Is this brown algae?
- Thread starter platytetrafan
- Start date
actually in some tanks the diatoms grow extremely fast..once a week and you would not be able to see what's inside the tank.
in some cases you may have to clean every day.
if the diatoms grow this fast..the oto's will have a nearly endless supply of food.
I had a 10 gallon that sustained a trio of oto's for nearly 2 years..the problem was the oto's preferred the diatoms and refused other foods.
I eventually shut the 10 down and set up a larger tank..
oto's will do well in an established aquarium as long as there is a lot of algae or you can train them to consider other foods.
the big problem with Otocinclus is they are fragile..tho in some cases there could be some debate as to how fragile they are as some have no problems with them.
in some cases you may have to clean every day.
if the diatoms grow this fast..the oto's will have a nearly endless supply of food.
I had a 10 gallon that sustained a trio of oto's for nearly 2 years..the problem was the oto's preferred the diatoms and refused other foods.
I eventually shut the 10 down and set up a larger tank..
oto's will do well in an established aquarium as long as there is a lot of algae or you can train them to consider other foods.
the big problem with Otocinclus is they are fragile..tho in some cases there could be some debate as to how fragile they are as some have no problems with them.
yes but this is a 5 gallon remember, not a 10 gallon. 2 otos cleaned my tank of diatoms within 2 days. Luckily i was able to grow some algae on a rock and feed that to my otos. The diatoms resumed a few days later. I could see only 1 or 2 spots of the diatoms per day. Thats how effective 2 otos cleaned my tank of algae. Now try putting those 2 same otos in a 5 gallon tank who will also be unhappy about space and not being in a large enough group.
well the tank is not new it has been cycled since last October or November. The coral is real is weird though I have platies in the the tank now and they are algae eaters they don't seem to go for it. Thinking on the next water change to just scrub the coral. I also noticed the same stuff growing on the plastic flower in the tank too will clean it off also.
you cannot say for sure if the tank will or will not produce enough algae for one or two oto's.
your situation will vary considerably from anothers.. you have no idea what is in the source water..silicates and phosphates either one may prove an ideal environment for diatoms.
I had a 10 gallon that 3 oto's could not keep up on.
that said a tank that has been set up since november is still a young tank. generally a tank may have to be set up for 12-18 months before the diatom situation will change..and even then ..source water may still provide a suitable environment for diatoms.
Germanman
My fish are my babies
3 Oto's in a 30G tank and they cleaned off a heavily infected outbreak of Diatoms in under 4-5 days ... No more Brown Algae, and I have never seen them eat anything ???
As for their delicacy, 2 things: 1) It begins with how most are havested (cyanide), and 2) a lot errors begin w/ ppl buying Oto's right off the bat before any algae exists within the tank.
P.S. Only in my 75G do the Oto's eat Shrimp Pelletes and Zuccini:huh:
As for their delicacy, 2 things: 1) It begins with how most are havested (cyanide), and 2) a lot errors begin w/ ppl buying Oto's right off the bat before any algae exists within the tank.
P.S. Only in my 75G do the Oto's eat Shrimp Pelletes and Zuccini:huh:
ok I called the LFS today and explained the situation yes it is a coral skeleton and it is real. The manager who cleans other peoples tanks and is very knowledgeable told me to soak the coral in bleach and water and that should kill off the brown algae and yes low and behold it did the coral is spanking clean white again. I rinsed the coral very very well in water and since I am cleaning the tank today I will add aquaplus to the water as I usually do as well and then add the coral back to the tank.
