Oto behavior change

[Laser]

I probably won't get any answers to this question seeing as my last oto question wasn't answered, but I'll go ahead and ask it anyway.

I have 3 otos in my 55 g and after they finished cleaning most of the brown algae I began to feed them blanched cucumbers and zucchini. All of 3 of them were heartily eating the vegetables everytime I put one in the tank on a clip. I would always see them hanging from the vegetable all together.

Last week I noticed only two of them and no matter how hard I looked I could not find the third one. A week went by and I thought he was dead. Yesterday, I spotted him and he seems to be doing fine. He doesn't appear to be ill or anything.

He still isn't eating with the other 2 oto's. He won't even hang out with them. The other 2 are always in plain sight, but this one I rarely see. I'm considering getting 3 more otos or so to make them feel more comfortable. Is there anything else I can do?

 

[Bbush]

I don't know if ottos do better w bigger numbers. I know that some fish prefer company, but I have 2 myself and was under the impression they are fairly solitary. Having said that, my two are often w one another.

 

[hcourts]

I have always seen people on here comment about them being in bigger groups of like5 or 6 but I don't have any to tell ya for sure:/

 

[reefdiver]

I think they just pick different times to hang out. I have 15 in a 75 gal when they eat you only see 9 or 10 but they all hang out on the same side of the tank. I also have a 36 gal with four and most of the time you will only see 3 together.

 

[Laser]

Thanks for all of the replies guys.