# In praise of Otos!



## Ed Seeley (10 Aug 2007)

I've got one of the PFK cubes in my living room that I've always had problems with really.  It sort of splutters from one kind of ugly mess to another!

Anyway start of the summer holidays I decided to re-scape it and then start EI on this tank (as I just about have the time to keep up with 50% water changes on a 25l tank!).  The result of doing this was an explosion of algae.  Some had always been in the tank.  The BGA started to decline and the little bits of BBA are still there (but not getting any worse), but these minor problems were replaced by huge amounts of a filamentous mass of green algae.  Long strings of it were hanging and standing up in the water as it pearled!   

3 days after adding 6 Otos to the tank it has almost all gone!  They have ate and ate and ate until their bellies are so rounded that they look like they might burst!  I've always loved Otos but never appreciated that when there's lots of algae, just how much they can pack away in a short space of time!  In another couple of weeks the Marsilea and E.tennellus 'lawns' may even have filled in enough to warrant a picture.

The only problem...  The algae has been replaced by lots and lots of Oto s***!

They make my SAEs in another tank look very lazy!


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## jayne (10 Aug 2007)

I've got 16 ottos in my 95 gallon tank and I love them,they never stop


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (10 Aug 2007)

jayne said:
			
		

> I've got 16 ottos in my 95 gallon tank and I love them,they never stop



I love Oto's as well  I have about 4.  Go careful though, they need alot of food, 1 oto per 10 gallons is about the water volumn you need before you start adding food.  Mine love cucumber sunk in the bottom of the tank, as do my snails.


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## Moss Man (24 Aug 2007)

They are great litlle characters, my otos (RIP) never seemed to eat filamentous algae, maybe they were just lazy.


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## Arana (14 Nov 2007)

They must be popular, iv'e tried 3 LFS's and they have all sold out!


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## daniel19831123 (22 Nov 2007)

eds said:
			
		

> The only problem...  The algae has been replaced by lots and lots of Oto s***!



Eds, when you say this, do you actually mean that the otos breed in your tank or did you just get more otos?

The otos in my LFS is too expensive to purchase. The cost for otos in wholesale is no more than 50p each but they are retailing it at 4 quid each! They even sell 1" albino bristlenose for 9 quid each!


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (22 Nov 2007)

I dont think you can breed oto's in captivity... id love someone to proove me wrong though


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## Themuleous (22 Nov 2007)

I'll happily oblige there Matt 

http://www.fishforums.net/content/Pleco ... ic-141920/

http://www.fishforums.net/content/forum ... to-Babies/



Sam


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## Ed Seeley (22 Nov 2007)

daniel19831123 said:
			
		

> Eds, when you say this, do you actually mean that the otos breed in your tank or did you just get more otos?



Sorry no, I haven't bred them personally.  the s*** was replacing the 'hit' part of that particular word with three *!

As I imagine Sam's links show though they can indeed be bred in captivity, it's just a rather rare event.  I'd love to as I've bred Ancistrus and other fish, but apart from a bit of chasing I've never spawned Otos.


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## beeky (23 Nov 2007)

My ottos don't even socialise, they seem to completely ignore each other!


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## tgc (23 Nov 2007)

Just got 4 Otto's from the LFS, striaght away cleaning the remnance of algea of the slate.


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## daniel19831123 (24 Nov 2007)

just out of curiosity how much do you guys pay for an otos normally? I used to get 10 for 10-12 quid. but then they usually come straight from the wholesaler and don't usually do well in my tank. I might end up with 6 of it after 2 weeks.


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## Themuleous (24 Nov 2007)

My local  MA shop has them at the moment for 6 for Â£5 but I've seen them selling at Â£4.50 each in the same shop, go figure!  I do understand that they are nearly all wild caught and as such they are a seasonal fish, which would explain why they are a stupid price sometimes.

Sam


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