Oto food: when to supplement?

LeahK

AC Members
Jul 5, 2007
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Hi. I just moved my 3 otos from QT to my main 55 gallon tank, which is full of brown algae. They're already hard at work cleaning the glass. My question is, do I need to be supplementing their algae diet now, or can I wait until I see that they're running out of algae? I'm not too worried about sustaining them after the algae is gone, because in QT they learned to eat zucchini. I just wasn't sure if it was ok to essentially not feed them anything extra until the algae is used up. And I predict it could take a few weeks before they manage to get all the algae off the glass as well as the plants. Thanks!
 
Don't wait for the last mouthful to be gone before you feed them. Once the heavy cover of algae is starting to look very light, which will be sooner than you expect, its time to start offering algae wafers. I love these guys but they can't just go without being fed.
 
I'll add my method of continuous algae supply.:grinyes:

Get a handful of white rocks and put them in the bucket of water. Add a pinch of fishfood into the bucket and place the bucket under direct sunlight. Alternately use the rocks so you won't run out of algae.
 
Don't be surprised if your otos clean up the brown algae in a matter of days. They LOVE that stuff.
 
Yep, I posted the initial message 2 days ago now, and my tank is looking very clean! There's still a little algae on the back wall and on some plants, but I think I'll start feeding zucchini either tomorrow or the day after. And I'm also going to use Lupin's trick with the rocks. As for the zucchini, is there any trick for helping them find it? I see them swimming up and down at the front of the tank at night, so I guess I'll try to put it where they'll bump into it :)
 
Jeez, I've tried in the past to feed my clown loaches zucchini, and they've totally ignored it. Of course, now that I've got the otos to feed, I put the zucchini in the tank and the clowns go crazy for it.... I guess I'll have to try this again at night while the clowns are asleep.
 
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