My local pet shop keeps their lights on for 16 hours a day, and they have visible algae growth in a lot of their tanks. I keep my light on for at least 10 hours a day, and while there's no visible algae, my snails have exploded in size. I know it's not from excess food because I've been underfeeding my fish in an attempt to get my neons to lose weight.

How long are you giving him to eat the wafer before taking it out? A lot of the things in my tank like algae wafers, but they're not really interested until they start to puff up after being in the water a while. Or perhaps he's just not interested because there's enough live algae for him to eat.

You could try putting the tank where it can catch the morning light through the blinds or something, since natural sunlight is better for plants than artificial. But you have to make sure it doesn't get direct sunlight, and especially not in the afternoon because it can easily do a greenhouse thing and cook your fish. I learned that the hard way.

They also make UV lights for keeping plants indoors, but I don't know what, if any, affect it would have on fish. I imagine it would be harmless, but you should ask someone first.

In general, I don't think you need to worry unless he starts losing weight, and if he does, you could try the algae wafers again or try adding extra food.

My otos eat flake food along with the other fish when it's feeding time. How many otos do you have? They do like company with their own kind.

Because my tank is so small I only have one oto.
I didn't know that they would eat fish flakes and so I haven't put any in; my frog gets sinking pellets but he's pretty good about eating what I give him. The shop said that their otos are wild caught and take some time to adjust to anything except naturally growing algae, if they ever do.
I can't really leave the light on any longer, because the temperature rises too far. I try not to let it get more than 80 or 81. My tank is so small the light has a huge effect on the temperature.

My tank is 1.6 gallons, and the oto is about 1.5" Both the oto and the frog seem to like slower currents so I keep the filter on low except when I'm doing a water change (and a couple hours after) because a lot of debris gets swirled around and I try to get the filter to pick it up. I clean with a turkey baster so I try really hard to pick up as much of the yuck as possible. I have been doing pretty good with my water changes, usually a one liter bottle full every other day.

When I introduced the oto and driftwood I did see a huge increase in the amount of stuff floating around when I disturbed the gravel. I know some of it is from the oto and the frog but there seems to be a good amount from the wood too. Does the driftwood continue to shed splinters, or will this eventually dissapear?

Well, in that case, if he should get skinny, you could just put in more food than your frog will eat.

If he doesn't take to wafers or blanched veggies, try growing your own outdoors. Keep a small tub of shallow water and river stones in a sunny spot. Every few days (or as needed) bring in a few algae stones. When algae's all been eaten, swap them for more algae stones. This way you have an everlasting supply from your very own algae farm :) I'm getting an oto next week and this is what I plan to do. Be sure to test the stones to make sure they are safe before you use them. Drop a bit of vinegar onto the stones and if they sizzle, don't use them. If mosquito larvae start growing in it, you can catch them and bring them inside for your frogs. They'll love them! Just be careful not to let them grow into adults since west nile is becoming more common.

I hope this helps and good luck :)

PS: They do sell UV lights for the aquarium but I don't think they are quite the same thing. UV's sterylize the water and zap parasites, etc, and also clear up the water from single celled algae that causes green water. It probably won't hurt the soft green algae, but it won't encourage growth and they are pretty spendy.

Ooh, growing algae on rocks is a wonderful idea. I've been trying to think of a way to feed my shrimp and not my neon tetras (the stupid things will steal algae wafers), so I think I'll give that a try. =^_^=

Lexie, for a tank your size you can easily use RO/DI water or distilled water for PWC's. Just use a "Trace" freshwater supplement like KENT or Seachem brands to put back in necessary elements. This will keep pH at close to neutral (7.0) and micro and macro nutrients balanced so algae production would be minimal. To cultivate algae add a little all-in-one fertilizer and keep lights on as necessary (8+ hours more or less). Also increase light intensity. If your small tank has an incandescent bulb replace it with a compact fluorescent 10W 6500K bulb.You can get them at Walmart or Home Depot, they usually say "natural sunlight" or "daylight". For green water for shrimp add extra phosphate ferts and light, green water will be no trouble. LOL usually people have trouble keeping algae away. Growing it is simple.

Hey lexie, I read over your posts a little more carefully. Do you use bottled water for your tank? If so, switch to tap. It has the minerals your fish needs, and should have a higher kH (buffers pH) to prevent a deadly pH crash. Driftwood releases "tannins" into the water which will dye it a tea color. Since the wood is decomposing, check your pH at least once a week to be sure it is stable as opposed to falling, or crashing. Its important to have a high kH in your tank if you keep driftwood. Take an unused toothbrush and brush debris off the wood under the sink, then put it back. If it continues to decompose so quickly the store probably sold you a bad peice and it will continue to decompose. You can try boiling it in a pot, that may help. All driftwood is slowly decomposing, but shouldn't decompose so fast that its littering your tank. You might be best off tossing or returning it and buying a new peice from a different store. Test it out before you buy. Dig your nails into the side and if its soft enough to leave a mark or some peices break off, don't buy.

wow, thanks for sticking with me!!
I tried the fish flakes and he didn't give them a second look. I tried adding extra frog food, but I don't know if the frog or the oto got it. The oto does seem to be getting thinner, so I think I'm going to try the algae rocks. Hopefully the algae will grow fast enough...

I think I was unclear when I said I used a liter bottle of water for my pwc's. I have a liter bottle that I keep refilling with tap water. It's the only thing that will fit into all of my sinks! I fill the bottle, let it sit out to release chlorine, add a drop or two of aquasafe just in case I didn't let it go long enough and to provide a little bit of slipperiness to the water for the fish, then pour it in through the filter. the tea color from the driftwood is concerning me, so I have a two liter bottle filled right now waiting to go in.

Oto (as he is officially named!) is still getting thin, and he needs food he will eat, *now*, so I'm going to go down to the shop and see if they will let me borrow something algae covered for the day. I'll probably have to buy it and then get a refund, but they'll know up front what the deal is.

gotta get those algae rocks started....

Thank you all so much! I never expected to get such a caring group of people responding!
Lexie

Okay, I wasn't sure if you were using tap or bottled. I'd use a bottle too if I had a small tank like that. I had to smile a bit when you mentioned buying and returning plants for their algae. I could only imagine what the employees at the store would think if you told them your plan lol. While you're at the petstore, grab a little bag of algae or spirulina wafers. Make sure they are sinkable wafers because your oto won't want to venture to the surface for food. They aren't as good as soft green algae, but if he's hungry he'll definately eat them. This might be a better solution than buying plants for their algae because if you don't properly disinfect them (takes 4 days and Potassium Permangate to do it most effectively)they could introduce pest snails that will populate and overun your tank, and if they keep any fish in the plants or they were shipped from a place that kept fish in with them, you could risk introducing deadly parasites. Try blanching some sliced zuccini or similar veggies in a bowl of water in the microwave. He should eat that too.

The tea color won't hurt your fish, just make sure to test everything regularly to make sure the driftwood isn't decomposing too fast or the pH is dropping. Sending positive thoughts to little Oto!

Hi Lexi just wanted to say that you should probably get a larger tank ottos need 10 gallons minimal because they get up to about 2 inches they also need other otos because they are a type of cat fish , I have 3 in a ten gallon also if you got a bigger tank you could get more fish such as platys Mollys dwarf frogs neons (my dwarf frog loves the Ottos) also try live plants I have a almond leave some miss and a few other plants that they LOVEEEE