# My Otocinclus catfish breed



## becks (30 Jun 2020)

I’m amazed,

I was doing my weekly tank maintenance tonight; disturbing the detritus and water change.

whilst, pressing into my weeping moss...I saw a baby fish dart out of from the moss and attach onto the glass. I looked closer and realised it was a baby otocinclus catfish! Completely amazed as these are difficult fish to keep at the best of times!

its buggered up my maintenance as I was scared disturbing the moss and siphoning any babies up. .  it seems they live within the moss eating algae etc.

I always wondered why my Bolivian ram use to inspect my moss and pick at it every now and then.

I never knew my fish had even bred, the only difference was their behaviour changed by hiding within the growth and not sticking to the glass as much.  Especially as I have hard water living in Essex too.

ignore the detritus,  I had disturbed it during my water change.


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## si walker (30 Jun 2020)

epic!


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## Onoma1 (30 Jun 2020)

Congratulations. Its a difficult fish to breed! You must have fantastic tank conditions. I have only done this once (also by accident) with just one fish surviving.


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## becks (30 Jun 2020)

Onoma1 said:


> Congratulations. Its a difficult fish to breed! You must have fantastic tank conditions. I have only done this once (also by accident) with just one fish surviving.



I don’t test my water .  I just carry out weekly water changes siphoning what I can, clean the filter every few weeks in a heavily planted tank dosing el.  But it’s lightly stocked.

I’m really chuffed!


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## Majsa (30 Jun 2020)

Wonderful! How many big is your group of otos? That moss looks great!


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## becks (30 Jun 2020)

I have nine otos, when I first got them they use to be on the glass a lot, where as now they spend most their time within the plants etc


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## jaypeecee (30 Jun 2020)

Hi @becks 


becks said:


> I’m really chuffed!



I'm not surprised that you're chuffed. It's quite something, eh? How many adult Otos do you have in your tank? Is the tank well-established (at least six months old), at what temperature do you keep your tank? Does your tank have 'low' lighting? Plants? CO2? What did you feed the Otos on? Do the Otos have the tank to themselves? The list goes on...

Well done!

JPC


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## becks (1 Jul 2020)

L90 X W50 X H45 Rimless

Tank age:  Six months
Oto numbers: 9 or 10
Temperature: 22.5c, however with the heatwave, I saw temps of 25.5.
Lighting: Vivid RGB 2 at 30% my lighting cycle starts at 1600 until 2200
Heavy planted with quite a lot of weeping moss on the rocks
CO2 injection
EL dosing with a weekly water change: maybe the weekly water change spurred the breeding if the temp may have been lower or higher???
Tank mates: Bolvian Ram, Cherry Shrimp, Amano Shrimp, x2 Pearl Gourami, 10 Black Neon Tetra, 1 Red Whip Lizard tail catfish, 3 x Corydoras, 2 neon blue gobies

Feeding; algae tablet daily that vanishes overnight and I generally always have a cucumber in the aquarium. fluval bug bites for everyone else.


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## jaypeecee (1 Jul 2020)

Hi @becks 


becks said:


> L90 X W50 X H45 Rimless
> 
> Tank age: Six months
> Oto numbers: 9 or 10
> ...



Thanks very much for the comprehensive list. Are you using tap water and is your water hard or soft? Would you happen to know the KH and GH? It's just interesting to have this information as I know of no other person who has been successful in having Otos spawn in their tank. Perhaps they will spawn again? I also see that you have a Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish. Fascinating the way they shuffle around, aren't they?

JPC


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## becks (1 Jul 2020)

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @becks
> 
> 
> Thanks very much for the comprehensive list. Are you using tap water and is your water hard or soft? Would you happen to know the KH and GH? It's just interesting to have this information as I know of no other person who has been successful in having Otos spawn in their tank. Perhaps they will spawn again? I also see that you have a Red Lizard Whiptail Catfish. Fascinating the way they shuffle around, aren't they?
> ...



unfortunately I don’t know what my kh or gh is as I’ve never tested. However my water is hard, I’m in Essex. I’m hoping they spawn again, I suspect they take refuge in the moss. As I have lots of large clumps of it and I use to see my Bolivian inspecting and pecking at the moss, maybe he saw baby fry?? I’ve also noticed in the last month or so my otos stayed within the plants a lot more rather than being out on the glass.

the red lizard is fantastic, I enjoy watching them and their colour is unique, mine is darkish deep red colour.


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## rebel (2 Jul 2020)

Whenever this happens, it's a great event!

Can we have a fts? Keen to see what it looks like?


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## danj-uk (2 Jul 2020)

Congrats becks! I posted in my journal last month as had something similar, although yours looks to be a bit older 

We're also terrified doing water changes now, doing small changes to a 30l bucket and checking it 20 times haha


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## becks (26 Jul 2020)

Here’s some tank shots I have removed a hand full of moss on the side as it was weeping down to the substrate.

I don’t often see my otos due to how dense the pants are and all the hiding spots around the hard scrape.  Every now and then I  spot one, They do come out at night, I used a cctv camera to watch them.

I suspect they may breed again soon because, I did observe a oto following a plump oto  around near the bottom of the rear tail, and kinda like nudging the other fish.


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## rebel (27 Jul 2020)

Oh man, I wish mine were that Randy.

I have three longterm survivors (which is a first for me!) but they are pretty much seperate almost like they have their own territory in the tank. One hangs in the back all the time etc.

I do wonder whether shrimp eat fish eggs though. I have 100s of cherries.


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## becks (27 Jul 2020)

rebel said:


> Oh man, I wish mine were that Randy.
> 
> I have three longterm survivors (which is a first for me!) but they are pretty much seperate almost like they have their own territory in the tank. One hangs in the back all the time etc.
> 
> I do wonder whether shrimp eat fish eggs though. I have 100s of cherries.



I have cherry shrimp and two Amano shrimp, they mainly come out at night...a few Pop out during the day but it’s not often.My otos do swim around independently, it was just this behaviour I observed in the morning with lights off.

shimpiana Jones


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## jaypeecee (27 Jul 2020)

Hi @becks

I'm struggling to see the Otocinclus in post #13. Are they the little black specks on the white substrate at the front of the tank?

JPC


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## becks (27 Jul 2020)

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @becks
> 
> I'm struggling to see the Otocinclus in post #13. Are they the little black specks on the white substrate at the front of the tank?
> 
> JPC



You can't see any in that photo, the behaviour of my otos changed as the plants grew.  When I first added the otos they would stick to the glass, swim around in the open but the plant mass was alot less.  However, as the plants grew and the aquascape became dense, they stopped swimming in the open.  During the day, I may see one or two on the driftwood that runs along the centre of the tank or on some anubias leaves. At night, they will come out and stick on the glass etc.   Every day I put a 1" thick cucumber out and the centre would be gone the next day, which prompted me to set up a cctv camera to see what was eating the cucumber. It was otos and my redwhip lizard tail.  To my suprise the otos came out of the plant mass during darkness.  If I want to see my otos, I have to either check them out on the cctv or watch the tank early morning.


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## dw1305 (28 Jul 2020)

Hi all, 





becks said:


> However, as the plants grew and the aquascape became dense, they stopped swimming in the open. During the day, I may see one or two on the driftwood that runs along the centre of the tank or on some anubias leaves. ........Every day I put a 1" thick cucumber out and the centre would be gone the next day, which prompted me to set up a cctv camera to see what was eating the cucumber. It was otos and my redwhip lizard tail. To my suprise the otos came out of the plant mass during darkness. If I want to see my otos, I have to either check them out on the cctv or watch the tank early morning.


I've <"found this"> as well.

cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (28 Jul 2020)

Hi @becks

Thanks for your reply.


becks said:


> To my suprise the otos came out of the plant mass during darkness.



My experience is also that Otocinclus are nocturnal. But, their behaviour is curious. I sometimes liken them to moths - they appear as evening draws in, but are often drawn to the tank glass panel where lighting is brightest!

JPC


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## Binky (9 Nov 2020)

Hi there - wanted to post on an otocinclus discussion
I have two small tanks - one a converted 60l Biorb and the other a 60l Interpret - both tanks are ten years old
The only fish I have left in them are 2 otocinclus in each tank - they have outlived the cherry barbs and the peppered corydoras who all died of old age.
These otos are now 8 years old - they were originally bought in groups of 6 for each tank in 2012.
When my otos reach the end I am phasing my tanks out. But this is what brought me here to this forum. I have just realised these 4 fish have far outlived their expected lifespans by about a half.
I feed them on sliced courgette and an occasional piece of algae wafer - strangely enough the fish in one tank prefer algae wafer and the other tank prefer the courgette.
I love these wee guys and am quite happy to wait on them deciding when to go- but when?


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## Steve Buce (17 Nov 2020)

Great work, hope they breed again for you


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