[Absolut Talent]

As the title says, I cant decide between otos or a bristlenose

This will go in a 33long tank, pretty heavily planted with driftwood readily available.
Tank mates will be african dwarf frogs (12x) and a handful of shrimp (ghost and amanos) and quite possibly a nerite or two. Bloodworms would be plentyful, as well as fresh veggies.

The only real concern I would have would be the frogs possibly going after the bristles on the pleco. But if i have one young enough that they didnt grow in yet, the frogs may just ignore them when they do come in because they wouldve been used to the pleco by then.

And is it true the bristlenoses get lazy when it comes to algae when they get older?

 

[OVT]

I personally would go with ottos just because bristlenoses can be like a tractor in a planted tank, mine just power through the plants. They are also nocturnal, mostly hanging under driftwood during the day.

v3

 

[Topekoms]

I have 4 BN in my 75 gallon they are always cleaning i have to clean my glass every couple months to get the little stuff the miss buy i love them. They are a few years old and don't seem to be slowing down. Now back in the day when i had common plecos as they got older they got lazy.

 

[alaskajeff]

I prefer bristlenose;I have never had one damage any of my plants in all the years I have kept them. For me they are a lot more hardy than Otto's as well. Plus I keep Angelfish, a full grown Angel can easily make a meal of an Otto. my favorite Algae control team are Bristlenose and Siamese Algae eaters. Seems that what one won't eat the other will....

 

[HybridHerp]

zebra oto, bigger than a regular otto, very nice looking, and I my 10 with 2 is clean

 

[discuspaul]

I agree with Alaskajeff -

Go with the BN ! - The Otos are the ones that get lazier as the they get older & fatter and are not as useful. Plus the BN's are nicer-looking.

 

[Ras]

ime oto's would only eat a few types of algae, but they couldnt touch the real problematic stuff like spot algae and hair algae
they are great for diatoms but as most ppl will tell you diatoms don't last long anyways
I got my oto's to clean all the brown diatoms and hair, found out after they dont touch hair algae and once they cleared out the diatoms it never came back
now I have to feed them every other day to keep them fat, they havent been to work in months
if you don't plan on getting fragile thin leaf plants then I'd suggest a bnp

ottos I would only get for their personality, only thing they are good for is eating diatoms and ganging up to steal pellets from other fish. unless you have constant outbreaks of soft 'powdery' algae oto's wont help much,
the best team for actual algae fighting seems to be pleco/sae and certain snails (tylo's, nerites, MS, etc)

I personally like excel for algae probs, at this point my algae crew(otos mostly) is more like a group potbelly show pigs

 

[5BodyBlade]

Why not both? You get some algae! You get some algae! Everybody gets some algae!

 

[Josiah]

They both have their perks!

Ottos are fun. The socialize in their school. The play around. They remind me of puppies. They get lazy as they get old. I wouldn't get them to help you with algae. Mine would rather eat Spirulina flakes it seemed. They are extremely selective about what they eat. They aren't as hardy.

BN are elegant and shy. I'm new to BN, but mine loves his wood and hides all the time. Hasn't hurt my Amazon Plants yet. He love carrots! Carrots are great cause they sink on their own. No need to put weights on it! I got him because he's pretty. A longfin Green Dragon with white tips is a beatiful fish. That being said he's done more for my algae than my 12 Ottos combined ever did. I went from scrubbing my tank once a week or more to once a month.

 

[green18]

I love both. I find the ottos more fascinating to watch as they really work the leaves. My bristles do a better job plowing the glass.

Keep in mind the bristlenose will add more bio load if that is important. Both are awesome.

 

[Absolut Talent]

I am still on the fence, but I am leaning towards getting Otos for this tank.

I forgot to mention the plants. There was going to be anubias, crypt undulata, water sprite, water wisteria, java ferns, HC and possibly Hygro Sunset (if I can find it). So nothing too delicate.

But considering the rest of the main inhabitants (ADF's) are going to be small and they were the main showcase of the tank, maybe having a huge by comparison BN pleco might distract from them.

Whats a good school size for them? 6? Or would 8 be better