Advertisements
Aquatic Avenue Banner Tropica Shop Banner Fishy Business Banner
Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Otocinclus vs. Yamato shrimps as algae crew

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Hougang
    Posts
    194
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore

    Otocinclus vs. Yamato shrimps as algae crew

    Advertisements
    Fresh n Marine aQuarium Banner

    Advertise here

    Advertise here
    Could anyone kindly highlight their differences of cleaning algae?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Toa Payoh
    Posts
    896
    Feedback Score
    1 (100%)
    Images
    17
    Country
    Singapore
    Based on my experience, Oto is good at brown algae (diatom) & Yamato is good at hair algae.
    Cheers,
    U.K.Lau

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    857
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore
    errr...Oto looks like a pleco while Yamato is a shrimp

    Yamato can be quite agressive at times. Which on a bright side is more effecient as compared to Otos. They work pretty fast too, clearing sites after sites whereas Otos seems to stay at one spot for quite some time... maybe its more detailed. Sometimes I noticed my yamatos are quite blur and miscue on some of my healthy plant leaves or maybe there's some algae on it which they can see....

    Otos does the job at a slower pace...but peaceful. I've seen my yamatos playfully chasing after my tetras.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Hougang
    Posts
    194
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore
    One silly question, does yamato able to clean those hair algae on wall?

    Always heard that cherry shrimps are good hair algae cleaner. But mine seem not.

    Currently, my filter tubing got brown colour stain. I wonder it brown algae?

    Any colourful oto to recommend and where can I find it? So far I only see oto affinis at lfs.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Hougang
    Posts
    221
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    12
    Country
    Singapore
    From personal experience... I think OTOs are better algae eaters. I have Yamatos before but they don't seen as good as OTOs. My OTOs are hardworking and moving around the tank clearing algaes on leaves, woods, glass, etc. All my plant leaves and glass walls are sparkling shiny

    I don't think both type will clear BBA. They do not have the 'power' to do so...
    ~| MakE ThE BesT oF EverythinG ThaT LifE BringS TheiR WaY! |~

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Coughing Hills, Singapore
    Posts
    2,586
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    56
    Country
    Malaysia
    Different algae eaters consume different types of algae. So correctly identifying the algae before getting the faunas would help in managing your expectations.

    The most "colourful" oto is Otocinclus cocama (zebra oto). However, it is much more expensive than the normal otos. If you just want algae eaters to do the job, then normal otos would do.

    At the same price, you can get close to a dozen of normal otos instead of a single O. cocama. Besides, O. cocama is supposedly not the easiest of fish to keep.

    Otos are generally very difficult to identify, but there are quite a number of species around and some are labelled incorrectly. Here is a thread on how to tell O. affinis apart from the others.
    http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=29440

    They sometimes just look so alike that you would not think twice that they are actually different species.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Hougang
    Posts
    194
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    1
    Country
    Singapore
    Indeed very difficult to identify. They look alike except zebra oto. After read those old threads on oto, I'm so surprised that the price of zebra oto could be >10x more expensive than "common" oto.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
    Posts
    8,958
    Feedback Score
    1 (100%)
    Images
    104
    Country
    Singapore
    Different fish/shrimp handle different algae.

    Otos scrap algae off surfaces. They are good for flat or very short algae.

    Shrimps are good at plucking algae.
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Central
    Posts
    330
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    3
    Country
    Singapore
    Just to add...for yamato shrimps you need to get a lot of hungry ones to see the effectiveness at getting rid of long strands of hair algae.
    Rob
    *** *** *** ***
    "Natura non facit saltum"

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Singapore
    Posts
    878
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    My Otos like to give my hairgrass blow jobs
    I'm back!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Woodlands
    Posts
    3,938
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    54
    Country
    Singapore
    Quote Originally Posted by nys View Post
    Could anyone kindly highlight their differences of cleaning algae?
    Here's some info on algae and algae eaters: http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles...#Prophylactics
    koah fong
    Juggler's tanks

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Sengkang
    Posts
    121
    Feedback Score
    0
    Images
    4
    Country
    Singapore
    Remember I have bought 2 Snails known as Nectarine snails (according to shop owner) a couple of years back.
    After trying out, Yamato, SAE without much successuccess, I bought them to try out if they could solve my previous tank setup which was infested with BBA.

    To my surprise they ate up all the BBA in my 2 ft tank in 3 days !!! I was really impressed and surprised at its effectiveness.

    However they have since passed away. They are quite difficult to find in LFS this days.

    But there is a down side to them though......that is they deposits lots of egg on the glass, bogg woods and anywhere they have access to.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •