Otocinclus or Chinese algae eater?

[trevorSB1004]

I was at petsmart today and was picking from the otocinclus tank and got two of them. I barley know anything anout them, and I was reading online that they are commonly confused and sold as chinsese algae eaters. So, not knowing the difference, here is a picture of the two, and hopefully you guys can tell me wether they are really ottos and not CAE...

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Definatley CAE, I would return them as they get very aggressive and carnivorous as the get older.

 

[trevorSB1004]

Definatley CAE, I would return them as they get very aggressive and carnivorous as the get older.

Thanks! I suspected they were.... Petsmart needs to pay more attention to where they put their fish.

 

[treemanone2003]

Thanks! I suspected they were.... Petsmart needs to pay more attention to where they put their fish.

I'm a little confused. You didn't know the difference but bought them anyway ?

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend even buying ottos from petsmart because of how delicate they are. They usually have about a 50% die off after about a week of putting them in your tank but after that it's smoothe sailing.

 

[Autumnsky]

Depending on the size of your tank you might want to look for SIAMESE Algae eaters (SAE). They are often sold from petsmart for a couple bucks. They can get 6ish inches so NOT for a small tank.

Otos are great, they like being in groups of a few on up, figure about half will likely die and you might not find the body to return it for the refund/exchange. They are more delicate, due to the hard time of wild capture and traveling so much. As mentioned above they are pretty hardy once acclimated to your tank. Though they don't like poor water quality.

Make sure to feed them little amounts/pieces of algae wafers unless your tank is got a supply of algae. You can also grow algae rocks for them. Wild caught are used to eating naturally and not from pellets.

Don't forget to quarantine.