Bristlenose vs Otto's in a discus tank

[Priscacara]

Hi, in the process of planning tankmates for my 4x2x2 planted discus tank and after doing a lot of reading the algae eaters for me seem to come down to BN or Ottos.

As has been mentioned elsewhere in posts, BN can cause a lot of waste even though I do think they do a great job on algae in my tanks. I have 20 5cm BN growing up in a 3 foot tank and the amount of waste isnt a problem as I vaccum it out daily. In a fully planted tank thats not going to be a good option.

I recently read that a lot of Ottos starve in a planted tank due to lack of algae, makes sense once you get the right balance of light and nutrients. I had planned on 6 of these little guys but dont want to get them just to kill them off. I also plan on have 10 C. sterbai so feeding the Ottos algae discs probably wont work as the corys will get to them first.

Any opinions appreciated.

[swampy1972]

If for no other reason, go with Otto's over BN simply because BN will tend to suck to the side of your Discus in an attempt to graze on their slime coat. It damages the skin of the Discus as well as causing them a fair bit of stress.
If you drop the algae discs in various places around your tank they'll get to them. If you're worried about Ottos starving due lack of algae the same concern would apply with BN.

[m.ingram]

Me personally if your not worried about the waste bn cause i would go with bns over ottos any day as in my experience with ottos they always end up attaching to the side of my discus .I have never had a bn do this .

[Greggy]

I once had a pair of BN's in my 6x2x2 Discus community tank and they spawned which lead to that tank having about 50 BN's over the period of about 1 year. The young BN's grew very fast and although they pooped like nothing else (which led me to remove almost all of them - what a job that was!!!) not once did any of them suck on the side of my Discus.

However that is just my experience and I have no doubt that some BN's might get in the habit of being a little naughty and getting an easy feed on Discus slime.

Greggy

[Priscacara]

Tx for the replies, seems both sorts of fish can attach themselves to the discus which I didnt know before.

My BN are all still juvies ranging from 2cm to almost 6cm and they take algae wafers, tetramin flakes and NLS 1mm pellets so wasnt worried about a lack of food for them if I put them into the discus tank once its ready..............wasnt sure on the Ottos though if they are just algae I'd be in trouble.

I had similar happen in the tank when it was a mix of SA cichlids, the 3 BN I had in there spawned almost continuously but the rest of the fish kept them in check. Lol, still I had 25 young ones when I cleared the tank out so would have hated to see how many if the rest hadnt been eaten.

Cheers!