i have a 20 gallon planted tank with 9 half grown tuxedo platies. i am starting to have algae problems and cant decide which fish to use. i dont want a pleco because they will destroy some of the plants, so right now i am looking at either a couple of Otocinclus, or a couple of This Butterfly Loaches(Beaufortia sp.), are these good fish to use and is one better or easier to keep than the other?

thanks for any replys.

Ottos are tough, it's normal to get a 50% death rate in the first few months. However after that they are very hardy.

I have never heard of butterfly loaches, sorry, maybe somebody else can help you with that

What type of algae is it? Can you describe it?

Please tell us HOW planted it is, what type of plants, what your fertilizer and lighting routines are, and any results you have for nitrate, phosphorous and potassium.

it has tons of java ferns, 3 apon bulbs, 2 anubias nana, 1 sword plant, java moss,6 vals, water clovers(Marsilea quadrifolia), hornwort, anachris, i think thats it.

the algae is hair algae and regular green algae that grows on glass/rocks.

here is something i found on the loaches http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/beauf...ichowensis.html


as far as fertilizer goes i use liquid aquarium plant fertilizer and occasinally tabs. they get about 10 hours of light a day, i have the light on a timer. not sure about what chemistry, i do weekly water changes and dont seem to have any problems, the plants and fish always seem to do fine, its just the algae, especally the hair algae that is bugging me. the hair algae mostly growing in the floating anachris and hornwort, but i do find clumps of it on the bottom from time to time

Not all pleco's destroy plants.Clown pleco's grow to about 4 inches-something like bristle nose average out 5 inches(I have heard of bristle's getting larger,but Ive never seen them that big.my full grown male is about 4 1/2-5 inches big. Also,neither one of those ever bother myplants- I have no problems with them at all- I have only ever owned one pair of otto's,and I loved the little bugger's! I had no problems with them at all,and they were in a tank at that time with two pretty big pleco's! I constantly would watch them on the sides of the tank,& running the length of tank sucking all the algae as it went along!

just hesitant to use plecos, becuase when i bought my last one over ten years ago( it died two months ago) it was about 3 inches long. when it died it was 14 inches long and hadnt met a plant it couldnt uproot or chomp on

That sounds like a common. Bristlenoses are a good choice for planted tanks, and stay small (I promise!). They get to a max of 4-5 inches, and are very easy to identify, they are the terribly ugly ones with the spikes on their noses.

Rubbernoses are good too, stay ~4 inches, and imo look very different from commons, though not as unique as BN's.

Either are good in a planted tank in most cases (every once in a while someone will have a problem with them shredding a couple leaves). I had a rubbernose in my planted tank for months, he never ate my plants. I've got a bristlenose in quarantine (my rubbernose died) set to move to the planted tank soon, he has not touched the plants in the quarantine tank.

Both of those are very good algae eaters, BN's might be a bit better at it. Clowns I have no personal experience with, though in my experience they are harder to find.

I now have 4reg,and one albino bristlenose,and I think that they are adorable!!!!! Yep,you had a common which is a whole entire matter!.I have2 commons that I got when they were tiny,and they're about 10-12 inches right now.

That sounds like otto algae, I would pick up a couple of those. Make sure they've been quarantined, and maybe watch them for a few weeks.

Make sure they are healthy, not from a barebottomed tank, and that they eat. If there is not algae in their tank then get an employee to drop in an algae tablet. Don't buy any with sunken in bellies! Good luck!

i have settled on getting a pair or trio of ottos but, its been so long since i bought new fish, how long should i quarntine them i forgot? <_<

I would say 6 weeks to be safe. Especially since ottos are wild caught, you can never be too careful! good luck!

thank you