Pleco Alternative?

[Aqualung]

Ottos are a fav. of mine and do a good job of cleaning up brown algae. Also they are often active when the lights are on, which is the opposite of most plecos. My zebra otos are the most beautiful algae eaters there are IMO, but they are very hard to find. Otocinclus do require supplemental food once the brown algae is depleted. Also, they have a tendency to die for no apparent reason.

I have a clown pleco as well, but he is rarely seen. I see him once in a while when the room light comes on in the middle of the night. It is a completely nocturnal fish.

 

[nickbuter]

This is true, Blinky seems to be a part of almost every post. Good Job

 

[NatakuTseng]

I'd suggest getting a combination of things, my clean up/algea control crews consist of Otos,Dwarf Bristlenoses, Amano Shrimp, and Siamese algea eaters. The otos and the bristlenose do a great job on the brown and green algeas, while the amanos and Siamese algea eaters combat any hair algea that pops up. I've found that this combination works VERY good and I don't have any algea problems anymore. Only thing to remember is when they knock the algea down you need to supplement their diet with vegetable matter and or algea waffers.