What the heck, Otos??!

[J.Mcpeak]

www.otocinclus.com - Home of the Dwarf Suckermouth Catfishes (info worked for me)

Extractions>

Do otocinclus like salt in the water?
(Could be relevant considering our conversations elsewhere)

No. Otocinclus come from the freshwater orinoco river system in the amazon, which has zero salt in the water. It is actually very soft water. They are the same as corydoras species in this respect. They should not be kept in brackish water conditions or extremely hard water.

It seems that algae is the preferred food of otocinclus catfish. If they ignore all the other types of food you offer in the tank, there is a chance they may be getting enough from the algae itself. It's a good idea to first give them a while to notice what you've left in the tank as food, don't remove it right away. But as always, let their tummies be the guide!

My input,
Increase the photoperiod, if you have any algae busting measures in place remove them. Most of the time we try to stop algae growing, just reverse the process. More plant food etc.
Otto should live around 4 years by my experience.

(4tanks2day, YouTube, my fish house (1:59)) ancient vid!

 

[threnjen]

Thanks J. I have exceptionally soft water, so at least that parameter matches. I never take out added food until it Mills so they have definitely had the oppirtunity!
I could try increasing photo period, although in past this just grows green algae on front glass that they then ignore. Plus I am getting BBA So I'm nervous about now algae. I wish they ate BBA!

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[threnjen]

Not Mills, molds. Who is Mills and why does my phone capitalize it?

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[J.Mcpeak]

Auto spell

Now that would be a popular thread! Who hates the auto spell?

My real hate, it has absolutely no fish terminology whatsoever, it can learn though.

Pis ivory (piscivore) that's my favourite.

Hypostomus plecostomus, is hippo stomps (something something) I can't blame it for Latin, I mean who uses that? Technically it isn't English.

Not sure what light controller you have? 15 minutes makes the difference for fine tuning, you may have a more accurate method on station. The only trouble is it takes a week to see the difference so it can (and it really does) get quite frustrating. Once you're tuned in though, it's perfect.

Are there any competition fish? Cory or plec etc?
They share the same food, the Cory will most certainly consume it before it even grows, I'm not sure but I think the constant foraging of them stops or seriously reduces growth.

 

[J.Mcpeak]

I said nice one, bruvva!

Not Mills, molds. Who is Mills and why does my phone capitalize it?

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Mills,
(Spoken in a welsh accent)
"I know millsy, millsy from the docks"

Quoted from human traffic. One of my all time top films ever! (England in the 90s if you were a clubber, seriously cultured comedy about the lives of a few young club go-ers)

So accurate in many ways it's almost like a documentary.

 

[Grumble69]

I had a similar experience recently. Nobody has had them locally for a few weeks. They get bought up quick. I happened to be in PetSmart and a batch had just come in. So I got 6 of them with the hopes that I would at least get 4 that survived.

My tank is 29g and I had converted it to a planted tank back in early Jan (it's not a brand new tank). I have a nice layer of diatoms on a lot of plants along with other algae. I also had zucchini round with part of an algae wafer nearby. Despite being gentle and doing a slow transition with the lights off that day, 2 died in the first 24 hours. I had hope for the remaining ones though. They would hide when the lights were on, but were coming out when they were off. I'd spot them on leaves & such. But I could tell they weren't doing more than nibbling here & there on the diatoms. After about a week, I was down to just one Oto (day by day attrition).

He's doing great now though. His appetite has kicked in and he has been going to town on the diatoms. He is also less skittish. Some fish seem to acclimate pretty quick. But I'm thinking Otos are just more fragile during this process.

I'll be trying my luck with an online purchase this week. I was wanting to avoid that because I figured it would be more stress. Now though I'm thinking the key is to get a better quality stock that has hopefully acclimated to the seller's tank before moving to mine.

 

[PerfectDepth]

I love otos. In my experience, they're not any more delicate than the other similar scaleless species as long as they are healthy to begin with. When they are captured, their gut flora may die off, and they can't digest their food without it. If they've been in the store's tank for a while, you'll have a better survival rate. Look for active fish with good color and plump bellies. The sad truth is that some of them just won't make it, even if they survive at first - if they can't replenish gut bacteria, they'll starve.

Blanched zucchini slices were mentioned - they also seem to really like green beans, which are really easy since you can get a bag of frozen french-cut green beans and throw a few right in the tank.

 

[GodFan]

Do you have driftwood? I do not recomend ottos without driftwood. I lost some hefore I got drifteood. After I got it I have lost very few!

Kinda unrelated but a guy in my area brought some green ottos back from a trip to africa. Or south america cant remember lol they are pretty awesome!

 

[PerfectDepth]

Do you have driftwood? I do not recomend ottos without driftwood. I lost some hefore I got drifteood. After I got it I have lost very few!

That's interesting. The guy at my lfs mentioned they can get the gut bacteria they need from wood, especially when there are other healthy otos in the tank.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

I have 12 ottos in my tank and it seems that once you get past the first month you will rarely see random deaths.

 

[GodFan]

That's interesting. The guy at my lfs mentioned they can get the gut bacteria they need from wood, especially when there are other healthy otos in the tank.

That would make sense. I just assumed they ate it like plecos lol

 

[fishyfriends3]

Interested in this thread as I just got my first otocinclus in years and years a few days ago. I'm happy to report everything is going swimming well so far.....

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[threnjen]

Tons of driftwood. Tank isn't new, so lots of biofilm.
Hard to assess color on a grey fish

Sigh, I just hope I have 4 left after all of this.
I'll try the cucumber tomorrow I suppose. I probably have some green beans in the freezer too.

 

[Luananeko]

Hey, a fellow Portlander! I definitely recommend trying Wet Spot's otos, all of mine are from there and I haven't had any random deaths. They sometimes have Zebra Otos too, which look much cooler than the standard ones and seem a little hardier and less shy. They're a bit more spendy though.

Also, I'd avoid otos entirely if you have sand in your tank. I had a problem losing otos for a while in my 20 gallon long (black sand substrate) because they kept ingesting sand and getting blockages. In my 75 gallon planted (gravel/eco complete substrate) they do great.

Edit: Oh, and do make sure to QT the otos long enough to run a treatment of anti-parasite meds if you go with Zebras... The Zebra otos are wild and can be flukes carriers. I forgot to QT one and lost all my guppies thanks to the buggers... The otos weren't affected at all.

 

[KingMaddog]

Random question. How many Otos should I have in my 29 gallon tank? I have one in a 5.5

 

[threnjen]

Hey, a fellow Portlander! I definitely recommend trying Wet Spot's otos, all of mine are from there and I haven't had any random deaths. They sometimes have Zebra Otos too, which look much cooler than the standard ones and seem a little hardier and less shy. They're a bit more spendy though.

Also, I'd avoid otos entirely if you have sand in your tank. I had a problem losing otos for a while in my 20 gallon long (black sand substrate) because they kept ingesting sand and getting blockages. In my 75 gallon planted (gravel/eco complete substrate) they do great.

Edit: Oh, and do make sure to QT the otos long enough to run a treatment of anti-parasite meds if you go with Zebras... The Zebra otos are wild and can be flukes carriers. I forgot to QT one and lost all my guppies thanks to the buggers... The otos weren't affected at all.

Ah, great, thanks! I will try Wet Spot next time I need a batch then. I got all of these from World of Wet Pets. I hope they don't source from the same place.
No sand, but that is excellent to know.
The common otos are wild too, aren't they? Or does Wet Spot have tank bred?

 

[threnjen]

Random question. How many Otos should I have in my 29 gallon tank? I have one in a 5.5

5 maybe? I wouldn't have 1 alone, they are social and like to have friends.

 

[Luananeko]

Ah, great, thanks! I will try Wet Spot next time I need a batch then. I got all of these from World of Wet Pets. I hope they don't source from the same place.
No sand, but that is excellent to know.
The common otos are wild too, aren't they? Or does Wet Spot have tank bred?

Sometimes Wet Spot has tank bred ones, sometimes they have wild. Looks like the batch they have currently are wild. I don't know where World of Wet Pets sources theirs, but they typically do have different sources than Wet Spot. Also, Wet Spot seems to have healthier stock for the most part... Very rarely have sick fish from them, compared to Wet Pets where they have the occasional (not too often thankfully) dead fish in their tanks.

 

[Mcgolg76]

I know this may sound but mine ignore the algae pellets but go absolutely crazy the second I drop the shrimp pellets in the tank. Even to the point water they try to chase away my loaches who are much bigger then them. Since I have started the pellets in feeding I haven't lost a single Otto

 

[PerfectDepth]

Hard to assess color on a grey fish

Look for good contrast and a well-defined dark black stripe. The black stripes along the sides can look kinda faded when the fish is unhealthy or stressed.