If the Acara gonna eat the Octocinlus then Do you think those Tiger Bard gonna safe with it? I never heard an Acara kill or eat anything yet unless it small fishes like fancy guppies, neon tetra....By the time Acara able to eat the Octo those Tiger will be on the dead list long before Acara has their eyes on Octoc.
Tankmate question
- Thread starter Brittyboo
- Start date
Tiger barbes will be fine IMO they are to fast and large for the Acara to eat. The only time I had trouble keeping TBs is when I tried to keep a group in with a RD I had they were find during the day but at night they sleep suspended and he would pick off a few every night. They were about 1.5 to 2" fish and he was 13+ so it was no contest and my mistake for trying it.
the barbs will be fine a so will a bristlenose with an acara. The acara can get to 8 inches max but if fed properly you will have no issues, The barbs are very fast. I had a brown acara with black ruby barbs in a 50 for years without issue.
I want to say here that Octos should be fine too since Acara not that aggressive. I'm keeping Octos with my Jag and we all knew Jag is 10x meaner than Acara, for sure my Jag does want to eat all my Octos but these algae eater catfish fast and know how to stay away from my Jag...till now my Jag still fail at his mission. 
The differance is the hunting style employed. Jags are ambush predators and will not generally unless starving waste energy on an Oto.
There's always the option of keeping the lights on less often, lower wattage lights and getting lights that are less algae friendly. I don't have algae eaters in any of my tanks and the only thing I do is use a magnet scrubber maybe once a month to clean of a very light coating of algae off the glass
I'd stay clear of the oto's. They WILL get eaten eventually. I keep my breeding pair of blue acaras in a 55 with some smaller bichir species. I second the pleco idea. Perhaps a grazer like a redtail shark could be added too, but it's not gonna keep your glass clean.
I wouldn't worry about the barbs. Even if the acara was able to kill them, he wouldn't be able to eat them. They're just too wide.
I wouldn't worry about the barbs. Even if the acara was able to kill them, he wouldn't be able to eat them. They're just too wide.
No, they can't swallow them whole, but they can kill it and slowly dispatch it piece by piece.
I keeping my fish in planted tank (low tech, low light plants), I couldn't stand with bare tank or only substrate tank. I'm using regular LED light 48" long from National Geographic and still got aglae, I don't mind the algae on my tank glass but I keep Octos to clean up my plants leaves and they are expert at their job
