What pleco for a 15g?

[howmanyds]

Is 15 gallons too small for a bristle nose pleco? Would any pleco fit in a tank that small or do I need to resort to snails to keep algae under control?

 

[venymae]

what about a Golden Otocinclus?

 

[howmanyds]

How big do they get? Will they eat smal fry?

 

[venymae]

they stay under 1.5", feel more secure in groups (so get 2), and google can tell you more!

 

[howmanyds]

Thanks!

 

[Coursair]

Otos aren't Golden AFAIK. Chinese Algae Eaters come in a gold form and are bad news. Avoid them.

Otos are good. But they need established tanks.

Best is to control Algae with lights on timers, regular maintenance and not over feeding. Live plants can help also.

Apologies, have never heard Golden Oto used as common name. M affinis is more delicate than most Otos.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/common/genus.php?genus_id=49

 

[fishywishywowoo]

I have 4 hillstream loaches that are very effective at keeping tank clean. Dont grow very big think bout 2" they don't make much waste either. They like cold fast flowing water though

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[KingMaddog]

+1 for the Otocinclus

 

[Camescu]

Totally from memory here but zebra and gold nugget plecs stay a bit smaller. Can't remember what the minimum tank size recommendation is though.
Pretty sure zebra plecs are on the pricey side of things.

 

[ArtistGardener]

I have three otos in a 20 gallon and between them and the snails (and daily doses of Excel) they keep that tank pretty darn clean. Otos don't have a large bioload so three should be fine--they are definitely more content in a small group. The tank should be pretty established before adding them. What else is in your tank now? What is your filtration? Do you have live plants?

 

[howmanyds]

No live plants. It's going to be a fry tank / shell-dweller (african cichlids) tank. There might be four or five shell-dwellers (lamprologus meleagris) who will get to 2" or so. And then I'll keep my fry batches in this tank too - within fry boxes until they're big enough to not get eaten by the shell-dwellers.

But the tank is cycling right now -- hopefully quickly, since I used some media from my established tank.

 

[ArtistGardener]

If it is going to be primarily a fry tank and not a display tank, I assume you don't want much for decorations, etc. In that case, I would rely on good old-fashioned glass scrubbers. Some algae will be good for the little buggers.

 

[howmanyds]

A little algae is good, yes, but I have a bit of... hmm ... OCD perhaps? Even for a fry tank I'd like it to look nice.

Also, just for the fun of having more cats to look at. I have three synodontis and a BNP in my 75g show tank. Love them.