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No they are not the same. Otto's are reffered to as Otocinclus affinis. Cory cats are a wide group of catfish in the Corydoras family and is not algae eaters, but still an awesome fish to have.

As FishontheRock said. The goldfish is an indication that we are talking about a coldwater tank. Its not advisable to keep goldfish at high temperatures as it will speed up their metabolism and shorten their lifespan. And otto's on the other hand is very sensitive to water temperature.

For the blackwater effect you can try rooibos tea. About 1 bag for 15 gal. Make a strong cup, black no sugar :), and just pour it in the tank. I do it once every 2 months few days before a waterchange. It has the added benefit to improve the imune system of the fish as well. Some folks over...

Forget about otto's if you are running a coldwater tank. They will not survive it. For coldwater there's not much algae eaters available. The best is to wait the diatoms out.

Cucumbers also go down very well with them.

My 40 gal custom collectoritis tank

Sounds like a deficiency to me as well. Try to get some KNO3 (Saltpeter). Very cheap from the pharmacy. Mix 50g with 500ml water and dose 10ml of that for every 100l (26.4 gal). Should raise the nitrate up with 5ppm. Watersprite is a very fast grower and a very good nitrate spunge.

Grow-out tank for plants. Just a screen on top and put it in the sun. Can get some of the plants in pots and have a cheap emmersed setup going to stock your main tank in the house, or even help supply other planted tank maniacs like me.

I don't know what the reason is, but I find it just much easier to control my fert concentrations with EI. Would like to see what others say about this..

I would suggest you get some root fertiliser under that sword very quick. Then cut of the affected leaves and see what happens.

Can't see why it shouldn't. The important thing is to get the water that flows through it to normal ph. So if your water's ph is 7, let it run through the spunge for about an hour or 2 and measure the ph again. If its still the same, you're good to go.

If I can maybe make another suggestion, to rather use some diluted vinegar to rinse it out and then rinse it thoroughly with water over and over until the ph turns to normal. The reason being is since it was soap that the filter has been contaminated with the ph is already high. Bleach will...

The heater is stuck with suckers. I don't have background, that's maybe why it looks like its floating. My main idea with this tank was to experiment a bit with some high-tech plants mainly. So I'm not too worried about other inhabitants yet. But as mts go, I know there will be something in...

Take a look at Tropical Aquariums South Africa. Try to look up Petstop in Pretoria. They don't mind to ship and they really have excellent stock and quality products.

Yeah, our blacklist is a bit of a joke. No freshwater crustaceans or molluscs allowed. So that rules out crabs and snails as well. Also, our copper in our tapwater is a bit on the high side, so I don't know if they will flourish anyway.

Thanks! Looking at a betta or a few galaxy rasboras. Recently bought a couple of neons for my main tank and got 3 cardinals in the mix. LFS's loss. Thinking of maybe putting those in. But first need to get the chemistry right because its so easy to overdose something in a nano. Already lost...

At last attempted to get a nano started! Standard 2.5 gal. Pfs substrate. 18w 6000K CFL light. Dry fert macro's and Flourish for micro's. Excel for carbon. Plants: Rotala, HM, dwarf grass and riccia. No critters yet. Shrimps are blacklisted over here so my choices are limited.

2.5 gal nano freshwater. More of a experimental project.

No.. Rather stick to the rams. Convicts are not very good in a community. Maybe you can look at some kribs, but territory will be an issue if you keep them with rams.