Otos and pleco ?

[Canary bird]

OK so after adopting 2 otos from someone leaving the island I'm fascinated with them, amazing little critters , at the moment they are in my 80 litre with some guppy fry and 5 bronze corys and get along fantastically, so my question is if I bought more (if I can find more !) would they be ok in my main tank with my common sailfin Pleco ? Or not ? (380/400 litres)

 

[flitabout]

The should be. Honestly as long as the tank is big enough for the type of pleco you have I haven't found a fish that doesn't go well with a pleco but that is just my opinion. That said otos are very shy and I almost never see mine once the lights come on.

 

[Canary bird]

The should be. Honestly as long as the tank is big enough for the type of pleco you have I haven't found a fish that doesn't go well with a pleco but that is just my opinion. That said otos are very shy and I almost never see mine once the lights come on.

Yeah my Pleco is a chilled dude, the little otos are cute they come up to the front glass when I'm sat watching them, even with the lights on .. They have demolished every tiny sign of algae or any other thing in the tank, I think the previous owners had a new tank with very little algae and not much knowledge of fish at all... I'm no expert but compared to them I am the bible on fish lol...

We don't get much variety here in Tenerife so when you get something different like the Otos it's cool.... And yes otos are different lol, most of the pet stores don't even know what they are ! Doh

Thanks

 

[Piratechest]

Do you have a lfs? Or just chains? Whenever I need something I can't find I have my lfs order it for me. I'd much rather do that instead of ordering online. Ask them for a Otocinclus Catfish if so. That should clear up any possible confusion.

 

[Canary bird]

Do you have a lfs? Or just chains? Whenever I need something I can't find I have my lfs order it for me. I'd much rather do that instead of ordering online. Ask them for a Otocinclus Catfish if so. That should clear up any possible confusion.

Ha ha... No chains I'm afraid ... Probably about 5 fish stores in the south of the island I showed a picture and the correct name but they were clueless !

 

[Luananeko]

Otos actually prefer being in groups, so the more the merrier as long as your tank can support the bioload My ottos were pretty reclusive and didn't hang out together when I only had two, but now that I have 8 (4 commons, 4 zebras) they're almost always hanging out in groups of 4 near the front. Sailfin plecos aren't really big on eating algae once they mature, so there shouldn't be any food competition between the pleco and the ottos.

 

[ScAreCroW]

Selection must be grim and slim for you than!

I just need to say if you have ottos and plecos you need to make sure you supplement their algae diet. Algae on your tank alone will not be enough for them. I'm sure you know that, but many don't.

Ottos are neat, I've always had them. Presently I have 3 and they don't really do much hah. They are a few years old now, just sort of hang out on my broad leaf plants (which they love by the way).

 

[Canary bird]

Otos actually prefer being in groups, so the more the merrier as long as your tank can support the bioload My ottos were pretty reclusive and didn't hang out together when I only had two, but now that I have 8 (4 commons, 4 zebras) they're almost always hanging out in groups of 4 near the front. Sailfin plecos aren't really big on eating algae once they mature, so there shouldn't be any food competition between the pleco and the ottos.

Yeah I know my Pleco hasn't cleaned the glass for a good few years, I've had him probably 3 years now, he too was adopted by me from bad owners who had him in a tiny hex tank with nowhere to hide and orange water ! so Now I know all his favourite foods, he loves steamed broccoli and cucumber, and shrimp wafers but buries his driftwood under the sand so I figure he doesn't want that lol...
Thank you .

 

[Canary bird]

Selection must be grim and slim for you than! I just need to say if you have ottos and plecos you need to make sure you supplement their algae diet. Algae on your tank alone will not be enough for them. I'm sure you know that, but many don't. Ottos are neat, I've always had them. Presently I have 3 and they don't really do much hah. They are a few years old now, just sort of hang out on my broad leaf plants (which they love by the way).

Oh it is very grim !

The two I have at the moment are great, and have started eating the nls sinking 0.5mm pellets as well as totally cleaning the tank, I also drop broken algae wafers in , it's lovely to see them on the glass, I dropped a small piece of driftwood in yesterday and they were both on it within minutes

I will let you know if I do source anymore otos , there must be some on this island !

Thank you

Ps what do you give your otos to eat ?

 

[Canary bird]

Shocked beyond belief.... Went to a pet store I forgot about ! And they had otos , singularly I might add in different tanks but all the same they had them so when I get back from my uk visit in a week I'm going in for some, probably clear them out I could only see 6 ! But I didn't want to get them yet as I'm away on Wednesday for a week so my husband will be looking after things ! And he's not as keen as me, so I will wait ....... But happy I found some

 

[Luananeko]

Congrats! If they end up selling out of the ottos in the meantime you could always try ordering them online. I've bought several hard to find fish online on aquabid and had zero complaints about the process If you go that route, check out Zebra Ottos, they have really cool patterning and are even friendlier than the regular Ottos!

 

[Pass_lake]

Ottos are cool. I have 3. They disappeared for about 6 months. I assumed they died. About 2 weeks ago they started appearing in the early morning. They hide behind a piece of driftwood during the day, i suppose

 

[ScAreCroW]

Ps what do you give your otos to eat ?

I feed mine algae pellets. Broken up into quarters. They usually aren't very interested though, they mostly just munch on algae on my broad leaf plants.

 

[Canary bird]

Congrats! If they end up selling out of the ottos in the meantime you could always try ordering them online. I've bought several hard to find fish online on aquabid and had zero complaints about the process If you go that route, check out Zebra Ottos, they have really cool patterning and are even friendlier than the regular Ottos!

Online .... I wish ... Tenerife is way behind everywhere ...

 

[Canary bird]

I feed mine algae pellets. Broken up into quarters. They usually aren't very interested though, they mostly just munch on algae on my broad leaf plants.

Thanks, they really seem to like nls sinking pellets and algae wafers too, so that's ok At least I know they won't starve