Yellow Oto / Otto ?

[webmoose]

Was at LFS store saw a tank full of yellow oto's? Is this for real? They were totally yellow but way yellow compared to pictures I've seen of them.. Anyone familiar with these? Do they stay small like the oto's that have been described here by many?

 

[PlatyLady]

Were they golden algae eaters?

 

[tkos]

Yeah, golden algae eaters are tiny when they come into petstores.

 

[ferret]

Avoid at all costs. They grow to 5-6inches, are extremely territorial, and in general from my own experience and research, eventually have a preference for the slime coat of other fish over algae.

 

[webmoose]

Thanks all! I guess I can still say I've yet to see an oto at my LFS..

 

[Patwa]

extremely territorial

I TOTALLY SECOND THAT!

see my gallery for my handy-dandy Golden Alage Eater Trap....worked like a charm for me..

....I put him in with my puffers and he's doing a-ok.

Zach.

 

[justDIY]

aww ... my golden is a little sweetheart

he/she hides inside the tape grass all the time, and if it see's anything, it shoots back to it's pvc elbow, which it shares with a CAE and 3 clown loaches

it's probably about 3 inches, so not adult yet ... the cae is about 4 inches, young as well

 

[madasafish]

Hehe. They're even bigger than that when maxed out, actually... Fishbase puts them at 28 cm: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=12298&genusname=Gyrinocheilus&speciesname=aymonieri Same species as Chinese Algae Eater, btw, just a diff color morph.

Liveaquaria.com puts them at 1 foot: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=21&pCatId=938

I'd say no... cute, though, when small!!
_________________________________________________________________

There *are* a couple of spp. of Oto that are diff from the standard, though. The Zebra Otos usually go for $$$: http://store.yahoo.com/fish2u/tigot.html There are also Giant Otos: http://store.yahoo.com/fish2u/gianot.html (I'm not sure whether their species name on that is right...)

 

[webmoose]

what is the standard oto. If/when I do get to the point that I am ready to get some I want to make sure I get the right ones!

 

[madasafish]

Otocinclus affinis is the "standard" oto species. MANY spp. exist, and for all we know the fish stores might be stocking these other spp., but they're darn hard to tell apart!

Here's are some pix of the usual Oto: http://images.google.com/images?as_...filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&imgsafe=active

Oh, also, some pix in my gallery.

 

[ScottS]

Try www.planetcatfish.com/catelog. Otocinclus are part of the Loricariidae family. You'll probably see Otocinclus vittatus in the stores. If you get really really lucky, you'll see a Otocinclus "zebra" but they usually go for 3x as much as a "regular" Oto

 

[madasafish]

Oh... such a cute picture, I had to link you to it...

http://www.disky-design.dk/fish/images/otocinclus3.jpg

 

[PlatyLady]

hey nice pic, madasafish!

I wonder why I see so many fish incorrectly labelled 'otocinclus' or just 'algae eater'. It sure does get confusing when you don't know how to tell them apart.

 

[madasafish]

A lot of ppl are very confused about the algae eater species, and this includes store owners. The variety of Otocinclus species (spp.) is a little bit confusing, perhaps, and the similarity btwn flying foxes, siamese algae eaters, and false algae eaters confuses everybody :? !! Some are confused about Chinese Algae Eaters, too. This link does help, btw: http://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/

 

[webmoose]

Can you tell me the difference between:

Otocinclus affinis and Otocinclus huaorani. You said affinis is more common right? Are huraorani available at all?

TIA