Amano Shrimp + Otos - Questions

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A649475

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Nov 13, 2009
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So I had my amano shrimps for 1/2 a year. They seem fine, swimming around and picking at stuff along with the bamboo shrimp filtering the water column.

BUT I don't think they much of a job at cleaning the algae in my tank. My tank has some brown and green algae. I don't really know the real/scientific names of them or the specific type. But the shrimp NEVER touch the algae patches whereas my otos do. I don't know what's the hype about them and how they are good algae cleaners.


By the way, is it me or otos die from the most bizarre deaths that can occur in an aquarium?

One of mine got caught in the intake. Luckily I saved him on time. So I placed pre-filter sponges in all intakes, but somehow one manage to slip right through a tiny gap. By the time I noticed, he was dead. Then another one died, not by getting sucked by the intake of the powerhead (pre filter foam), but by the tiny venturi hole.
 
There's no question that Amanos help control certain kinds of algae, but they simply aren't the most effective creatures at limiting it. Plus, as you've noticed, there are some algae that they don't really touch. Snails, ottos and plecos are definitely a better option for algae control.

I'm not going to say the bizarre otto deaths are just you, but what you're describing should be a red flag to do some investigation. Generally, perfectly healthy adult fish aren't going to get caught on filters, intakes, powerheads, etc unless those devices are vastly over sized for your tank or (more likely) the fish are diseased, weak, and/or unhealthy.
 
My otos died weirdly too. They do acclimate and are more sensitive than I would have thought, maybe just as much as my angel! But anyway, my amanos seemed to do a good job at eating all the algae, even the nasty looking brown, but otos are the way to go when it comes to algae cleaning in my opinion
 
digitalphrage said:
There's no question that Amanos help control certain kinds of algae, but they simply aren't the most effective creatures at limiting it. Plus, as you've noticed, there are some algae that they don't really touch. Snails, ottos and plecos are definitely a better option for algae control.

I'm not going to say the bizarre otto deaths are just you, but what you're describing should be a red flag to do some investigation. Generally, perfectly healthy adult fish aren't going to get caught on filters, intakes, powerheads, etc unless those devices are vastly over sized for your tank or (more likely) the fish are diseased, weak, and/or unhealthy.
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I had weak and diseased fish in my tank that sooner or later I found them dead, stuck to the filter intake. However, the difference between these and the otos case is that the otos had only their head stuck in the filter intake and half of their body out, whereas the other fish that I found dead looked like they were just dragged to the intake.

My theory is that they went looking for algae and stuck their heads in the wrong place (literally) and couldn't get out.
 
bradlgt21 said:
My amano's take out algae that my BN pleco's won't touch. So maybe each animal has it's own favorites?
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I would agree. I have a tanks with 4 corys, 3 BN plecos, 2 otos and...I just added 10 amanos and 3 small otos last week. It's looking better already.


Like any critter, the less you feed them the more likely they will eat the algae.
 
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