I have added two fish to my clean up crew that I don't often hear mentioned being used in planted tanks. A Horse Face Loach (Acantopsis choirorhynchos) is a little weird looking but I tend to like unusual looking fish. This loach leaves all of the other tank mates alone unlike some other loaches, the skunk loach for example. My skunk now has his own tank. The HFL is fun to watch when he comes out in the evening. He sifts the substrate through his gills and eats any bits of food he comes across.
The otocinclus is very common in planted tanks, but what about the a Giant Otto (Hypoptopoma gulare)? Sure it's not really a giant otto but sort of looks like one. In a big tank you'd need an army of ottos, but would only need a few of the big guys. I had some remnants of BBA that I was killing off. The Giant Otto spent 2 days going around the tank knocking it off of the driftwood and filter pipes. I can't confirm that he was eating any, but he sure was on a mission to get it off of the driftwood. The LFS I found him at said that they had a batch of them for quite some time and no one was buying them. Now they finally just had this one left. Bummer, I would have bought more if they had them.
Any other unsung cleaning crew heroes?
The otocinclus is very common in planted tanks, but what about the a Giant Otto (Hypoptopoma gulare)? Sure it's not really a giant otto but sort of looks like one. In a big tank you'd need an army of ottos, but would only need a few of the big guys. I had some remnants of BBA that I was killing off. The Giant Otto spent 2 days going around the tank knocking it off of the driftwood and filter pipes. I can't confirm that he was eating any, but he sure was on a mission to get it off of the driftwood. The LFS I found him at said that they had a batch of them for quite some time and no one was buying them. Now they finally just had this one left. Bummer, I would have bought more if they had them.
Any other unsung cleaning crew heroes?