Otocinclus?

[Katto]

Has anyone been having trouble finding Otto cats lately? Are they only available at a certain time of the year? None of my fish stores have been getting them in for some reason, when they normally do. Even my Petsmart never has any and from what I hear, they always have them.

Hope someone can help me out. I'm really interested in getting some of these cute little guys.

 

[Homedog98]

Liveaquaria.com and HN1 and severum mama almost always have them.

 

[Katto]

LiveAquaria won't ship to where I am (Canada). Haven't heard of HN1, though. Do you have a link?

 

[Homedog98]

They're both members on this site. Shoot them a Pm.

 

[Katto]

I think they only ship to the US too. : (

 

[Homedog98]

That stinks. How far into Canada are you?

 

[severum mama]

Yes, we can only ship to Continental US.

Do you live anywhere near a Big Als or something?

 

[Katto]

I'm in New Brunswick, living near Fredericton. Not much for fish stores here. Petsmart, and a pet store called PetsUnlimited.

 

[Homedog98]

Do some searches on google shopping for petstores in your city... You'll be surprised at the results!

 

[Katto]

Pretty sure those are the only two that carry fish. I've tried looking around, but no luck.

 

[Homedog98]

Private breeders in the phone book?

 

[Katto]

The thing is, they normally have Ottos. But anytime I go, they never have any. Even after a shipment. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas why that would be? Seems weird to me.

 

[Katto]

Thing about Ottos is, I hear that it's very rare for them to breed in captivity and that they're normally wild-caught. Maybe that has something to do with it? Not sure.

 

[severum mama]

The thing is, they normally have Ottos. But anytime I go, they never have any. Even after a shipment. Just wondering if anyone had any ideas why that would be? Seems weird to me.

Often, otos don't ship well. It could be that your local shops are getting them in and then having heavy losses (if not DOA's).

Or, hopefully they are just selling quickly! Do you have a store that will order them for you? Maybe you could put down a deposit to hold some for you. Or, you could try ordering online, I don't know what online retailers there are in Canada though.

 

[Katto]

I tried asking one of the employees at PetsUnlimited and according to him, they weren't getting them in their orders AT ALL. I'll try asking about it again when I'm in town next. Maybe I can get them to hold some for me if they ever do get them.

As for Petsmart, I DID ask about them ordering some for me, but for some reason (I forget what the guy said) they can't. They only get what they get in their fish shipments and that's it. They're knuckle-heads there...I really prefer going to the other store, because they really don't seem to know anything and all their fish are in horrible condition.

 

[Katto]

Cool, so I called this PetsUnlimited place today, and turns out their order got delayed again. I asked them if they could hold some for me, and they said yes! Finally, I'm getting somewhere...

So they'll be giving me a call whenever they get them in. Hopefully it's soon. Just have to wait and see.

 

[meegosh]

I'd recommend getting almost double the amount you want. IME otos don't ship/acclimate well and they just seem to be sensitive in general. I got a batch of six from a LFS and only one survived the three weeks in QT. I got another batch of six and two survived the time in QT. So after 12 fish I have three left. I must admit the stock wasn't the greatest. Two had pop eye when I got them. I was able to clear it up in one of them but died shortly after.

 

[Katto]

Yeah, I've read a lot about that. Apparently they drop like flies within the first month of keeping them. I have a small QT tank prepared, so hopefully I can get a good amount to survive that first month.

Gotta actually get them first, though! I hope that some turn up soon. I'm bad at waiting. :/

Oh, and thanks for all your help everyone! I really appreciate it. : )

 

[James_in_MN]

It's my understanding that the reason the wild caught ottos are so sensitive is the method they use to catch them. I've read that because of how fast ottos are, they stun them with cyanide. That would explain why so many imports die.

All three of my ottos are still alive and kicking. Either they were in the LFS long enough that the sicker ones had already died off, or they were tank bred. Either way, I lucked out.

 

[Fishies86]

All my three ottos are still alive, no problems. I had seen them in the fish shop a couple of weeks before I bought them though, so I suppose if there were any losses, they would have occurred in the lfs before I bought them I'd seen them eating algae at the shop so I thought they'd be fine
The shop also taped up the corners of the fish bag. Apparantly ottos often wedge their heads into a corner of the bag on the way home. If the bags moving a lot, it can cover their gills and kill them. Try to get your shop to do that when you buy them. It might make a difference