ottos keep dying.

[bosshogg]

I have 90 gal. Planted tank. Its coming along fine,But I got six otto cats and three have died. I replaced 2 and now have 4 ottos and I also got 2 fork-tailed rainbows. The ottos just seem to be dying off slowly. Havent even had them for 3 weeks. Ph is fine and everything else seems normal. Could I just have lame fish, or am I doing something wrong? They seem to be cleaning the rock and plants normally. But they also stick to the glass most of the time. Not very active.

 

[SKB]

How long has the tank been set up? Is Ammonia and Nitrite at 0 and Nitrate around 10-20? Do they look healthy when you buy them? How did you acclimate the fish? Are you feeding the fish anything extra or just algea?

 

[aqua_chem]

Otos do that. They're actually rather hardy fish if they survive the first two months. I heard a theory once that their tendency to die early on in due to disturbances in their stomach flora during transit and shipping that prevent them from properly digesting food.

All you can really do is slowly introduce them (I drip acclimated, probably unnecessary) into mature tanks (ie lots of biofilm and goodies on the walls) and hope for the best. Always try to pick ones that are actively eating and/or fat in the fish store. A fat oto is a healthy oto.

 

[bosshogg]

They looked healthy. Algae rounds. Dont seenm to eat them. Started the tank 3 1/2 weeks ago. Got the ottos about a week ago. Ph is 7.6-7.8. Ammonia is 0. Nitrite is 0.25. Nitrate is 5.0.

 

[azmodan]

Otos usually do best in tanks that are several months old, as these mature tanks have a healthy layer of biofilm for the otos to eat. Most otos unfortunately won't really eat algae wafers. I'd probably wait a few months at least before trying again.

 

[librarygirl]

Otos do that. They're actually rather hardy fish if they survive the first two months. I heard a theory once that their tendency to die early on in due to disturbances in their stomach flora during transit and shipping that prevent them from properly digesting food.

All you can really do is slowly introduce them (I drip acclimated, probably unnecessary) into mature tanks (ie lots of biofilm and goodies on the walls) and hope for the best. Always try to pick ones that are actively eating and/or fat in the fish store. A fat oto is a healthy oto.

I agree with the above. Otos are notoriously hard to keep. I tried them once and they all died off within a couple of months for no reason. I gave up after that.