# How many Otocinclus can I have?



## WestHaven (Jun 30, 2012)

Pinkie Pie said:


> Hi everyone! I was hoping someone can tell me how much Otocinclus I can have in my aquarium. I have a 100 gallon, stocked with 5 guppies, and 4 loaches. The main reason why I want Oto's is because of the pesky Diatom algae. I made a commitment that I would clean it up without resorting to Otocinclus, but cleaning the Diatoms off every single Anubias leaf ( My tank is full of Anubias plants- 4 different species!) drives me up the walls!
> 
> So yeah! How much Otocinclus can I fit in my 100 gallon? I heard you should get them in groups of 3, but I usually introduce fish into my aquarium one at a time at least once a week.
> 
> ...


I don't know how many Oto's you can get, but your guppies will breed very quickly and eventually you'll have a ton of them.


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## Psycofc1 (Feb 28, 2013)

Oto's have a low bio load and seeming you have a ton of free space would recommend stocking in odd numbers and 5-7 should be good


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## dthb4438 (Nov 12, 2007)

I've got 10 all male guppies in my 55 gallon and watching them in schooling formation is fun to watch. I also have 5 Otos. You should be able to put as mentioned, 5 or more. They will have the algae down quickly.


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## n00dl3 (Jan 26, 2008)

You probably can put at least 20 of them. They are cool to watch!


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## Knotyoureality (Aug 3, 2012)

You've got tons of room in a tank that size--you might consider a bristlenose pleco in place of or in addition to the ottos. My pleco keeps the anubia, crypts and java fern in his tank spotless, while the ottos barely touch the ones in their tank where they mostly hang out on the glass and nibble along the finer leaved plants.


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## Pinkie Pie (Apr 9, 2013)

Thanks for all the great replies everyone! I got two and I plan to add more when my LFS gets a hold of more Otocinclus, they didn't even have any types of plecos either. Kind of worried though, my tank has lots of Diatoms to go around but it scares me to think that if I add more Otocinclus or plecos some might starve.

I added some anacharis to my tank too, I hope there is enough nutrients to go around. I DO NOT have any CO2 in my aquarium. Since all of you are saying my tank has a lot of space, it sounds like the amount of fish I have in their won't be able to support all the plants I have. 

I'd have to say my aquarium is maybe... 4/10 of plants (Mostly Anubias). I decided to add Elodea because one of my guppy's are showing signs of pregnancy (Fat, She almost looks like a square). I'm aiming for hiding spots to help the fry survive, but when I added the Elodea, some of them sank and only a few floated. 

As you can see, I have a few things going wrong with my tank. My questions are:

*Adding Elodea cause harm to my other plants by hogging all the nutrients?

Should I remove any of the plants to balance things out? (Java ferns, Marimos, Elodea, anubias)

Will my guppy fry survive without any hiding spots up top?

If none of the plants in my aquarium are nutrient hogs, what plant IS? (I always thought Java Moss and Marimos were)

No matter how much plants there are, there will never be enough to prevent algae growth right?

When guppy fry are born, do they generally float or sink to the bottom?*


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## merritt1985 (Jan 16, 2013)

I don't think you'll have to many problems out of most of the plants you have already. In my experience anacharis is like a weed it's gonna grow but most of the plants you have are slow growers so might not be a problem. Might want to try out some ferts though Flourish or api leaf zone are pretty cheap. The guppy fry will find hiding spots and mine never stay up top for more then a few hours if that. Java moss is great for guppy fry to pick at all kind of little critters live in it. How many females and male guppies do you have? Also what kind of loaches do you have as most of them like to be in larger groups?


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

With 100G you can keep tons of otos. Try 5 of the. First, if they seems happy (fat belly) then you always can add more.


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## 82nd_Airborne (Mar 28, 2012)

I promise in a tank that size you will have plenty of algae for the ottos to eat even after adding more. I currently am housing 6 in a 20L. Two of them go to a new home shortly. I added 2 about 3 weeks ago and was worried about food supply, but they are all quite fat and happy. I do drop in an algae wafer every once in a while, but the ottos mainly ignore it. As far as plants go, anubias are slow growing, low nutrient dependent plants. At most I'd say you could stick a root tab in if they start to show signs of nutrient deficiency.


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## Pinkie Pie (Apr 9, 2013)

I plan to add more soon! Thanks guys for the input. I'm worried now again because after doing a little more research on them, it turns out they are not very hardy fish. Knowing my luck with fragile fish, I feel like they'll turn over soon...

On the plus side, they started eating an algae that I could never remove without damaging plants. That thick, black algae. I was extremely surprised when I caught them chewing and breaking off this horrible algae without harming the plants. There's a bunch of diatoms and the growth rate of it is faster then the Oto's can consume them. At least they won't starve- I guess it's safe to buy more of them!


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

in a 100 gallon......well, if there are people that can get away with 10 in a 10.....yah

I'd get no fewer than 15 personally....no more than 50.


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## dtejeda.arias (Mar 5, 2013)

As a keep my tank clean I'd do one per 10g! If you like them as much as I do go nuts!!!! Just remember the occasional algae waffer is always appreciated. Keeping one per 10g should be enough algae for them to be happy forever


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## rdmustang1 (Oct 20, 2013)

I'd say at least 20 Ottos and you could easily do 50+ guppies.


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## AnthonyW8822 (Feb 15, 2014)

I'd add a few clown plecos. They're dwarfs - but IMO the best looking plecos out there


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## Oxl (Oct 21, 2011)

Otos are nice as fish but you can't rely on them to clean up algae on their own, add some pond, ramshorn, and/or apple snails to get the job done right.


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