# Oto vs Pleco...



## Daemonfly (Oct 1, 2003)

Your common Pleco (ones Petsmart sells) can get up to 18", and only really eats algae when it's young. Otos usually do die off for some reason, but the ones who survive usually last quite a while. 

Your Petsmart might carry the rubbernose pleco wich stays smaller and is an algae grazer. You can also see if you can get some Ancistrus "plecos", i.e. bristlenose catfish. I beleive most of them are mainly algae eaters and stay smaller, many down to 3"-4" max adult size. I just picked up a M&F pair of Ancistrus Claro that have been making good work of my algae & haven't bothered the plants yet.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loricari/ancistru/g_thumbs.htm


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## wellbiz (Aug 6, 2003)

The theory on ottos is that during transportation they loose the symbotic bacteria in there digestive track because of a lack of food.... Once they are put the tank they really have a 50/50 chance it seems if they can rebuild this bacteria before they starve.... I usually wait 4-5days after a LFS store gets its ottos in before I make a purchase... So far using this practice has yeilded 100% survival rate....

Look for the rubber lipped plecos at your petsmart... These guys stay nice and small and are a great algae eater....


Jason


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## Newkidonthetank (Apr 3, 2004)

oh no.. walmart just got otos and i waited a day and i bought them... as soon as i got home i put it in and fed the fish...well i acclimated the fish first... i only bought one


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## Sundewd (Mar 15, 2004)

I found with my 2 oto purchases you can tell which will die of within minutes. The die offs will stay on the bottom. If they latch onto the sides, they will slide down slowly, then swim back up the side. The also swim upto the surface and grab some air then swim back down and release the bubbles. I dont know why, but all of mine that exhibited this behavior died off. The survivors will usually start on the algae.
Also, I got 2 rubber lipped plecos at petsmart. They dont do much, they hung out on the glass and gravel all day yesterday. Are they nocturnal? Or should I be worried?


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## Mustang5L5 (Feb 1, 2004)

I've bought 8 ottos for my tank.

I have 5 survivors that are thriving.

Ottos don't produce as much waste as plecos. I found that 5-6 ottos did a better job cleaning the tank and produced less waste and were more graceful in their swimming and more appealing to watch


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## Sundewd (Mar 15, 2004)

hmmmmm, One of my rubber lipped plecos died today. I dont expect the other to last long, he has just been hanging out on the bottom of the glass. Has anybody else experienced this?


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## FobbyBobby (Mar 7, 2004)

although i didnt have a rubber nosed pleco, i had an oto that did that, just sat on the bottom all day even right after i bought it (it was siick even from the store but i didnt know it)

well one day it tried to suck on the glass i guess and its stomach was like this nasty red, some internal bacteria infection i think, well it died soon after

but your pleco....try checking on it during the night. i think remember that the whole catfish/algae eater family orr watever are more active at night

oh and just to add....even though plecos poo more than ottos, my ottos are the biggest poo factories in my tank its crazy!! haha just thought that was funny, because for such a small fish they sure do poo a lot


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## equilibrium (Feb 26, 2004)

I'm with wellbiz here. If you plan to buy an oto, I'd ask a local shop what day they receive new shipments and buy one the day before. I would only buy oto's from a local shop. All four I purchased from a LFS have survived for months and the one I bought from a mega pet store died. They might cost a little more per fish, but IME the higher survival rate more than pays off.


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## Kris (Feb 27, 2004)

my candystripe pleco (clownfish ?) will stay quite small and is active at night. however, the ottos are more effective algae eaters.
i like the plecos as a species (phylum?) to watch, but they aren't effective...
i like to drop some food in the bag on the way home from the LFS for the ottos and then stick some zucchini in the tank. they love that.
it has really raised the survival rate.


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