Amano shrimp vs. nerite snails vs. otocinclus'

[Anna94]

I already have one oto, but he's not doing a good job on getting rid of the diatoms in my tank and I think it's because he's all alone and can't do it all himself so should I get a few more otos or trade in the oto I have and get either amano shrimp or nerite snails? I also have green algae like in the pics below so I need something that will eat that as well.

 

[Anna94]

I also have cardinal tetras, lemon tetras, Celebes rainbows, a horseface loach, and a kribensis. Will any of these fish eat amano shrimp or nerite snails?

 

[flchamp89]

Generally imo rams ponds mts will out work fish shrimp or nerites. Why....the ability to keep large numbers of these. Not many people keep a dozen ottos or nerites. Law of large numbers.

 

[toolman]

Generally imo rams ponds mts will out work fish shrimp or nerites. Why....the ability to keep large numbers of these. Not many people keep a dozen ottos or nerites. Law of large numbers.

Can't beat them for cleaning, but breed like rabbits. Fine line between great, and omg I have a lot of snails. Lol

 

[Barliman]

You don't say what size tank you have, but Otos are happiest in groups.

How many gallons is your tank?

 

[Anna94]

You don't say what size tank you have, but Otos are happiest in groups.

How many gallons is your tank?

20 gallon long

 

[Potluck]

Holy (green algae) not diatoms batman, the thing you have to understand is otos are very very sensitive as well as shrimp plus shrimp are snacks to some fish, nerite snails are amazing but hard to find, why not a BN Pleco? best algae Eater I've had was a panda garra but they are costly at $15-$25 each he died out of the blue for apparent reason just started acting like he was psycho zooming back and forth through the tank and laying on his side but this was about a year ago, I have 1 calico BN, but here's the thing an algae Eater is just a bandaid you need to find out why you have algae in abundance excess nitrate/nutrients + long light cycle will do it plus you have a decent light that is pretty strong leaving it on more than 8 hours + high bio load =high nitrate/nutrients will cause algae

 

[Anna94]

Holy (green algae) not diatoms batman, the thing you have to understand is otos are very very sensitive as well as shrimp plus shrimp are snacks to some fish, nerite snails are amazing but hard to find, why not a BN Pleco? best algae Eater I've had was a panda garra but they are costly at $15-$25 each he died out of the blue for apparent reason just started acting like he was psycho zooming back and forth through the tank and laying on his side but this was about a year ago, I have 1 calico BN, but here's the thing an algae Eater is just a bandaid you need to find out why you have algae in abundance excess nitrate/nutrients + long light cycle will do it plus you have a decent light that is pretty strong leaving it on more than 8 hours + high bio load =high nitrate/nutrients will cause algae

My lights are only on for 8 hrs. and I have diatoms too, but they're mostly on my plants and decor. I used to only have 2 fish and I still got algae.

 

[Tyrsdottir]

This really comes down to preference.
Your oto needs at least 3 buddies.
I'm not sure if they eat diatoms.
Amanos are fun, but can be hard to come by.
I don't know how they do on diatoms, either.
Nerites will eat anything. I put 2 in a 6.6 gallon tank that was covered in hard green algae, the kind you have to scrape off the glass with a razor. It was gone in 3 weeks. Completely gone.
You don't need a lot of nerites, either, and I have yet to have any breed.
One for every three gallons at the most.
Once the algae is gone, watch them. They'll leave the tank looking for food. I keep algae wafers in stock.
The other great thing about them, is I have a hinged glass lid, and they'll eat the algae on that too.

 

[Tyrsdottir]

I forgot to say, nerites are best in a glass tank.
They have tough scrapers for getting that hard algae, and after about a year, acrylic will get scratched enough to look cloudy.

 

[Potluck]

I was talking about her tank always having issues with the otos they probably wouldn't make it as they are sensitive and if you have no algae that's really all they eat. Is the tank by a window?

 

[DreaminginBlue]

Nerites can't breed in freshwater, which is great. I have two and they do a good job spot cleaning hard to reach areas.

 

[Anna94]

I was talking about her tank always having issues with the otos they probably wouldn't make it as they are sensitive and if you have no algae that's really all they eat. Is the tank by a window?

No, the only light the tank gets is the tank light.

 

[Potluck]

No, the only light the tank gets is the tank light.

Weird, I have a much stronger light, more bio load, dose my tank with ferts and leave my light on sometimes for a day if I forget and I have no algae.

 

[2Djinn]

Nerites can't breed in freshwater, which is great. I have two and they do a good job spot cleaning hard to reach areas.

Nerites are great along with Mystery snails. My LFS has them, but I've also gotten a few from dustinsfishtanks.com

The Nerites I have do a great job of cleaning the tanks their in. I have 6 in my 60 gallon and will probably get a couple more. 4 in my 30 and 2 in one of my 10's.