For what I know those two eat different kinds of algae.
Ottos are very good at scraping brown (diatoms ?) algae off leaves and tank glass. SAE's, according to what I've read in many posts (I've never had them) are more into munching on BBA.
Just my 2 centavos.

 

I purchased one SAE, before I really knew what size they got too. It turns out I bought a fairly mature one. Never saw it eat a single lick of algae, and I never could catch the bad-boy to remove him from my tank. So, I wasn't real upset when I came home one day and found him floating.

I think many really like the younger, smaller SAEs. But, they seem to get lazy and are a bear to remove from a heavily planted tank. Plus they get pretty sizable and can uproot plans when they dash around.

So, I vote for the otos. Small and hard working. Now, if I could just find myself some of those sweet looking zebra otos...

Brian.

 

In my 30 gallon heavily planted I have SAE's. The only algae I get in there is GSA so I'll assume they eat just about anything else (nobody will eat BGA). In my 12 gal nano cube I have Oto's and they really work at any GSA they find. If a plant from the 30 gal gets alot of GSA I'll move it to the 12 gallon for a cleanup if it's possible. The 12 gal cube and the oto's are fairly new but there is no algae in there as of yet.

 

my ottos rock. I bought 9 the other day and 90% of the algea I was worried about is already gone. Might get another 6 or so.

 

I like both Otos and SAEs. My Oto is always cleaning the glass of GDA and any film algae, and my new SAEs are doing a very good job eating my staghorn algae. They are a good combo because they eat different algae.

 

Once SAEs get big they won't touch algae. SAE's are only good when small. Otto's are always good.

 

FWIW I loved my SAEs when I first got them. However, as they got bigger they learned to swim upsidedown at the water surface when I would feed, and they also ate my mosses.

When I had to get the 4 of them out, it was a nightmare.

YMMV

 

I've owned both types before and currently have 6 Otos. From my personal experience the Otos win hand down.

Problem is getting a good batch.

 

ottos are great cleaners they dont eat all types of algae but they do a pretty decent job. ive had SAEs before and i found that not only to they eat all types of algae but they eat plants too. mine really liked to make holes in my sunset hygro until i found him dried up on the floor one day.

for algae control in my tanks i use ottos, cardinia japonica and a regular dose (3x a week) of flourish excel to supplement my CO2. i've had either none or very little BBA, hair algae, green water, green spot or even brown diatom algae doing it this way thus far. all i have is the green dust algae on the glass which i scrape off every now and then because the ottos and japonicas seem to ignore it.

the trick with ottos is you have to get enough of them. they are very small fish and add almost 0 bio load to the tank so dont fear overstocking. My 10 gallon tank has 11 ottos and 9 cardinia japonica along with 15 neons and 5 red phantoms.

 

I know a BUNCH of people who's ottos just died for no reason. What is the key to keeping ottos alive?

 

Bottom line is ......Ottos are more consistent at doing their job and more reliable.....

 

*shrugs* mine live.

i see them in the LFS with ich or fin rot quite often. i would stay away from those. apparently they dont ship very well and they're especially bad in the heat. a few of the better fish stores i frequent wont even get them during the summer because its not worth it to them because half of the fish die in transit. i'd wait until it gets a little cooler maybe like september october to buy some. OR find a local breeder and pick them up yourself.

 

I have 2 of 4 oto's left. I have no clue what the other 2 died of but it was nothing easily diagnosable - they were fine and they were dead. They remaining 2 I have, are AWESOME. The only algae I get is diatoms, and they work pretty hard on it at night. I'm actually hoping to run five - maybe I'll buy ten :icon_roll

Oto's are better but have a reputation of dying for no apparent reason - I've never had a SAE but I hear you have to starve it for it to eat algae when it's mature. (Hey you, no flake food, Hey! what'd I say?! Go eat the damn algae! :hihi: )

 

i like my otos better. my sae have lately only been eating flakes or sinking food.

 

one of my ottos died.. truely sad as they are so damn cute.

 

Which on eats staghorn, otto or sae?

 

My otos are the hardest working fish in show business. I have 10 and they are busy bees. I have 2 SAE's and they eat a different kind of algae. They tend to get lazier as they get older, but I think you are comparing apples to oranges. IMO I would get the otos and Amano shrimp and call it a day.

 

My 4" SAE eats both flakes & algae (mostly the BBA attached to the driftwood). The only problem i have w/ mine is whenever its feeding time SAE would try to eat all the flakes that makes it to the gravel & would shove the Corys when they get in his way (he mostly chase the littlest cory i have especially at feeding time):icon_eek: . This couple of months i have 2 of my younger cory die maybe because of starvation i think because the SAE would hog all the food. I would like to trade my 4" for some of those little ones but my Parrot's thinks of those little SAE as food. I already tried adding 2 small (1to 1-1/2") before i got the jumbo and both of them only lasted 2 days!!! By the 3rd day i can't find any trace of them, probably their in my Parrot's stomach .

 

I have 3 otos and they are not as hard as it seems. I've bought 5 and 2 died soon. I don't think it was just for no reason, maybe the change was too big, maybe it was because I got them so cheap and the lfs started selling then as soon as they got them almost without quarantine, but the ones that got through the 1st two weeks are healthy and work (eat) all day and I've got them for almost a year now.
Oh and I don't think that heat is a big problem because they are in my discus tank and it's pretty hot in there.

 

I have 5 SAE´s and I love them, they do eat the food I feed the fish, but they also seem to be munching on algae most of the time. Spend alot of time on the dritwood and plants, I find them to be quite active, enen though they are over 10cm (roughly 4") The only alae I seem to be getting is GSA.

 

i love my otos!

 

Assuming that at some point you'll be a planted tank guru, or already are one, you'll have to make sure you feed the ottos because a well-maintained tank won't have enough algae for the otto. One guy said he had 11 ottos in one tank or something? Well, either they're all starving and somehow hanging on, or he's dropping in LOTS of algae wafers/blanched foods to make sure the constantly grazing ottos are full and happy. Hopefully the latter. If you want to avoid feeding the ottos because you have shrimp or something that will compete for the dropped foods, I'd say one otto per ten gallons of water is a good rule of thumb, maybe even fifteen or twenty gallons.

It seems that a lot of ottos hemorrhage in the gill area, and that spreads down to the abdomen. Since supposedly they're gathered in areas of high water flow/highly oxygenated water, I'd venture a guess that the gills of the ottos sometimes can't handle living in tanks with poor circulation. Then again, all plecos have the similar gill structure and seem to do fine so.. just something that you might consider when you're housing an otto. I have water pumps in both of my tanks and have not lost an otto.