Horse water trough algae for Oto's?

[itsjustme]

Hi,

I'm very new to fish keeping and currently doing a fish in cycle (because I didn't know any better) on a 20 gallon long with some Guppies but already I'm thinking I'll upgrade to a 40 gallon breeder in the next couple of months. Really interested in getting some Oto's once I have the bigger tank established but have seen a lot of posts where people are having problems keeping them fed. The place I keep my horses uses 150 gallon poly water troughs and those things grow algae like crazy, would it be an ok idea to scrape off some algae from the troughs and put them in my aquarium for Oto's? The source water would be different than what is at my house, would that be a problem? We have feeder goldfish in the troughs for mosquito control and they seem to be thriving. I do have a couple of live plants in my 20 gallon and plan to move them and add more to the 40 gallon

[Fish Folk]

2 hours ago, itsjustme said:

 

Hi,

I'm very new to fish keeping and currently doing a fish in cycle (because I didn't know any better) on a 20 gallon long with some Guppies but already I'm thinking I'll upgrade to a 40 gallon breeder in the next couple of months. Really interested in getting some Oto's once I have the bigger tank established but have seen a lot of posts where people are having problems keeping them fed. The place I keep my horses uses 150 gallon poly water troughs and those things grow algae like crazy, would it be an ok idea to scrape off some algae from the troughs and put them in my aquarium for Oto's? The source water would be different than what is at my house, would that be a problem? We have feeder goldfish in the troughs for mosquito control and they seem to be thriving. I do have a couple of live plants in my 20 gallon and plan to move them and add more to the 40 gallon

 

Experimentation is very fun! I’d suggest that algae will eventually show up on its own in your tank. It requires light + nutrients. Your horse trough might get daylight, which indoors conditions just can’t replicate. On the other hand, being warmer tank water, it could bloom. Your call! Most aquarists have decided views on algae. We love it in breeding tanks, but not so much in display tanks.

[itsjustme]

Thanks for the reply!

I think I'm just going to wait for the tank to have a lot of algae before getting them, seems like the safest option