Proper care for Otto's

[hmt321]

My 40 gal "native" tank at the house looks great except for the green carpet algae growing on the plants and drift wood, I am unable to find a native fish that will do an adiquate job of keeping the tank free of algae.

I have been reading up on otto's and i think that is what i am going to get for this tank, but i have a few questions.

1. how big do they get?
2. would 3 be to many for a 40 gal tank (see present stock list below)
3. what are their temp requirements (i like to keep the tank at 72 F)

fish list

5 small sunfish aprox .75"-1"(all but 1 will be moved to a 125 in the near future)
5 sailfin shiners (they could be flagfin, not sure) currently 1" will get 2-3"
1 madtom currently 1" or so it will get 2" at most

I realize that the otto's could become food for the sunnie or the madtom at some point in the future. I hope that the Otto's can keep the tank clean until my plants are better established.

(note: i set the tank up in feb, my water paramiters are as follows

ph 6.8-7
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0-5 ppm

thanks

 

[YuccaPatrol]

The temperature requirements for otos and your native fish are different. The natives need colder water than the oto is going to like.

I have found otos to be rather fragile at first. This is mostly due to the fact that they are snatched from the wild and arrive at the stores mostly starved. If they make it a week in your tank, they will recover from the stress of being transported across the world. If not, don't feel bad because that is just the way it is with them.

This article may help you with new otos:

http://www.otocinclus.com/newoto.html

 

[F1shkeeper]

I have an otocinlus and they only get to be about 2 inches. They like the temp anywhere from 70°F - 78°F. And you should have no problem at all with 3 in the tank because they dont make much waste. (probly clean more then they make).

 

[LunchBox]

I have 4 in a 29 gallon if that tells you anything.

however, it sounds like you have a tank set up similar to the natural lakes from where my folks live in northern michigan (we have lots of sunfish and shiners up there mixed in with the bluegills). anyway, since those are more or less coldwater fish the otos probably won't do very well as they will need something in the mid to upper 70s to be happy.

as for alternatives, I don't really have any good suggestions since I don't do a lot of native tanks myself.