and hardly ever rest on the bottom and hardly ever try to clean the gravel

 

No, cories and otos aren't the same.

Otos:


Cory (pygmy cory to be more specific)


-Chelle

 

I have an oto and a rubberlipped pleco (5 inches when full grown) together in a 29g with some cories and gouramis. I added them when I noticed a rapidly growing algae problem. The rubberlip has kind of been a disappointment because I never see him. But my oto was always on the sides of my tank, working away at the algae build up. Within 4 days my algae problem was gone, and I've seen no indication of it coming back.

I'd recommend otos for every community tank, but make sure you have algae already in place before you add one to your tank.

 

I've never really had much of an algae problem in my tank (a few small spots here and there) but mine will readily eat algae discs.

 

Wow, that's pretty cool. All the research I've done on them says they won't really go for the discs when they're initially introduced into the tank, though they'll accept them once there's not much algae left on the sides. Even the good LFS that I go to said that otos would rather eat algae growth off the glass and decorations than from the wafers.

I guess that just goes to show that all fish are as individual as their owners. Out of curiosity, how many otos and what size tank? Any other algae eaters? I was wondering if the rubberlipped might be affecting my oto, but no outward effects yet.

 

I have 3 otos in my 20G comm. tank but no other algae eaters. My otos are pretty mellow guys. They like to pile on top of each other in the corner of the tank and they'll even let you net them without the slightest struggle or chase.

I used to have a CAE before I got my otos but all he ever did was hang around in the cave with the cory's, no algae eating whatsoever, he preferred going after the flakes. I thnik he might have thought that he was a cory :roll:

 

Another nice thing about otos is they're just about the only fish that will eat brown algae. I had a HUGE problem with it in my 10 gallon. I now have 2 otos and not a spot of brown algae.

-Chelle

 

yes, thanks t-chelle now i understand