Did I just get a couple of defective otto cats?

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pet smart , and most of the chain stores and walmart have most if not all tanks on 1 filter so if 1 fish is sick they spread it to the others many of these stores have sales people that know nothing about taking care of fish
try to find a small mom and pop store (lfs) in your area if it has clean tanks and healthy fish thats the place to buy even if It cost more , the chain stores are ok if you want non living stuff cheaper if they have what you need


I worked at a Petsmart
They use a huge sand bed as first filter and also use many UV lights to sterilize the water. As long as they are properly sterilizing nets and decor between tanks and the filter is running properly and the UV bulbs are running it's a pretty nice system.

But as with any store, they sometimes get sick fish. The only QT tanks in back can't hold too much. Human error can screw up this system.

A LFS may be a good option. But Ive been in a few that had horrid conditions.

Always research before you buy.

Take a very good look at fish in the tank AMD in the capture cup before they are bagged.

QT new fish.




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I have no faith in the sterilization techniques of the big box stores. I see them grab water from one tank and pull fish out of an other.


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I have no faith in the sterilization techniques of the big box stores. I see them grab water from one tank and pull fish out of an other.


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99.9% of the time when they do that the tanks are plumbed together so it doesn't make any difference.
 
I don't intend to hijack, but I recently got some Otos and they seem to be gormadizing on the biofilm. Since there is very little biofilm left, I was thinking of trying blanched zuchini and cucumber. Question is do you blanch the cucumber as well or wash, peel and serve is fine?
 
I don't intend to hijack, but I recently got some Otos and they seem to be gormadizing on the biofilm. Since there is very little biofilm left, I was thinking of trying blanched zuchini and cucumber. Question is do you blanch the cucumber as well or wash, peel and serve is fine?


That's a good question I'll be looking for the answer as well. I also read that you can grow algae for them by putting rocks in a bucket of water outside in the sun. We plant to try this once we run out of algae for ours to eat. (We have a problem in our planted 180 that's why we got them)


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Nice idea, but the algae may spread & thrive if there is an nutrient imbalance in the tank.
 
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