Three otos enough?

[bassbonediva]

Right, so I absolutely adore my little oto cats. When they were in the smaller tank (18gal Eclipse 1 system), they would go crazy when I'd walk up to the tank and I could almost literally hear them screaming "Godzilla! Godzilla!!!" in the cheesy B-movie Japanese accent as they darted around the tank. Now that they're in the 45gal, they're much more laid-back, which is cool too. I still think that two of them (which two is still a mystery) bred, but I had a major bacterial bloom and algae attack and I think the eggs may have died. I took them out when I cleaned the tank and put them into their own bowl (with original water from the tank) and put it under a CFL lamp, so we'll see what happens. Anywho, I want more fishes in the 45gal. I've reached my quota for female bettas (yes, nine is apparently enough) and want to branch out a little. I'm thinking of putting a few black mollies (about five or six?) in there. I was also considering maybe adding some more otos. Do ya'll think three is enough or should I add a few more? Thanks!

 

[Newman]

I think you can add up to 7-8 otos in your 45, provided you dont go crazy with other fish. I used to run 7 otos in my 40 gal, but two got temporarily moved to my 10 to clean up the algae. once theyre done im moving them all back to the 40, so they can be a big happy family of 7 again

they like to be in large groups. youll know what im talking about once you see them actually schooling from one side of the tank to the other in groups of 4-5! its a really cool sight. I have mad alage in my tank tho, and have never fed them yet since i bought them a few weeks ago. you may need to go with a fewer number if you cant grow alage in your tank.

As a tip they'll eat brown diatoms first and then move on to any soft green algae growing in your tanks. they can actually clean off hair algae, but its unknown whether they actually eat it or just clean it off and spit it out.

And 5 mollies would be enough. have you ever though about going with sailfins? green i think are the best...love those, but black are cool too.

 

[bassbonediva]

I didn't know if sailfins would be okay with the female bettas because of the whole fin-nipping issues that can arise with long-finned fish and bettas. I like the look of sailfins, though. I'll have to check into their availability where I'm at (I live in a tiny town with all of two fish stores which are very poorly stocked because they're more "pet" stores than actual fish stoes...other than Petsmart/co and Walmart). I thought the black would make a good contrast to my colorful bettas (I have some new pics of the girls I'm going to put up as soon as I get them from my friend).

 

[Newman]

Thats right...they wouldnt be ok w/ the females...
Wow, youre really into those bettas eh? 0_o
You got quite a collection of veils.

I say just go with regular black molly, not sailfin black.
And see if you care to add more otos. add an amount proportional to the algae you grow. unless you wanna throw veggies in your tank everyday

 

[bassbonediva]

I love my bettas! They have so much personality! LOL! When I lived in an apartment last year, they were the only fish that wouldn't die on me and that I could afford a tank for. Then, when I moved into a house and had some more money (and found some AWESOME deals on bigger tanks), I just got attracted to them with their color and personalities. All my females were bought for their color.

I've decided I'm gonna go with the school of black mollies (about 5 or so) and add at least three more otos. For some reason, my tanks are algae magnets (regardless of what I do or where they are positioned...none are by windows and I use Algone in my 45gal...came home from being gone Friday night and Saturday all day and I have a faint sheen of greenish algae on my front and back tank walls).

 

[Newman]

perfect food for the otos. i always keep at least one wall full of green algae. in the morning i can see their "trails" that they made with their mouths

 

[tropicalcrazy]

otos one thing to remember if you have 5 of them (on the inch per gallon rule) you can count all 5 of those otos as 1 fish (so 5 fish at 2" each=2") i would also say have them in a group of at least 5 or more so they can school together. they will be much more happier. also with a 45 you say that you cant get rid of the algae problem well if you get a couple more oto's, total 5 or more, you are gonna drastically reduce the amount of algae in there and it will help out. with just 2 or 3 of them in that large of a tank they probably arent ever going to be able to eat all the algae away so you will probably have a continuing algae problem. i got that after i got rid of my chinese and gold algae eaters. hope this helps out

 

[bassbonediva]

Sweet! Definitely going to get at least three more soon then. I had an algae problem in my 18gal that was by a window (yeah, dumb I know, but I didn't have another place for it!) and some of the decorations that are in the 45gal were once in the 18gal. I cleaned them as well as I could, but couldn't get all the algae off all the pieces (some of the plants and the deco rocks...don't have money right now to buy all new decorations/plants, so I have to live with it). So, the algae problem traveled to the new tank with the old decorations. Can't wait to get more otos now, though. I love the little guys!

 

[tropicalcrazy]

at the same aspect even though you transfered algae that is going to help your cycling with the 45g and put good nutrients in for fish so it wasnt that bad of an idea. yeah i learned from orangecones on here most people count mulitple oto's as 1 fish for your inch per gallon rule and they are GREAT for planted aquariums. heck if you really look at it you could get 10 otos and count them as 2 for 4" then you have all the bottom/algae feeders that you need and there will be plenty of food for them. just remember and im sure you already know this but once that algae finally goes away make sure to feed them algae wafers or another supplement for their diet. im actually going to be picking up 5 oto's sometime in the near future to start controlling some of the algae build up im getting. the yoyo loaches arent doing enough for me but then again 55g for a fish that is still at 2" is still large to my 3 yoyo's so they arent able to keep up with the clean up.

if you didnt have a planted tank i would say gold or chinese algae eaters, just one will do an extremely well job at cleaning the tank but they love to uproot and tear apart plants. more so on the uprooting. i had 1 gold algae eater at 4-5" and he was good enough to clean my tank. now i cant wait to get my otos because they are one of the best to tend to planted tanks

 

[bassbonediva]

I want to eventually plant the 45gal. I can't afford to yet, but I love the look of a planted tank. I had a chinese algae eater in my 5gal with my male crowntail betta and all that algae eater did was hide...all the time. So, I'm not a huge fan of the chinese algae eaters. That and I don't like how big they get. I had a pleco in the 18gal I had, but it fouled the filter horribly and made the tank even dirtier than it was before. Not only that, but he outgrew the tank within a month. I'm tempted by the 10 otos idea. :-D I'm going to be adding five black mollies, but even with my nine female bettas, I'll still be way under my limit. I'd love to see that many otos scattering when I walk up! LOL!