feeding with dried algae sheets

[plah831]

I tried supplementing my otocincluses with a little dried seaweed sheet, but it broke apart and made a mess in the water. I'm still finding the stuff after two water changes.

Does anyone have experience with these?

The oto's ate some of it, but weren't very impressed. Obviously they weren't thrilled with it if I'm still finding pieces after two or three days. My problem could be that I used (unsalted) nori used for sushi. I haven't decided if I want to spend the $6 on a package of it yet, especially if I'm not sure it will be worth it for the otos.

 

[tai95]

Most of the dried algae sheets are specifically made for salwater fish. Your oto's may have not know they could eat, or tried it and didn't like it beacuse it's a saltwater algae. I have never used any of the algae sheets for any of my algae eaters because of the price and it's something they would have never eaten in nature. I wouldn't spend $6 on a package when I can spend a quarter on a cucumber which I know they will eat.

 

[Wishful]

Nori is expensive (relatively speaking), not a freshwater product, and frankly I can't imagine any easy way to process it for feeding that wouldn't be messy. There are plenty of inexpensive, easy to use and healthy alternatives: sinking algae wafers, blanched veggies like zuchinis and greens, even setting up a spare tank that you let go all algae-fied so you can seed it with stuff you can rotate into your main tank. I'm doing the last with my overflow 10gal and it's current crop of brown algae (new tank). I bought some cheap plastic plants to keep in there. Every couple days I'll pull one of them out and sink it in the main tank. This is in addition to zuchini and algae wafers on alternating days.

When I've got the time, I want to actually seek out some algae infested plants--preferably from a tank that hasn't had a problem with any of the types of algae I want to avoid and that otos don't do well with--and set up a window "garden" in a 2-5gal tank with rocks, plastic stems, and/or driftwood for the algae to grow on to create a transferable buffet table.

 

[plah831]

I'm glad I asked you guys for your opinions on the dried algae. It saved me the expense and heartache of trying it.

I really like the idea of "farming" algae in a spare container. I think I will do this in conjunction with fresh (or blanched) veggies.

I recall my old oto's nibbling on sinking bottom feeder food and even gobbling up flakes. Now that one died (after a mishap with filter media), and I added 3 new ones, none of them are paying any mind to prepared food.

Boy, this hobby has a way of growing bigger and bigger. I'm thinking of not only growing algae, but also snails as feeders. My spare room is becoming quite a collection of tanks and equipment!