Thinking of adding Otos.

[Anne Dyari]

So I have a 10 gallon with one male betta and currently three oto cats (I had gotten four as suggested by multiple sites, but one died during quarantine). They don't seem stressed, but I wouldn't mind getting one or two more if my tank can sustain them.
(My tank has been stable with my betta and 3 otos for over 2 months now)
There is probably about 8-9 gallons of actual water since the rocks take up quite a bit of room.
Here are some messy photos of the tank from both sides.



So... opinions on if my tank can support more otos?

[ChoclateBetta]

I would only reccomend Otos for a 20 gallon fish.

[fishy314]

Your 10 gallon is overstocked.

[Anne Dyari]

Really? I'm super confused then... I was told they were not a problem for my 10gal back when I got them in August = http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=115503

They all are fat with rounded bellies, and ignore wafers (which I end up having to vacuum out).
I do weekly 25% water changes and test biweekly with levels staying mostly under 0.25ppm.

Do they get too big for my tank? (I was told they wouldn't get more than 0.5" by the fish department employee). x.x

[fishy314]

That is wrong. Some pet store must not care about fish.

[debettagal]

check out this link to help calculate bio-load. what sort of filter are you using and how are you maintaining it, is your tank cycled, water changes, etc.?

http://www.aqadvisor.com

[Anne Dyari]

Thank you :D

"You have plenty of aquarium filtration capacity.

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 482%.
Recommended water change schedule: 10% per week.
Your aquarium stocking level is 55%."

I have an Azoo Spong Filter 9, my tank is cycled, and weekly 25% water changes.

[Myates]

With live plants you can go a little heavier on fish.. the problem would be is that you don't have enough food to sustain more ottos. Ottos are small fish and because of that they are constantly needing to eat - they require very very heavily planted tanks to be able to constantly graze on the algae and other organisms on the plants. You would also need to give them added food to help keep their health, as the plants aren't enough - will need algae wafers and different blanched veggies.

If you are able to provide more food for them in ways of live plants and veggies, you could get one or two more.. otherwise I wouldn't.

That 10% is bogus.. with live plants you can do less %, but it depends on the stock you have. Until you have more live plants I would stick with closer to 50% per week.. if you get more plants than can go down to no less than 30%. Those calculators really aren't worth a penny.

[Anne Dyari]

Alright, thank you :D
I will bump up my water changes, but I don't think I'll be adding more otos for now then. :P

[ChoclateBetta]

Aquaadviser is junk. It says you cannot keep Cories and Bettas together. And I reccomend 50% weekly. Otos are very sensative and should not be kept in a 10 gallon.