xXInkedPhoenixX

Hi @Cz1989, thought I'd pipe in, I have a Flex 9, and while it wouldn't come with the same light of course the stock light is actually one of the stock items I really like about this tank. I'm growing Bacopa Caroliniana, Anubias and Java Windelov with the light at about half power (mixed with orange) and they are doing well. Granted not complex or difficult plants but I think Fluval did well with the lighting on this line.

So @Ragnarok12 did you change anything here? Any further shrimp murders? Just wondering. I'm thinking of options and always thought the dwarf crayfish was a cool animal- I don't have any shrimp so.... I'm actually kind of hoping they eat bladder snails occasionally or at least their egg sacks...

I guess I'm more calculated than some so the patience game isn't that hard for me. I enjoy researching potential fish friends. LFS sometimes spark that inspiration but I've gone home several times with a name or two and scrapped the idea because of some sort of incompatability with other fish, water or etc. Not to say I have not been tempted, and it definitely takes a lot of self control- especially when you think if you you don't get it/them now they won't be there if you came back!!

@Fonske ugh. that really sucks. I guess that's why when information says "can be aggressive" I close that browser window and keep looking. More power to those of you who keep the cichlids or feed live foods. I can't do either. 😞

I guess they call them blood parrots for a reason if that's true.

@Colu I may do that until I remove my Otos. I'm leaning more that direction. If I have no bottom feeders then I have no/less snails. @Guppysnail I'm sorry for them too. The unfortunate thing is because they are hard to see they are also hard to monitor. I pull the snails when I can and put them in my bird bath, if they live good on them. I'll just keep the Nerites and get middle dwelling fish for that tank to go with the Black Neons. ....catching the Otos is going to be a chore....

So I put 6 of my home grown Otos in my "Angry Man" tank. They've been in there a few months. Used to see them quite a bit on the sliced cucumber I leave for them, rarely on the hikari algae wafer (mind they were all raised on both). I don't see them often otherwise and recently less than that. Because of the existence of those two foods my bladder snail population has exploded (not to unmanageable stages but absolutely more than I would like). I remove them from the tank when they are in large groups on the foods but they just keep coming. My 3 horned Nerites do a good job of keeping back algae and occassionally munch on the cucumber. The Black Neons even poke at the Hikari. Today I saw one of the Otos flashing around the bottom of the tank, not swimming right. After a long car chase I was able to HAND CATCH the little one who was put in isolation. Shortly thereafter they passed. 😞 There was no outward signs of illness. The only thing of note was a less than rounded belly and instead of being white it was pink-ish as if from the inside not outside. My sad thought is that it died of starvation? My concern with this tank is that maybe I can't put anymore algae eaters in here- maybe I should pull my Otos (if I can catch them)- and put them back in general population of the Accidental Oto tank. I spotted 2 of them, who were attached to wood and seemed ok at the time, no idea where the rest were camping out- my Otos tend to be nocturnal. They have no competition for food in the Accidental Oto tank- I think there's too much competition in the Angry Man tank. What do my forum friends think? Should I move the Otos out? Pic of the Angry Man tank for reference attached. (2nd pic is more recent)

I have 8 in a 4.12 gallon and they're doing GREAT.

Stupid. Cute.

I was very sorry to see this. How sad. 😞 RIP Momma

@Fish Folk will have to give me breeding tips....though last time I had Otos breed I wasn't trying.... Let's not get too far ahead and make sure they come out of QT first. You all will have to help me with which tank they go in when that's done cause there's 2 they could- well 3 but I've already kinda ruled one out. @Beardedbillygoat1975 They are pretty much a LOT like their little cousins the Vittatus- only 2x their size so you can see every little expression all the better. They swim just like them too which is one of the charming things about Otos, they are kind of awkward swimmers. They've got beautiful markings. When their fins are up and out they are just stunning fish.

@lmhicks101 I was going to explain them but the internet does it best: This velvety green orb is neither a moss nor plant, but a species of green algae known as Aegagropila linnaei that gets its unique shape from tumbling about the bottom of freshwater lakes. The nickname “marimo” roughly translates from Japanese as “water plant that's kind of like a bouncy ball.” ...What I find great about them is they're essentially a plant you can move around (sometimes your fish do it for you) The one in this post is 2 years old but I have two other small ones I got before the scandal broke out. They aren't readily available but if you can find them.... Sounds like the ones at your LFS aren't well taken care of. You can try and buy one and get it back to green- though they may decline to sell them to you- which might be why they're still there. They were saying that you may not be able to tell if they have mussels as they are small and slow growing. I chose to keep the 2 smaller ones because I dump my tank water outside on my container garden- the concern is that people dump aquarium water in their sink or waterways (like the gutter) and they would then infest those areas and cause big problems. I have seen no evidence that mine have them. They will get brown from sitting in one spot for too long, you're supposed to rotate them. Sounds like all brown ones have other potential issues.

I hope so too @Colu. Never wanted to breed but we cannot have too many Otocinclus in this world, and as much as I like my Vittatus, these are absolutely STUNNING fish. I'm gonna do my best.

Ha! thanks @Beccs410 I think Frankenball is its new name. Well frankly it didn't have a name before but I suppose it does now. Those diagrams I practice a lot as I do reviews for Amazon- I like to give detailed descriptions but visual aids are always helpful and sometimes humorous. (I have a very dry sense of humor that often skates past the Amazon gate guards).

Well I finally had time during some maintenance and QT setups. So I took my sad Marimo and some thread and needle and loosely stitched the hole. No guarantees as it's not like the ball can't/won't rip through the stitches. My hope is that it will just conform and allow the hold until maybe someday it grows together/over the thread. It's back in its own QT and I'm letting it expand back to its normal size. That will be test 1 to see if it stays together.

Curses. You are all enablers. I went to bed thinking about it. Then I made a plan. Then said, well I'll go and if they're there I'll get them and if they're not oh well. They were there. I bought them out. Six. They're HUGE to me being 1.75" each.

@Fish FolkThey certainly looked like them, and I would but don't have a safe QT place to put them unfortunately.

Since you have a fancy lighting system you should find the recent thread for siestas- people are having really good luck with plant growth which may also help your algae issue. Since I don't have fancy lights I haven't been able to experiment with that but it seems to really work for people (and plants).

I run low tech and try to limit myself to drastic solutions when I can. I have brown hair algae off and on and what I found is that the closer the plants/decor are to the lights the more it grows/or that's where I usually find it. So, I started dialing back the light (that definitely helped) and that combined with manual removal and trimming the tall plants that can be trimmed has kept the vast majority of it at bay. However I'm sure there are others here who can contribute more methods of potential erradication.

This is what @Fish Folk does when not mass reproducing fish.

I did a search of the forum and didn't come up with a specific thread. Yesterday at my LFS they had some beautiful (and very LARGE) Tiger Otos. Anyone have them? Being a total Oto freak fan it would be so neat to keep them, but at $20 a pop I'm hesitant. I don't have an "established" QT tank though I have two very viable potential home tanks for them.

How's the Oto doing?

I personally look at it like harvesting chicken eggs. If you get them soon enough they are not viable anyway. Have to do it with the bladder snail sacks I find too. Best to do it then than cull little babies.

The CPD is super small but so far looking more like a girl than boy. Might be too early to tell @Guppysnail. As far as my others go I think I have either 4 and 4 or 5 and 3 males to females. They don't sit still long enough for me to be sure of it.

@PineSong great, that's exactly what I need. I think it will make my Flex more lively and colorful- I got 4 today of all different color/patterns. They're in a 2 gallon QT right now with a hitchiker (CPD which will go with my others) and 3 Hillstreams. They're very active.