# Planted Tanks > Beginners' Corner >  Otocinclus affinis OTO vs Siamese Algae Eater SAE vs Yamato Shrimps

## lifestory

I'm curious to know. What's the disadvantage and advantages or otos, SAEs and Yamato shrimps? Seems like all of them do the same job. Is there certain conditions when u shld choose one over another?

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## wllm33

think the SAEs are the most "gangster-like" among the three.
my experience is that oto does the algae cleaning part on the glass well, whereas shrimps only clean the moss usually or small plants.
sensitivity wise, the SAEs are the most resilent.
cheers.

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## hann

I also find Otto milder and they are really cute as compared to the SAE. Yamato is a bully to my cherry in my tank. If you keep shrimp, try not to add Yamato IMO. On the other hand, Otto is friendly towards shrimp

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## andrew73

Gangster in what way? Do they bully others? SAE's don't look too bad, I reckon. Yamato's will feed on fish food too so unless you starve them, after a while, they kind of 'lay off' the algae or at least that's what I find mine do anyway! :Laughing:

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## meerkat

> Gangster in what way? Do they bully others? SAE's don't look too bad, I reckon. Yamato's will feed on fish food too so unless you starve them, after a while, they kind of 'lay off' the algae or at least that's what I find mine do anyway!


Yamatos got a bad habit of grabbing food and swimming away to some secluded spot to feast on them. They are not too keen to share :Evil:  

SAEs tend to wrestle actively for food once bigger size. They are more aggressive also when larger. My gang of four could not stop "squabbling" amongst themselves all day long :Mad: 

Tend to agree Otos are the best-behaved and non-aggressive diligent workers amongst the rest.

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## illumbomb

I think one important criterion to consider is which type of algae you are trying to control via adding them into you tank (i.e. otos and nerite snails are great for brown algae but will probably not be perform as well as the rest for green hair algae?)

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## wllm33

the SAEs are pretty aggressive in the manner they move and grab for food .
they are also pretty fast swimmers compared to the other 2, and disturb the things in the tank when they swim too fast.
otherwise they are good workers.
imho.

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## krabbie

My personal experience is quite bad with SAE ... they do their jobs well initially. But once they realized that fish food taste better, they will fight with the tank-mates for the fish-food and stop feeding on algae. Besides, they are very difficult to catch/remove ... I never introduce SAE ever since.  :Opps: 

OTO is the best ... mild and does their jobs well. Highly recommended.  :Grin:

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## hann

> My personal experience is quite bad with SAE ... they do their jobs well initially. But once they realized that fish food taste better, they will fight with the tank-mates for the fish-food and stop feeding on algae. Besides, they are very difficult to catch/remove ... I never introduce SAE ever since. 
> 
> OTO is the best ... mild and does their jobs well. Highly recommended.


Oto oso looks nice in a planted tank too. Colours not so bright.

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## blink_willie

I have tried out all three in my tank before.

Yamato shrimps - They are not really hardworking from what I see.They like to hang out at one corner in groups most of the time.I find them sensitive to water parameters like CO2 and pH though because I lost all my Yamatos due to unstable CO2 injection :Opps: However,under the right conditions,they look very nice with all those red lines on their bodies.

Otocinclus - Very hardworking.If it's not attached to my tank wall it's attached to one of my plants.Rarely see them rest.Plus they look very cute too.

SAE - Very very restless.Like someone running all over the place.Instead of eating algae it eats my flame moss and fish food instead.Have a high chance of jumping out of the tank.All three of my SAE did that :Shocked:  :Grin: Never gonna buy them again I guess.

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## torque6

Im also considering Oto as hann recommended, but so far less than 2cm otos are hard to find. CRS haven got several but most of them kinda remain "motionless" in the tank + ive noticed some fin rots of most of them.. so didnt buy.

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## wllm33

> Im also considering Oto as hann recommended, but so far less than 2cm otos are hard to find. CRS haven got several but most of them kinda remain "motionless" in the tank + ive noticed some fin rots of most of them.. so didnt buy.


i think if you go to clementi or pasir ris farms/shops, there are many oto of that size which are abdundant at $1.50 for the ordinary oto.
They are actually very commonly available nowadays.
check it out.

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## juggler

> I'm curious to know. What's the disadvantage and advantages or otos, SAEs and Yamato shrimps? Seems like all of them do the same job. Is there certain conditions when u shld choose one over another?


In my experience, they prefer different algae:
SAE - good for BBA. But usually I don't use them unless the BBA is too much to control.
Yamato - good for Hair Algae
Otocinclus - general algae on tank glass, equipment and leaves.

See http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae_eaters.php

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## Aquaria One

Saes are very agressive.in my opinion use only small ones. Octtos are on the other side of the spectrum, able to keep with many small fishes and shrimps.Ive only seen yamatos to be agressive to other shrimps sometimes attack other shrimps.

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## psp1000

OTO is still the best,mild and does their jobs well. Highly recommended. Have 5 of them in my 4ft tank. Will want to get 2 more  :Grin:  They are always seen busy working, either on tank glass or plants.

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## beetlejuice403

Personally, I will still prefer Otos as they are very mild in terms of behaviour...  :Smile:  The most 'dangerous' acts I'd ever seen my 2 Otos performed in my shrimp tank was seeing them riding 'piggyback' on my shrimps & Ramshorns occassionally...  :Grin:  [No harm done as the shrimps will normally dart off from the Otos...]

Hoping now my 2 otos will breed... but not too sure if both are of the same gender leh...  :Confused:

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## lifestory

My tank just recently experienced an algae bloom and the glass and leaves are starting to show some form of algae growth. So after so many comments, I've went ahead to get 3 otos for my tank. Placed them in last night and went to sleep. 

The next day, the most glorious thing happened to my tank. It was like someone has sneaked in to changed it! No kidding! These guys worked OT (without me paying them 1.5 times their salary.. well they had none) and thoroughly cleanse my tank off algae.. everything was spanking new and clean. 

My experience of yamato is from a friend who told me "Yamato is a walking destruction", probably cos they tend to just talk over plants which could mean messing up smaller plants. But I do see them doing their algae job.

SAEs.. well I was helping my friend tend to 3 of them, 2 flew out of the sky and kamikazed and the last one...... lets just say he thought that he was a rummy nose. Started following my small school of rummy nose around and doing what they are doing. Secretly becoming its own algae eating self when the school is not watching....

All in all this is my in-experienced take on the 3 species.

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## hann

> My tank just recently experienced an algae bloom and the glass and leaves are starting to show some form of algae growth. So after so many comments, I've went ahead to get 3 otos for my tank. Placed them in last night and went to sleep. 
> 
> The next day, the most glorious thing happened to my tank. It was like someone has sneaked in to changed it! No kidding! These guys worked OT (without me paying them 1.5 times their salary.. well they had none) and thoroughly cleanse my tank off algae.. everything was spanking new and clean.


Glad to hear that you go ahead with the Oto and they did a great job for you.

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## yakie_19

Hi Lifestory,

Glad to hear that you prefer otos out of the 3 types, and that it did its job so well. Anyway, Yamatos are very good for clearing hair algae, esp those on mosses. generally those that are of medium size are still ok in a smaller tank, and it does its job pretty well. but those that are XXL can be quite troublesome, esp if there is hairgrass in the tank. it will just walk past, and uproot some of the grass along its way.

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## BuWaC

May I ask what about Tiger Otos? Are they good workers and hardy fishes? They are more expensive than normal Otos, a big smaller but nice body patterns.....

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## torque6

> i think if you go to clementi or pasir ris farms/shops, there are many oto of that size which are abdundant at $1.50 for the ordinary oto.
> They are actually very commonly available nowadays.
> check it out.


thanks william, but have decided against having 1 anyways. Seems 8 boraras B in a 1FT has pretty much "disturbed" the serenity of the 1fT planted tank..

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## wllm33

i am having this very stuck algae on my glass tank now, and it is very rough and cannot be rubbed off with the hand.

i don't know if anything can get them off, as my oto seems too mild and it is only 1 ft tank.
is there no way other than the algae scrapper?
also have hair algae growing on my sponge, cos i think i increase the wattage to 55w from 36w and the co2. what's best for the hair algae and not disturb my downoi or hairgrass?
thanks for your advice.

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## Fuzzy

> Im also considering Oto as hann recommended, but so far less than 2cm otos are hard to find. CRS haven got several but most of them kinda remain "motionless" in the tank + ive noticed some fin rots of most of them.. so didnt buy.


I just saw quite a few Otos under 2cm at Polyart. They were going for $1.50 a piece.

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## aquaticlover

Is there anyone experience that Otos are very sensitive and very hard to survive in the tank? For me, I bought Otos and SAEs at the same time and all my Otos died after 2 months. but SAEs are still surviving.

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## WiNd08

i just noticed, otos do not eat green hair algae (thicker) but they do eat thread algae (translucent and thinner). 

luckily these thicker hair algae can be removed easily by hand!

i also notice otos don't eat my green spot algae :Crying:

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## greenpea

> Is there anyone experience that Otos are very sensitive and very hard to survive in the tank? For me, I bought Otos and SAEs at the same time and all my Otos died after 2 months. but SAEs are still surviving.


my 3 SAE have survive for more than a year now..not 1 perish.. probably due to actively snatching fish food..

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## WiNd08

yes Otos are sensitive to the water especially easy to die if they are not correctly acclaimatized. 

i bought 15 Otos for my 4ft tank and 9 died due to lack of acclaimatization. sigh! 

but once they are used to your tank, they are very hardy! :Grin:

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## alfredliow316

> i am having this very stuck algae on my glass tank now, and it is very rough and cannot be rubbed off with the hand.
> 
> i don't know if anything can get them off, as my oto seems too mild and it is only 1 ft tank.
> is there no way other than the algae scrapper?
> also have hair algae growing on my sponge, cos i think i increase the wattage to 55w from 36w and the co2. *what's best for the hair algae and not disturb my downoi or hairgrass?*
> thanks for your advice.


Try a young, starved SAE? 
for algae on the glass, my favourite are the snails, have a few in my 1 footer. Cleans up every inch of the glass!

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## Csababá

What kind of snails do you mean? I only have apple, Physa/Lymnaea and ramshorn/Planorbis (in another tank) and Melanoides tuberculata but still have green spot algae.

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## alfredliow316

I have ramshorn and Bee snails (Not quite sure. It's Yellow and black stripes with thorns growing out of the shells.)

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## yyylarry

My sae isnt eating any bba as far as i see...But snails are hard at work on the green algae spots on my tank.

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## Loopy

If you want to throw the money at them, make sure your tank is ready for them. I once bought 3 and they all died.  :Shocked: 

But you are right, they are really cool looking.

As for the subject. Otto's for me. Yamato's are hilarious as someone said, they take away the food. Like kids running away with burgers.

I have no experience with SAE's.




> May I ask what about Tiger Otos? Are they good workers and hardy fishes? They are more expensive than normal Otos, a big smaller but nice body patterns.....

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## BuWaC

> If you want to throw the money at them, make sure your tank is ready for them. I once bought 3 and they all died. 
> 
> But you are right, they are really cool looking.
> 
> As for the subject. Otto's for me. Yamato's are hilarious as someone said, they take away the food. Like kids running away with burgers.
> 
> I have no experience with SAE's.


True, tatz what the boss in C328 told me, water condition nid to be tip top, and low PH (tho my tank PH is low coz using ADA soil). Btw, do Yamato breed in fwater tank? Am feeling a bit weird coz I see some shrimplets in my tank and all I have now are only Yamatos (unless the uncle wrote wrongly on the plastic bag which indicate Yamato...)

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## Loopy

You feeling weird because your Yamato Shrimp has been engaging in frisky activity?!  :Laughing: 

Anyway, I did a search for you and came up with this: I tested the link it worked, hope it works for you. If not use the search function and type in "Breeding Yamato Shrimp"
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...earchid=531048

Unless you are adding salt of some sort - Also I did a google and there are indeed ways of breeding Yamato Shrimp.

Mystery!




> True, tatz what the boss in C328 told me, water condition nid to be tip top, and low PH (tho my tank PH is low coz using ADA soil). Btw, do Yamato breed in fwater tank? Am feeling a bit weird coz I see some shrimplets in my tank and all I have now are only Yamatos (unless the uncle wrote wrongly on the plastic bag which indicate Yamato...)

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## wllm33

> Try a young, starved SAE? 
> for algae on the glass, my favourite are the snails, have a few in my 1 footer. Cleans up every inch of the glass!


do your snails eat the plants as well since they are vegetarian also.
i am more concern about my plants . if they eat them as well, then i'll rather not use the snails.
what type of snails do you use which are best equip for the job without harming the plants?
thanks.

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## alfredliow316

> do your snails eat the plants as well since they are vegetarian also.
> i am more concern about my plants . if they eat them as well, then i'll rather not use the snails.
> what type of snails do you use which are best equip for the job without harming the plants?
> thanks.


The best and favourite of all snails (that i know of ) is the bee snail. it's yellow/black stripes and with thorns growing out of the shell. 

It's the longest lasting ones. I have them in my Malawi tank as well as planted tank, both of different pH and hardness. 

So far I think they dont harm my plants from my observations. I have in my 1ft cube : various moss, anubias nana petite, pelia, US Fissiden, HM, Crypt. Parva and 2 Marimo balls. All of them look OK eventhough I have about 5 snails in the 1ft tank.

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## wllm33

> The best and favourite of all snails (that i know of ) is the bee snail. it's yellow/black stripes and with thorns growing out of the shell. 
> 
> It's the longest lasting ones. I have them in my Malawi tank as well as planted tank, both of different pH and hardness. 
> 
> So far I think they dont harm my plants from my observations. I have in my 1ft cube : various moss, anubias nana petite, pelia, US Fissiden, HM, Crypt. Parva and 2 Marimo balls. All of them look OK eventhough I have about 5 snails in the 1ft tank.


thanks.
i think it is the same one as what a forrumer here put in a picture.
looks like a bee, yellow and black.
i got one in c328 today, cost a buck.
will see if it works, as it is pretty small, but my tank is only 1ft and it has a lot of glass algae, and i don't want it to eat my downoi leaves also.
cheers.

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## BuWaC

> You feeling weird because your Yamato Shrimp has been engaging in frisky activity?! 
> 
> Anyway, I did a search for you and came up with this: I tested the link it worked, hope it works for you. If not use the search function and type in "Breeding Yamato Shrimp"
> http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...earchid=531048
> 
> Unless you are adding salt of some sort - Also I did a google and there are indeed ways of breeding Yamato Shrimp.
> 
> Mystery!


Thanks bro, by the way the link doesnt work.....I managed to snap some pix of my shrimplets and momma shrimp today, its indeed Yamato shrimp spawn in ma tank  :Jump for joy: 

Sorry for the lousy pic quality :

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## Csababá

Thanks, I have 3 Otos but they don't it greean algae spots nor bba. Nor does my lonely SAE or ancistrus. I have 2 aplle snail and they graze ont the green spots but I don't know whether they eat it or just "walk" through. I have lots of Malaysian trumpet snails. They come up to the front glass by night but no idea if they eat algae or not.

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## insider

i didn't know that yamato shrimp can be breed in fresh water. I always though that they can only be breed in blackish water.

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