Hello Moonbunny,
Welcome to AQ. Glad you like the emoticons.
First, we're not sure of the pricing of plants in your region. Most of the members here are Singaporeans and we get plants real cheap. There are a few Americans on the forum though.
Otos thrive on algae. And usually the conditions to grow algae are the very conditions for growing plants. There are algae tablets you can try, but I don't know if anybody has kept otos on just those alone. On the other hand, some of your other catfish may go the algae tablets as well.
For the snail problem, you would probably be happy to know that there are several loaches that will happily snack on the snails.
What I'll suggest for easy live plants that you could maintain, would be rosette plants grown in pots.
One would be Echinodorus species, AKA Amazon sword plants. These are usually robust and range in size from a few inches tall to a few feet tall. I would suggest one or two 1 footers as the center piece of your tank.
Another plant would be the water lilies, which are misnamed as lotus in the planted tank. These are really easy to grow and maintain.
Lastly, would be the Cryptocoryne family. These plants can be grown emersed as well. So you actually might have some fun growing them out of the tank and then converting them to aquatic form for your tank. These more common of these plants will grow to about 3 to 4 inches tall.
For the Echinodorus and Water Lilies, I would suggest a pot about 6 inches in diameter or 4 to 5 inches square, about 4 inches tall. Fill them with about 2.5 inches of soil, then top them off with an inch or more (almost to the brim) of 2mm grade gravel. The pots should NOT have holes in the bottom. The soil must be fungicide, insecticide, and whatever-cide free. The best option would be to get some good planted tank soil from the aquarium. Plant one plant in there and stick in a fertiliser stick/tab/ball. Consider getting Seachem Excel as a CO2 alternative. Those help greatly.
For the Crypts. Long trays about 2 inches tall, 1 inch of soil, topped off with an inch of gravel. stick in fertiliser sticks/tab/ball (follow the packaging instructions for distribution). Plant rows of them, about 2 inches apart.
The crypts require almost no maintenance, but you must be wary of Cryptocoryne melt. Once every few months they need to be thinned.
The water lilies need to have dying leaves snipped off every few weeks or so. Occasionally, you'll need to snip of the leaves that are making a run for the surface so that the plant will continue to produce underwater leaves. Once a leaf makes it to the surface, all subsequent leaves will make the same break.
The Echinodorus also only require removal of old leaves once every few weeks. These can also be grown in semi-aquatic state. In place of the crypts you might consider the shorter ones of these species.
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