Acclimating ottos

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Hubert90

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 14, 2011
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Location
Perth, Western Australia
Went to my LFS this morning and brought 3 ottos! In the past ive being doin the old acclimating method, floating the bag method, but Ive read that dripping method is alot safer and better way to acclimate fish! So here I am :) I hope I'm doin it right! I tied 2 knots in the air tube allowing for 1 drop per second. once the water in the bucket doubles I'll half it and repeat the process until it doubles again! At this stage I believe its ready to be introduce. So I'm gonna net them out and introduce them into my 10 gallon. Im leaving my lights off for 4 hours after introduction. Is that too much? (I do have plants so I want to reduce the lights off period to as little as possible)

Here's a few pic
 

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jetajockey said:
sounds fine to me. I just temp match and add my new fish. I've done a lot of drip acclimating and plop-n-drops and I've not noticed much of a difference personally.

Ya I wanted to take precaution with ottos as ive read they have one of the lowest survival rate of all fishes. I'll be so proud if all 3 of them make pass the first few months!! Haha
 
jetajockey said:
They do, but I think the most important thing is picking healthy ones at the store. I've had a great success rate with the ones I picked up last year.

O ok ya. I did some research before buying. But I can't tell what they mean buy round belly. So I picked the ones with smooth bellies. And do u feed it's wafers? How often? I hope this isn't going off topic
 
jetajockey said:
Mine eat veggie wafers but not algae wafers. The type of veggie wafers they eat are very vegetable heavy.

I have the hikari algae wafers. There's not much "meat" content so I'm hoping they will eat them. My Lfs also feed them wafers not sure wat brand and they said they do eat them. Not sure if I should believe them but that Lfs hasn't failed me yet (livestock wise)
 
Is it normal for my ottos to dash around rapidly occasionally. And here's a pic of one of my ottos is it healthy?
 

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Hubert90 said:
Is it normal for my ottos to dash around rapidly occasionally. And here's a pic of one of my ottos is it healthy?

Good move drip acclimating. I do that for all my fish no matter how "hardy" they're supposed to be. I actually find it's easier to do, less work, and I feel better knowing it's the best way to move them to their new home.

I was also told that they have an extremely high die-off rate, so I got 7 of them for my 48 gallon expecting maybe only 4 to survive. With the drip acclimation and nice portion of diatoms I had at the time...all 7 are healthy, happy and fat. I'm actually giving some to a friend next week to make sure there is enough algae in the tank since they don't seem very interested in algae wafers.

Yours look good, and it's perfectly normal for them to zip all over the tank. Mine actually stick together quite often and swim around as a 7 member cleaning crew. Theyve actually my favorite little fish in the tank.
 
eco23 said:
Good move drip acclimating. I do that for all my fish no matter how "hardy" they're supposed to be. I actually find it's easier to do, less work, and I feel better knowing it's the best way to move them to their new home.

I was also told that they have an extremely high die-off rate, so I got 7 of them for my 48 gallon expecting maybe only 4 to survive. With the drip acclimation and nice portion of diatoms I had at the time...all 7 are healthy, happy and fat. I'm actually giving some to a friend next week to make sure there is enough algae in the tank since they don't seem very interested in algae wafers.

Yours look good, and it's perfectly normal for them to zip all over the tank. Mine actually stick together quite often and swim around as a 7 member cleaning crew. Theyve actually my favorite little fish in the tank.

Ya drip Acclimation made me felt good :) Im hoping all mine survives because I'm already in love with them!! All three are so energetic and filled with personality!!

What temp is ur heater set at mine is set at 80F, wondering If that's too much for ottos!

U are gonna have fun catching ur ottos! They are so speedy!!
 
eco23 said:
Good move drip acclimating. I do that for all my fish no matter how "hardy" they're supposed to be. I actually find it's easier to do, less work, and I feel better knowing it's the best way to move them to their new home.

I was also told that they have an extremely high die-off rate, so I got 7 of them for my 48 gallon expecting maybe only 4 to survive. With the drip acclimation and nice portion of diatoms I had at the time...all 7 are healthy, happy and fat. I'm actually giving some to a friend next week to make sure there is enough algae in the tank since they don't seem very interested in algae wafers.

Yours look good, and it's perfectly normal for them to zip all over the tank. Mine actually stick together quite often and swim around as a 7 member cleaning crew. Theyve actually my favorite little fish in the tank.

And I have diatoms now and need them! Your ottos are coming to the beach... Thanks Eco
 
Hubert90 said:
Ya drip Acclimation made me felt good :) Im hoping all mine survives because I'm already in love with them!! All three are so energetic and filled with personality!!

What temp is ur heater set at mine is set at 80F, wondering If that's too much for ottos!

U are gonna have fun catching ur ottos! They are so speedy!!

I've got my heater set around 76-77 because it's a good middle ground for my community tank. I believe Otos have a pretty wide range of temps they can thrive in. On liveaquaria they list temp ranges as 74-79 degrees as ideal.

It's funny how fearless they are. Other than my RCS, they're the ones I worry about during gravel vacs...I can reach in and poke them with a finger and they're just like...whatever, lol.
 
Deckape said:
And I have diatoms now and need them! Your ottos are coming to the beach... Thanks Eco

Tell me when and where brother. If I let Julie near Short Pump Town Center it's gonna need to be near pay day, hahaha! Either during next week or next weekend is ideal for me. I'm ready to eat some BBQ and drink a couple. Maybe we can teach 1 to steer, 1 to work the gas and the other the brake, and they can drive you back to the beach, lol.
 
eco23 said:
Tell me when and where brother. If I let Julie near Short Pump Town Center it's gonna need to be near pay day, hahaha! Either during next week or next weekend is ideal for me. I'm ready to eat some BBQ and drink a couple. Maybe we can teach 1 to steer, 1 to work the gas and the other the brake, and they can drive you back to the beach, lol.

Gotta figure out the logistics and how to keep them alive during the trip. Then we can have a sammich and brewsss
 
Deckape said:
Gotta figure out the logistics and how to keep them alive during the trip. Then we can have a sammich and brewsss

I'm thinking I've got a small cooler I can donate, I'll stick them in a good sized bag in there with some plant sprigs to keep them entertained. It may be a good idea for you to set up the same type of drip acclimation as the OP and have it set to go when you get home.

Sorry to hijack the thread! But I guess if you ever need to travel with them...that part would be on topic, lol.
 
eco23 said:
I'm thinking I've got a small cooler I can donate, I'll stick them in a good sized bag in there with some plant sprigs to keep them entertained. It may be a good idea for you to set up the same type of drip acclimation as the OP and have it set to go when you get home.

Sorry to hijack the thread! But I guess if you ever need to travel with them...that part would be on topic, lol.

Yea sorry
 
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