loach and oto?

Question

i have a 29 gallon tank, i have...
4 guppies;3 dwarf gouramis;5 glolight tetras;1 African Dwarf Frog; 1 Snail; 2 marble shrimp and im getting a few more fish about eth same size as teh glolight tetras. I plan on turning it into a planted aquarium(I plan on having some empty space tho for teh frog) I kinda want/ think i need more on my cleaning crew, ppl have told me clown loaches are good at eating left over food and such and also eating snail eggs, but th e oto is so good at eating algae, i kinda only have room for maybe 2 or 3 of these total.
Should i get 1 loach and 2 otos or 2 loaches and 1 oto?

dont otos need company?

Ive heard of otos staying with corys and clown loaches, is t true?

what do clown loaches get 1 foot long? whats a small sized loach like less than 4 inches

forget loaches, Cory cats instead, i just read that loaches are semi-aggresssive

Answer 1

Loaches are not only semi-agressive but also can stir up the bottom, which can be good or bad depending upon filtration.(weak filtration - bad)

Corys are a good choice in that they tend to behave themselve well and are fairly good at cleaning up whatever food gets to them.

Answer 2

Clown loaches have been found in the wild up to 12" long, but the average length of an aquarium clown loach is 8". Yoyo loaches and khuli loaches both enjoy snails for a snack and stay on the small size. Otos are primarily vegetarian, while loaches prefer a little more meat in their diet. Otos will keep the algae off your plants, which is a bonus. I recommend 2-3 oto cats.

Answer 3

Honestly you don't need a clean up crew. If you have left over food on the bottom. You are over feeding. It actually does matter if the food is eaten or rots you still get the same amount of ammonia/nitrites/nitrates from it. Bottom feeders tend make it look nice, but other than that they don't effect it one way or another. Personally I view algae as a good thing, and only worry if it gets too thick, or I start growing greyish brown algae. (Of course my main tank has almost no algae due to 2 plecos, and numerous molly.)

Note oto are mainly vegetarians. So they are good mostly for algae. They don't seem to hang out with other oto. What they like is hiding places. You could also look at the Siamese Algae eater (Not Chinese!!) who have a great rep. A pair of otos, or a single SAE would likely deal with any algae issues.

Pleco are scavengers most type also eat algae. Exactly how much algae they eat depends on age, breed, and how much othe food is available. For your aquarium I'd advise a small breed pleco like the clown, rubberliped/bullnosed, or bristle nosed. Or just get a common pleco and plan to trade it in. (Ask your LFS the mom and pop ones are generally happy to trade for store credit as large pleco are often in high demand.) Note that as they get older common pleco tend to uproot plants.

Just be aware if pleco or ay algae eater cleans the tank spotless. They are in need of additional food. I tend to feed my fish a few old chunks of broccoli twice a week. (Wait at least 2 days as they like it soft.) Also given you have guppies I'd add an algae flake to the food rotation.

PS- Note that cory cats are fairly social fish.

Answer 4

There are hundreds of types of "Loach" Clown loaches are get way too large for a 29 gallon and need to be kept in groups, Preferably 5 or more.

Cory cats and ottos would be your best bet.