# Would you add an Otocinclus to this?



## tcbonline (Dec 22, 2009)

I have a 1G shrimp bowl that I've setup that's actually doing pretty well. I currently have 6 RCSs in there. I'm itching to put an Otocinclus in with them. What do you guys think about that? Is the bowl too small for an Oto?

I'm just a little worried about the competition for the algae. I supplement the shrimp with a little flake fish food about once a week.

The plants I have in the bowl are:

Anacharis
Moneywort
Crypt Wendtii
Small Java Fern

All the plants are growing well, water is nice and clear.

What do you think, any room for an Oto?

Here's a pic...










tcb


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## Gramazing (Mar 6, 2010)

I'd say no. Even if it was big enough for one, Ottos like to be in groups.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

I would be concerned about lack of water movement. I didn't see any filter on that (I know, putting a filter on a bowl is hard). If your concerned about algae, one oto cat won't really do much and your bowl can't really handle more than that. If you're just looking for fish appeal, I would suggest a beta. 

That's my 2 cents.


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## tcbonline (Dec 22, 2009)

My main concern is the algae. I'm starting to see some small spots of algae on the glass. I was hoping an Oto would take care of the glass cleaning. I'm going to try reducing my light time to see if that helps too. Even though I love Bettas, that's not really what I'm going for in this bowl since I really think it's probably not enough room for him to swim around and he'd probably chomp the shrimp anyway. I was just wanting an Oto aid the algae cleaning shrimp crew.



Emily6 said:


> I would be concerned about lack of water movement. I didn't see any filter on that (I know, putting a filter on a bowl is hard). If your concerned about algae, one oto cat won't really do much and your bowl can't really handle more than that. If you're just looking for fish appeal, I would suggest a beta.
> 
> That's my 2 cents.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Ramshorn snails do a good job on algae in my shrimp bowls, and aren't bothered by the small size of the bowls. But even ramshorns can't eat all the algae--you will have to clean the glass anyway.


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

Nerite snails do a fantasic job getting harder algae but lay infertile unsightly eggs, but i love them


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

I hear lots of good things about Nerites, I'll have to try them.


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

They are great. I had given up on my anubias because it was completely coated in green spot algae, which i could not remove without killing the leaves. When my nerite was done with it, the plant was so clean it looked plastic. Unfortunately i only have one and he either got full or bored because he only cleaned half the leaves. Im sure if i got more this would not be the case, because i only have on in my entire 30gal tank. Their eggs are sesemie seed sized and shaped and are like superglued onto whatever surface they are laid on, but they go away eventually, but do not hatch. They leave a faint ring the size of the egg, but it is barley noticeable. I completely recommend them


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## ItsDubC (Jan 12, 2008)

Gramazing said:


> I'd say no. Even if it was big enough for one, Ottos like to be in groups.


I agree w/ this. Plus, RCS multiply quickly and often, so you'll soon have a larger cleaning crew of RCS to feed on the algae anyway.


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## Oonagh (May 8, 2006)

For the record, I've always found the way nerites decorate the tank with their eggs here and there kind of cool and attractive. 'Unsightly' is just one way to look at it.


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