# Otto cats and hair algae



## BoiBJ (Aug 10, 2011)

im not a expert on algae , but i do have a kind of fuzzy algae that did look like hair algae ! And my two new otto cats though in time, did start to eat them without hesitating! but i did supplement some cucumber just in case! there like lil lawnmowers for your tank haha! today my algae went down by alot, poor guys musta been really hungry! so whats your guys experience with oto cats! and did they eat hair algae at all? did they poop alot(like mine leaves a trail of brown poo)? whats there mortality rate? will mine survive?


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## destructo (Aug 12, 2009)

BoiBJ said:


> im not a expert on algae , but i do have a kind of fuzzy algae that did look like hair algae ! And my two new otto cats though in time, did start to eat them without hesitating! but i did supplement some cucumber just in case! there like lil lawnmowers for your tank haha! today my algae went down by alot, poor guys musta been really hungry! so whats your guys experience with oto cats! and did they eat hair algae at all? did they poop alot(like mine leaves a trail of brown poo)? whats there mortality rate? will mine survive?


I have 2 in my tank and they are great at eating all types of algae. Another great algae eater is a zebra nerite snail. It eats green spot aglae and diatoms like there is no tomorrow.


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## mousey (Mar 28, 2011)

I have never had ottos eat hair algae. Just the green coating on the glass and plants, so if they are eating hair they must be really hungry. Siamese algae eaters are often labeled as algae eating sharks and I wonder if you really did get ottos or not. My sae was bought at the same time and from the same tank as my ottos and they looked almost the same until the sae started to grow. Then I could see the difference. Even the sae and ottos thought he was the same as each other as they all hung together for a few weeks.
Now they keep separate because the sae is a lot bigger.
Ottos are funny little fish.I had one that died at age 5 years so I replaced it this spring with 3 more. 3 weeks ago one was missing and hasn't been found and last week I found another stuck to the filter intake dead. It had been fine as far as I could tell the night before.
Problem is they are so tiny and elusive at times it is hard to keep track of them and the ones I've had over the years die but there is never any sign of illness. I was told they have hardier immune systems as they are bottom and algae scavengers. They don't seem to get the same thing as regular fish.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

mousey said:


> I have never had ottos eat hair algae. Just the green coating on the glass and plants, so if they are eating hair they must be really hungry. Siamese algae eaters are often labeled as algae eating sharks and I wonder if you really did get ottos or not.


I agree 100%. 
And I worry about 2 things. One is you bought new fish just days after you had fish die in this tank and therefore should have waited a few weeks before adding any new fish. Second is if they are SAE and I think they are, they will grow to 5 to 6 inches (I have 4 at this size) and will therefore be way too big for your 10 gallon tank.

If your fish have a sucker mouth and stick to the glass they are Ottos however if they constantly swim non stop and never stick to the glass they are SAE or Flying Fox.
--
Paul


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## BoiBJ (Aug 10, 2011)

sorry kinda bought otos on a impulse cant help my self and yes im sure there oto cats since i looked at sae at luckys before and there more long and head is not as wide and yes mine stick on the glass i did my research


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