Cories or Oto Cats?

[DCtank]

Does anyone have any advice on choosing between these two kinds of fish? The Cories seem useful for scavenging the bottom for sunken food but the Otos seem better at removing algae. I don't have any greet algae but I do have brown algae (diatoms?).

 

[Phranque]

I have both.... how estalished is your tank? If it's fairly new, I'd go with just the cories for now. Otos are very sensitive to acclimation & tank parameters, so you want a well established, stable tank to give them the best chance..... plus an established tank will likely have a little bit of green algae for them to feed off of as soon as they get into your system. I actually leave the lights on long enough to allow a little bit to grow for them.

 

[bigbanker]

I too leave the lights on for my otos. Even though the tank is large I still worry about starving them. I've had them for five months. I've never been a huge fan of corydoras though. I suppose it depends on the personality you are looking for

Also what size is your tank?

 

[DCtank]

29 gallons. How different are their "personalities?" Part of me wants the cories because I understand they stay on the bottom more BUT I want pygmy cories because of their size and I've read they actually don't stay on the bottom as much.

 

[bigbanker]

My otos are all over the tank! Sometimes they swim together, other times they hid out among the plants. I enjoy watching them.

 

[Rivercats]

I have both Oto's and Cory's too. Oto's love diatoms. Or if you don't want both you can get your cory's and get a few nerite snails. They eat even more types of algae than Oto's and are the only algae eater that can scrape off and eat green spot algae. They also can't breed in freshwater so you don't end up with a ton of snails. You can get them in different shell types, colors, and patterns.

 

[Rlavassor86]

I've got 3 Julii corys right now and while they do downs a lot of time scavenging, they are a lot more active swimmers than I expected. Mine swim all over the tank not just the bottom. Some days they will even feed at the surface.

 

[Rivercats]

I've got 3 Julii corys right now and while they do downs a lot of time scavenging, they are a lot more active swimmers than I expected. Mine swim all over the tank not just the bottom. Some days they will even feed at the surface.

Yes! I got 5 not long ago and they are the most active cory species I have, followed by the Panda's.

 

[Kellie]

I think cories are the most fun fish you can have in a small tank. Currently I have 3 pandas in my 36, waiting for the LFS to get more to up the school to 6. Its hilarious watching them play their "cory games." Its like they have set meeting times, they'll all swim all over the tank, checking out the different plants, then all of a sudden all three will converge together for a minute at the bottom front like they are comparing notes, then off they go back to their own thing, lol, I recently added 3 black phantom tetras and they sometimes get confused and try and school with the male, must be the similiar coloring, and the cutest thing ever is when they "sleep" they do it in a dog pile.

Long time ago I had otos in a 20G they made such quick work of the algae problem they lived on wafers. but they were cute but not as cute as the cories, IMO.

 

[tropicalfishlady]

I think cories are the most fun fish you can have in a small tank. Currently I have 3 pandas in my 36, waiting for the LFS to get more to up the school to 6. Its hilarious watching them play their "cory games." Its like they have set meeting times, they'll all swim all over the tank, checking out the different plants, then all of a sudden all three will converge together for a minute at the bottom front like they are comparing notes, then off they go back to their own thing, lol, I recently added 3 black phantom tetras and they sometimes get confused and try and school with the male, must be the similiar coloring, and the cutest thing ever is when they "sleep" they do it in a dog pile.

Long time ago I had otos in a 20G they made such quick work of the algae problem they lived on wafers. but they were cute but not as cute as the cories, IMO.

Cories are just brilliant,i love them so much!!! I have a Julii left over from when i had a few and ive had him now 2 n half yrs,i also love cory habrosus,they are so so cute and they are really small !!!

 

[emerald76]

I loved my oto, but he starved due to the fact I was a beginner. I love my cories too they are constantly active or begging me to feed them! Depends on the day lol

 

[BalloonBellies]

I have both Oto's and Cory's too. Oto's love diatoms. Or if you don't want both you can get your cory's and get a few nerite snails. They eat even more types of algae than Oto's and are the only algae eater that can scrape off and eat green spot algae. They also can't breed in freshwater so you don't end up with a ton of snails. You can get them in different shell types, colors, and patterns.

I ended up getting some nerite snails, you suggested them to me they did a great job cleaning up my tank. Recently I found some ill eggs on the glass are those gonna hatch? I don't want more snails lol

 

[Rivercats]

I ended up getting some nerite snails, you suggested them to me they did a great job cleaning up my tank. Recently I found some ill eggs on the glass are those gonna hatch? I don't want more snails lol

No they can't hatch. They will fall off in time or if on glass a cleaner magnet will take them right off. If on driftwood I just popped mine off with my long tweezers. If they didn't lay eggs they would be perfect!

 

[Vienolac]

I just added 5 panda cories to my tank
They are awesome little dudes!

This Is 3 of my 5 hangin out lol
Seems like they stay small compared to most other forms of cat/Cory fish

 

[Rivercats]

They are small, the littlest unless you go with pygmy's or dwarf's. I have 5 and love them, they are very active.

 

[Magicmarymac]

I love my Albino Cory cats. They are most definitely my favorite fish. In fact, I took back all of the others, False Julii, Swartz, and bronze--just because* I can always do a head count on my albino "puppies" as I call them. The others mostly hid. Sigh.

Why "puppies"? Because they are almost always busy, and they bumble around all over the place-- and then they take a nap and do it all over again! They drove the Pleco crazy with their bumper-car feeding behavior.

I especially enjoy watching when one decides to go on a "zoom" -- blasting all over the tank for a few seconds only to come to a screeching halt.

* Ok, not "just because" -- I'll admit it, I had too many fish. :-/

Mary

 

[Chris7495]

I have both Oto's and Cory's too. Oto's love diatoms. Or if you don't want both you can get your cory's and get a few nerite snails. They eat even more types of algae than Oto's and are the only algae eater that can scrape off and eat green spot algae. They also can't breed in freshwater so you don't end up with a ton of snails. You can get them in different shell types, colors, and patterns.

Nerite snails are great algae eaters, I use them in all my tanks but beware they do lay eggs in freshwater but they do not hatch. They can be a pain to clean because they are hard eggs that don't scrape off easily, especially on driftwood.

 

[tropicalfishlady]

I just added 5 panda cories to my tank
They are awesome little dudes!

This Is 3 of my 5 hangin out lol
Seems like they stay small compared to most other forms of cat/Cory fish

Awwww they are lovely im in love with Cories always have been,best catfish ever !!!

 

[DCtank]

Everybody, thanks for the advice. I'm going with cory cats. My LFS doesn't have dwarf cats at the moment so I'll wait. I'll probably get a couple Nerite snails, too, but I was surprised to hear they lay eggs. Are y'all SURE they won't hatch in fresh water? I'm surprised to hear they are even laying eggs in fresh water.

 

[Rivercats]

Nerites eggs will absolutely not hatch in freshwater. Your perfectly safe putting them in your tank.