# Ottocinclus eating too much?



## ForestDave (3 May 2021)

Hi.
I sometimes put algae wafers down for my Ottocinclus, shrimp and snails. How long should I leave a wafer in the tank for? The Otto's seem to gorge themselves on them and then lay on the substrate doing nothing. I worry I'm over feeding them but don't want the much slower to react snails to miss out on a feed.
Thanks


----------



## PARAGUAY (19 Jun 2021)

I am new to Ottos l possibly may have had them before but cannot recall. Recently bought some when looking for a juvenile SAE. They were not on display but in a non public area in the shop . The owner saying they dont take well in the busy shop tànks . Reading posts on UKAPS I knew they are tricky for the first few weeks.
             Feeding wise they have done a good job of any green or hair algae but not to much hard to tell on the small tufts of BBA. Put some par boiled spinach in and within minutes they graze on it but dont touch courgette at all maybe they are well fed they look ok. I add wafers a mix for the corys anyhow but the ottos dont seem to bother maybe again they not hungry enough ? Corys boisterous so puts them off. Try breaking tablets up. Think fresh siutable greens might be way to go Then you can take out of tank before it pollutes. Still a bit wary of the first few weeks for mine but its heavly planted think this is helping


----------



## Sean Scapes (19 Jun 2021)

I recently brought 6 ottos i've had them for roughly 4 weeks now and I had one die but it was strange it developed a blood bubble near its rectum. My 5 remaining ottos don't really eat the algae wafers and there is plenty of background algae to keep them feed. I noticed they do like to rest for long periods on the substrate or attached to leaves in the flow of the pump outlet.  Algae wafers generally don't last very long as my zebra danio, and tetras like the nibble at it plus I have corydoras. I'm probably wrong for saying this but I think you should be fine if you filter is strong enough to cope with the breaking down of the organics. The longest i've seen one in my tank is about 2 hours.


----------



## Driftless (19 Jun 2021)

I have two small groups of Otocinclus cats in two of my tanks, I don't feed directly but let them eat algae and scavenge; I treat them like Amano shrimp and ignore them.  They are all very healthy and active.  Both tanks a very heavily planted one is a Bloody Mary shrimp tank where they are the fish in the tank and the other is a large tank that they share with Angelfish, Red Phantom tetras, and pygmy Cories.


----------



## dw1305 (20 Jun 2021)

Hi all,


ForestDave said:


> The Otto's seem to gorge themselves on them and then lay on the substrate doing nothing.


That is just happy _Otocinclus_ behaviour. When they are <"continually swimming around"> it just means that they are desperate for food and are willing to engage in behaviour (swimming) that is likely to lead to being eaten by a  predator in the wild. 

I'll give you an analogy, constantly swimming _Otocinclus_ are a person who has been locked in a bar at closing time, there is nothing to eat or drink available and the bar doesn't re-open for several days. After a while they realise they aren't about to be rescued any time soon and they start going around the tables, looking for left over soft drinks and searching the carpet for peanuts and crisp fragments.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Driftless (20 Jun 2021)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> That is just happy _Otocinclus_ behaviour. When they are <"continually swimming around"> it just means that they are desperate for food and are willing to engage in behaviour (swimming) that is likely to lead to being eaten by a  predator in the wild.
> 
> ...


Interesting analogy!  My Otos often hang on the side of the tank in a loose group.


----------



## dw1305 (20 Jun 2021)

Hi all, 


Driftless said:


> My Otos often hang on the side of the tank in a loose group.


I found that as well, often they would all be sat on Amazon Sword leaf until they evening, and then they would have aa swim around.

cheers Darrel


----------



## Wookii (20 Jun 2021)

dw1305 said:


> I'll give you an analogy, constantly swimming _Otocinclus_ are a person who has been locked in a bar at closing time, there is nothing to eat or drink available and the bar doesn't re-open for several days. After a while they realise they aren't about to be rescued any time soon and they start going around the tables, looking for left over soft drinks and searching the carpet for peanuts and crisp fragments.
> 
> cheers Darrel



I hope you’re not drawing on personal experience there Darrel? 😆


----------



## dw1305 (20 Jun 2021)

Hi all,


Wookii said:


> hope you’re not drawing on personal experience there Darrel?


Yes and no. 

You'll have to guess which is which.

cheers Darrel


----------



## ForestDave (20 Jun 2021)

Cheers! It’s a few weeks since I posted this and all my Ottos seem happy. It’s the first time I’ve kept them and am used to being worried if a fish sits down for any length of time. Good to know I was stressing unnecessarily.


----------



## Wookii (20 Jun 2021)

ForestDave said:


> Cheers! It’s a few weeks since I posted this and all my Ottos seem happy. It’s the first time I’ve kept them and am used to being worried if a fish sits down for any length of time. Good to know I was stressing unnecessarily.



The key thing is to keep target feeding them as you would with any other fish - don’t think they can maintain themselves on algae.


----------

