Oto questions

[Bruna75]

So my tank is in a full explosion of diatoms right now:/ has been for a while, I have tried just waiting for them to go away like I have read but I just can't stand looking at my tank anymore, it is so ugly I want to throw a sheet over it when people come over I read otos love diatoms so I think I am going to go pick a few up tonight, I am kind of scared though, I also read they are hard to acclimate? If so what is the best route to go? I usually leave the bag in the water for over an hour and open it up every 15 minutes to add some of my tank water to the bag, and then I always test to make sure the ph from the bag matches the ph in my tank, then net the fishes out. Do you guys think this will be good enough for them? Also how many would be good? My tank is 75 gallons, has been cycled for months, semi planted, (about 15 plants) not fully stocked yet, I just lost an angel and will scratch the otos if there is a good chance they are ganna die on me. Thanks for any and all help

 

[Dreamwallaby]

I have 2 Otos, had them for months and never had an issue. They adjusted just fine and I did way less than your plan, which is a good way to acclimate.

 

[Bruna75]

I have 2 Otos, had them for months and never had an issue. They adjusted just fine and I did way less than your plan, which is a good way to acclimate.

Sweet! Thanks how many do you think would be good for my tank?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

If you aren't seeing any spikes in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate then I'd suggest adding 6 ottos. A few questions though.. How long are you running the lights each day and how regularly do you do water changes?

 

[Rivercats]

I have 18 Oto's in my 220g. I usually drip acclimate them but your way is fine. Oto's don't do well in new setups IMO. How long has your tank actually been running? One thing you can consider is if your afraid of trying Oto's, Nerite Snails are great and can't reproduce in freshwater. They love diatoms but also eat bio-film, green dust algae, and green spot algae. I have around 40 of them in my tank. Both Oto's and Nerites are good options. You could do maybe around 10 but also you should offer them other food a couple times a week like blanched zucchini, cucumber, and algae wafers to be sure they are getting enough food.

 

[Bruna75]

If you aren't seeing any spikes in ammonia, nitrite or nitrate then I'd suggest adding 6 ottos. A few questions though.. How long are you running the lights each day and how regularly do you do water changes?

No spikes, water is perfect, I test it twice a week and change 50% every week, sometimes more depending on how long it takes to suck up the poop, ammo 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5/10, I know the nitrate should be a Lil higher for my plants, but I can't get it up there. The lights are on roughly 7 hours a day.

 

[Bruna75]

I have 18 Oto's in my 220g. I usually drip acclimate them but your way is fine. Oto's don't do well in new setups IMO. How long has your tank actually been running? One thing you can consider is if your afraid of trying Oto's, Nerite Snails are great and can't reproduce in freshwater. They love diatoms but also eat bio-film, green dust algae, and green spot algae. I have around 40 of them in my tank. Both Oto's and Nerites are good options. You could do maybe around 10 but also you should offer them other food a couple times a week like blanched zucchini, cucumber, and algae wafers to be sure they are getting enough food.

Hey river cats the tank has been up and running since October, you offered me great advice a few times, thank you again for that! I thought of snails but can't bring myself to it, they FREAK me out :O I don't know why:/ do you think my tank is still to new for otos?

 

[Rivercats]

I think you should be fine. You know you should look at some nerite pic's simply because they are not like those larger snails (mystery, apple, ramshorn) that come way out of their shells and have those long wavy antenna. Ones like the horned or spiney as some call them and tiger nerites have cool shells and they don't come out of them very far plus they have little thin antenna that kind of wrap close to the sides of their body. I love the shells on the little horned ones. Here's some links to look at....

Spiny Tricolor Cleaner Nerite Snail

Red Tiger Lady Nerite Snail

Green Tiger Nerite Snail

 

[Bruna75]

I think you should be fine. You know you should look at some nerite pic's simply because they are not like those larger snails (mystery, apple, ramshorn) that come way out of their shells and have those long wavy antenna. Ones like the horned or spiney as some call them and tiger nerites have cool shells and they don't come out of them very far plus they have little thin antenna that kind of wrap close to the sides of their body. I love the shells on the little horned ones. Here's some links to look at....

Spiny Tricolor Cleaner Nerite Snail

Red Tiger Lady Nerite Snail

Green Tiger Nerite Snail

Those shells do look neat! Thanks for the links I will read up on them more, I am off to get my otos!

 

[smallfry53]

I just added some otos to my tank on Sunday. They are doing wonders for the algae, and are just awesome little fish anyway. Unfortunately I think I am going to lose one , but the others seem to be doing well. I acclimated them about the same way that you described for an hour and a half.

www.otocinclus.com - Home of the Dwarf Suckermouth Catfishes

I recommend reading that ^^

 

[Bruna75]

I just added some otos to my tank on Sunday. They are doing wonders for the algae, and are just awesome little fish anyway. Unfortunately I think I am going to lose one , but the others seem to be doing well. I acclimated them about the same way that you described for an hour and a half.

www.otocinclus.com - Home of the Dwarf Suckermouth Catfishes

I recommend reading that ^^

Thanks for the link! I just got home with them and they are acclimating sorry to hear about your sick guy, I hope he pulls through!

 

[smallfry53]

Thanks for the link! I just got home with them and they are acclimating sorry to hear about your sick guy, I hope he pulls through!

Your welcome. Thanks for your concern. It looks to be pretty weak, but I'm remaining hopeful.

Good luck you your new addition!

 

[Bruna75]

A Lil update , so I got the otos and I noticed the neons were on sale and I needed to up my school so got 6 of those also, and I got 2 beautiful Dalmatian mollies, well I turned around to look at the plants and next thing I knew she had them bagged, all in one bag, 14 fish:/ Any ways so I acclimated them all but to net them out I had to pour them in a bucket, and that's when the fun began, a Dalmatian Molly jumped 2 feet in the air as soon as the net hit the bucket :O scared the crap outta me!!! Then the neons started jumping, nowhere as high as the Molly and then finally the otos, them suckers are FAST! I was for sure the stress of me trying to catch them was ganna kill them, they lost all their color:/ but as soon as I got them in their new home they attached themselves to my tank and colored right back up and they have been munching since everyone seems to be enjoying their new home this morning, well I hope so, I have a male black mollie and he is chasing the new girls nonstop, I may have to get another female for him or figure something if he doesn't stop:/ I now have 12 neons and boy does the bigger school make a difference! Oh and a lone cardinal and rummy nose that school with them:/ cardinals are always sold out when I go, and rummy nose are hard to find around here, and both their schools didn't make it when I first got them, but they think they are neons. Lol.

 

[alLexX]

good luck,otos are great.

 

[Hholly]

A Lil update , so I got the otos and I noticed the neons were on sale and I needed to up my school so got 6 of those also, and I got 2 beautiful Dalmatian mollies, well I turned around to look at the plants and next thing I knew she had them bagged, all in one bag, 14 fish:/ Any ways so I acclimated them all but to net them out I had to pour them in a bucket, and that's when the fun began, a Dalmatian Molly jumped 2 feet in the air as soon as the net hit the bucket :O scared the crap outta me!!! Then the neons started jumping, nowhere as high as the Molly and then finally the otos, them suckers are FAST! I was for sure the stress of me trying to catch them was ganna kill them, they lost all their color:/ but as soon as I got them in their new home they attached themselves to my tank and colored right back up and they have been munching since everyone seems to be enjoying their new home this morning, well I hope so, I have a male black mollie and he is chasing the new girls nonstop, I may have to get another female for him or figure something if he doesn't stop:/ I now have 12 neons and boy does the bigger school make a difference! Oh and a lone cardinal and rummy nose that school with them:/ cardinals are always sold out when I go, and rummy nose are hard to find around here, and both their schools didn't make it when I first got them, but they think they are neons. Lol.

I had that happen too. They bagged 3 different species for two different tanks in one bag. I was steamed. Glad your crew are doing well.

 

[GallifreyanFish]

I have a couple of otos. I started out with six but lost four of them Nothing was wrong with the water so I think it was just stress. Good luck with your otos! They're the most adorable fish I've ever kept.

 

[Bruna75]

Thanks all! I love them, they are so adorable! I hope they all make it. I couldn't believe my eyes either when I turned around and seen she had them all in one bag:/ I just looked at her like wth, and grabbed the bag and walked away. The Lfs I usually go to would have never done that:/ I usually walk out of there with multiple bags and way less fish, but they didn't have any otos, and said they didn't know when they were going to get any in:/ it took them a month to get the lemon tetras I ordered from them:/ so I went to petsmart, luckily the fish at my petsmart are always healthy, I haven't lost one yet, unfortunately I have lost quite a few from the Lfs:/ and the Lfs only has a 48 hour policy. It all depends on who is working at the petsmart on what kind of service you get, there is a very knowledgable lady that I love there, but she wasn't working last night:/

 

[librarygirl]

I just got Otos a few months ago too. Adorable fish. I started with four and lost one when it was in quarantine. They can be hard to feed once the diatoms go; a couple of mine are finally starting to eat the algae and veggie wafers I put in. They're stomachs are healthy and rounded though so I guess they are eating something. Good luck with them!

Also just keep an eye on your paramaters since you addded a good amount of fish at once and your bacteria will need to adjust to the higher load.

 

[Bruna75]

I just got Otos a few months ago too. Adorable fish. I started with four and lost one when it was in quarantine. They can be hard to feed once the diatoms go; a couple of mine are finally starting to eat the algae and veggie wafers I put in. They're stomachs are healthy and rounded though so I guess they are eating something. Good luck with them!

Also just keep an eye on your paramaters since you addded a good amount of fish at once and your bacteria will need to adjust to the higher load.

Thanks! I tested this evening and all was still good I will continue for the rest of the week . They have been munching all day on their buffet, I don't think they will run out anytime soon, but when they do I have algae wafers and will try some veggies too if not I am sure I will be here asking