Bert H

I've never heard of 'dwarf' ottos, but my regular ottos don't do much with it.

BTW, I scraped it last night after another 3+ weeks. It was much less than the time before, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

asincero

Just another name for otocinclus affinus aka pygmy suckermouth catfish aka dwarf sucker.

So your ottos didn't do much to the GDA? Bummer ... I was thinking of getting some too.

hoppycalif

The primary grazers on my GDA were the common pond snails, which grew about 5 times as big as I have seen before. But, the oto also had a feast. Having only one, he didn't make nearly the big dent in the supply that the snails made. The guppies also spent a lot of time picking off pieces of it. Apparently GDA is a nutritious vegetable treat. The GDA(?) which showed up as green fuzz on the plants disappeared with the GDA on the glass, but I don't know if it was eaten or what.

asincero

Yes, I noticed when I had snails I hardly ever saw any significant GDA accumulation on the glass. But, back then I perceived the snail infestation as a "problem", so I bought 3 yo-yo loaches to handle this problem. So now, no more snails but now algae. D'oh!

I wonder if I could get bigger snails that will eat the GDA but won't get eaten by the loaches.

Anyhow, I went ahead and bought some otocinculus. I think I lucked out too because I got so-called "Giant Otocinculus". Apparently, this species is somewhat on the rare side. We'll see how well these guys will handle the GDA.

John P.

Nerite snails?

asincero

Hmm .. I just Googled for them and they sound terrific. They eat algae. They don't eat plants. And they don't reproduce in freshwater. Whats not to love?

However, I'm afraid my yo-yos might make a meal out of them. I read these snails grow to 1/2" to 1". That might be too big for the yo-yo, but I don't know for sure. Only one way to find out!

John P.

The only reason I haven't used them is they lay eggs often

banderbe

AFM had an article recently on snails and other critters and apparently you can keep your snail population at bay by simply not over-feeding the tank. Never heard that before but it makes sense.

asincero

Oh? Why is that a bad thing? Do they pollute the water or something? I read they don't hatch in freshwater.

Maybe my yo-yo loaches could eat the eggs if they don't eat the snails.

ranmasatome

it makes small white spots everywhere in your tank that is a pita to remove..and i mean everywhere.. very unsightly.