Sandra the fish rookie Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 I am beginning to stock my 40 gallon breeder tank. I now have 5 ottos 6 panda corydoras 1 clown pleco and 1 super red long fin pleco. I find my cory's look lost in there and want to get more (because I LOVE them). I an also thinking of getting more Otto's as well. Is there such thing as too many bottom fish? I am also looking for additional stocking idea as well. I will eventually will move some guppies over from the 20 gallon but would like some other types of fish in there as well. I love community tanks..so want friendly fish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Can you share some photos? My thoughts... adding plants and wood can provide helpful structures. But it may hurt fish visibility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppysnail Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 I find my celestial pearl danios add tons of excitement and get along with everything including guppies. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra the fish rookie Posted June 20, 2021 Author Share Posted June 20, 2021 @Fish Folk see photo below. This tank has been going for a while. I really wanted to get the population going in the 20 before moving on to the 40. My LFS had ottos..15 of them.. I bought all of them and will add some to the 20G to help with algae in there. There was 1 lonely little panda corydora..so I brought him home too ..they are all in the QT tank.. (I couldn't leave him all alone..) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertFish Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 I think the number of fish you have is fine. The more fish you have the more maintenance it is so it is really up to what you can handle. The biggest challenge with bottom fish would be making sure they all get enough to eat. Once the algae runs out they will need constant feedings(especially the ottos). With the looks of the tank and the number of fish they should all be happy! For other fish I am a fan of smaller rainbow fish, they add good activity and color to any tank! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Gumby Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 A good size group of otto's are great entertainment. So different when you have 10 plus. As already stated make sure they get enough food when they strip the soft algae from the tank. Algae wafers and courgette (zucchini for you guys in the USA) are big favourites in my tanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 I have about 14-17 Otos in my 20g (I don't have an exact inventory because there are loose young ones from breeding that I let stay). They are happy- though I don't see them most of the time mine tend to be seen more at night swimming/dancing around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolstoy21 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 When you can no longer see the substrate! 😁😛 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra the fish rookie Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 @tolstoy21 LOL!! I am really glad I got the additional Otto's. I started with only 2 because that is all the LFS had. I ordered some from Flip Aquatics but all he had was 3. Saturday the new 3 otto's were added to the display post QT .. and MAN.. they are happy.. they are swimming and zipping around the tank day and night! So once the others are out of QT I am going to add some to my 20G and the 40G. I feed my bottom fish with veggies (Zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, watermelon and cantaloupe are top favorites), wafers and I also use bottom sinking fluval bug bites and Nano extreem that they like as well). Another question about Otto's. What is a good amount for them? or should I say a minimum amount for them to be happy grouping wise? I already have 5 in the 40 gallon. Should I add 5 more to the 40 and 10 to the 20 G?? The current stocking in the 20G = A LOT of guppies, 1 mystery snail, 1 Ramshorn snail, 5 corydora, 2 shrimp. My tank seems to be handling the load, but I do plan to transfer some guppies to the 40 gallon as the fry get a bit bigger 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) I have a 40B and you have plenty of room for additional bottom feeders. The real issue as to how many is too many depends on a number of factors including biological filtering and how well they get along together. Some bottom feeders will pile on each other and the more the merrier others will kill anything with-in a a few 10's of inches from them. So for example if you had red fin shark (a very popular fish) i would question if you had too many bottom feeders but with panda and otto i would add a few more of each. In my tank i have 10 otto; 11 orange laser and 12 pygmy along with 2 small lemon bn and a clown pleco. One thing about bn pleco I have found is they are not all the same sizes. For example I have 6 lemon bn across multiple tanks and 2 are really quite large - what i would call normal size with the male close to 6 inches but the other 4 are smaller - and it isn't just length it is also width (total mass) - so two of my male lemon bn are quite small maybe 3 to 3 1/2 inches and i doubt they will get much larger. - Anyway i think you could easily add 6 more panda and 8 more otto if you wanted - as to your second question as to a good amount - well in the wild they are found in groups of 100's as are most cory and they actually prefer to be in these huge groups so you will not get anywhere close to their natural comfort level unless you put them in a larger tank so you just have to accept that you will have a small group whether it be 6 - 10 or 16. Edited June 21, 2021 by anewbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra the fish rookie Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 @anewbie Thanks!!! Ya, I decided to stop at 2 plecos. The super red long fin is pretty and active at least but think he will get much bigger than the clown will. My clown I barley see. Since adding more otto's they are REALLY happy. But I really feel like I need more Panda cory's. I have 6 now, I found one alone in the LFS and brought him home so that will be 7. I think I will go to the LFS and see if they can order me some more 🙂. I have 15 more Ottos in QT (with one panda cory). I am going to add some Otto's to the 20G as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 (edited) One thing I should have mentioned with pleco - and there are a lot of different types of pleco - is that the males tend to be more territorial than the females. The bn is not esp aggressive but they do like to stake out a cave and they will claim that cave. Beyond that i have not observed too much aggression. In my 40b i have one male with a female bn both quite small. In my 120 i have 7 l204 with 3 bn. Two of the bn are lemon - they are small and a pair that frequently hang out together (bn do not really pair off - the male will grab any available female who is ready to breed - but these two will readily eat together) the third is a very large normal (brown?) male bn that is exclusively solitary. In a 29 i ahve a lemon bn that has gotten quite large much larger than the pair in the 120 combined. - I'm a big fan of otto so hopefully those 20+ otto will keep you entertained. Mine are pretty out going hangout out front and i frequently have to 'shoo' them away when cleaning. Edited June 21, 2021 by anewbie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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