Growing algae for otos

[cginflorida]

I just saw on another forum how to grow algae for otocinclus by putting some rocks or gravel in a small glass container with some aquarium water, and putting it on a sunny windowsill. The algae should show up in a week and then you can put the rocks or the whole container in the tank.

Does anybody do this?

I want to get more otos to keep my one company but I'm afraid I don't have enough algae for a group, and I know they're picky eaters.

I thought Otis was dead because I hadn't seen him in a week. I did a water change today and he came swimming out of wherever he was hiding. Boy was I happy to see him.

 

[RogerMcAllen]

How many ottos do you plan to keep? I don't know if you can get enough out of the jar method. Right now I have a pond full of algae in my backyard at my disposal. I place small flat rocks in there, and they are covered in a few days. If I put the rock into my tank, it is clean overnight. My suggestion would be to find yourself a long low tub. Fill it with waste tank water, place it in a nice sunny spot, and seed it with some algae. Once you have a nice stock, start placing flat stones in there, disturb the algae to get some spores out, and wait for them to be coated. When coated, take the stone out and put it in the tank to be eaten. This way you will have a larger stock of algae to seed rocks with vs. just a small jar.

 

[cginflorida]

Thanks, Roger, that's a good idea. I was thinking of getting 2 or 3 more otos, I only have 1 now. So it wouldn't be that big a group.