# Otocinclus



## RiaHx (23 Oct 2018)

Hi all, 
My tank has been running for well over 2 years, I had losses at the start due to unbalanced conditions but all good now, I have 6 ember tertas, 7 ottos & 4 Amano shrimps, I need help with my ottos, I know they are very shy but I see no more than 3 at a time, also sometimes dart the tank when you walk passed, can anyone give me tips or advice on what I’m doing wrong or right? Thanks, R


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## RiaHx (23 Oct 2018)

Anyone?


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## Fiske (23 Oct 2018)

Having recently, for the first time in a large number of years, gotten a good sized group of otos; my experience is much the same. So I'm guessing it is normal.


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## RiaHx (23 Oct 2018)

What do you feed yours?


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## Fiske (23 Oct 2018)

Some off-brand algae pills from the LFS. They seem a bit reluctant with fresh veggies. Might try cucumber again, it seemed the thing that interested them most.


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## RiaHx (23 Oct 2018)

I can currently see 3 out of the 5 new ones, i have lost one I’m not sure if it is new or old one yes I give cucumber


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## tam (23 Oct 2018)

Mine react to sudden movement too, they seem more relaxed with lower light and like the early morning/late evenings when I have my lights dimmed right down or just low ambient light. Those tend to be the only times they shoal too. Mid day I see the odd one feeding but they aren't particularly active.

I mainly feed my rapashy solent green but they also eat hakari algae waffers and like decomposing leaves. A few weeks and I'll be collecting some oak leaves to try them on.


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## Majsa (23 Oct 2018)

How big is your tank? A friend of mine feeds her otos with algae wafers and I think hers take Repashy too, but mine won't touch them (or they get stolen by the Amano's before they get the chance). Mine take blanched courgette, red pepper and spinach (hers won't), I try to keep a small piece in a clip 24/7. I leave the piece in the water for quite a while (a couple of days), as sometimes they take the veg straight away and sometimes they wait until it is nice and slimy  My otos always come together at WC time, but I don't know if that's usual behaviour for them.


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## dw1305 (23 Oct 2018)

Hi all,





Majsa said:


> I leave the piece in the water for quite a while (a couple of days), as sometimes they take the veg straight away and sometimes they wait until it is nice and slimy


I've found that they like softer veg. as well. 

cheers Darrel


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## fishbro (23 Oct 2018)

I just got some otos today myself for the first time. Tank is pretty bad with algae and they are already going to town on it. I have one that doesn't look good at all though, seems pale and barely moving (breathing fine though). Could just be the shock, not really sure, but keeping a close eye on the little guy.

At most I see about half of them, it seems quite normal for them to go and hide


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## AverageWhiteBloke (23 Oct 2018)

Strange things aren't they, they all seem to have individual preferences. I had 9 I think from memory but generally I will only see tops 4 or 5 if I look hard for them and they are not switching about too much. A week ago I just happened to be sitting watching as you do and realised there was 8 on show, based on that there's nothing to say there still isn't 9 in there and they're all a couple of years old. I put cucumber in once or twice a week and most of them seem to appreciate that although other seem to ignore it. I also feed Hikari mini wafers which some munch on although I have hit the same problem as @Majsa where my Amano take off with the wafers as well so I bought some Tetra Pleco spirulina wafers which are too big for the Amano to carry off, mixed results really, I do see ottos on them but not what you would call going mad for it. 

My Ottos are only kept with shrimp so nothing to spook them fish wise so I guess they are secretive by choice rather than necessity, I also see more of them early in the morning just as light is coming up rather than when the tank light is on, you can just make them out on the glass. The problem i find with these creatures is they graze non stop 24/7 on soft algae so most of our tanks are probably too clean for them. When I first introduced mine I had a good mist coating of algae on most surfaces including the glass and they had it stripped to gleaming in a couple of days, you could even see the trail marks on the glass where they had been. I would say if you're bothered about if they are getting enough food your best bet would be to put a pebble in a window with some water covering it and let an algae film build up then put it in the tank.

I never put any cucumber in the tank for a couple of weeks thinking they will be find with algae wafers then noticed there was one sitting on the heater cable looking a bit emaciated, looked like it was on its last fins to be honest. Immediately put some cucumber and can't see this fish again, only ones with full bellies. So either it died and the shrimp ate it, I'm looking at totally different fish or I just have some ottos that won't eat cucumber and some that won't eat algae wafers. Who knows with these PITA


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## mow said (23 Oct 2018)

I have four and i do not see them till the lights are off . Also i have never fed them once had them for four years.


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## RiaHx (23 Oct 2018)

Thank you everyone, I can see 4 of the 10 at the moment, I know it’s properly stress & there shy. I replace my cucumber every other day as I know they need food all the time, I put algae wafers in & frozen food for the fish I only have 8 small ember tetras & 4 Amano shrimps which stay together. I have done a lot of research on ottos just worried there not happy or disappeared or died.


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## Fiske (23 Oct 2018)

Trying cucumber again 
When I bought mine last week, the tank at the LFS had a silly "broken amphora" type decoration, and almost all the otos were inside hiding. I think they like living out of the spotlight. At least I see them more than my Hara jerdoni.


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## Hendre (23 Oct 2018)

Mine quite like blanched cucumber. Although only 3 in number, they're usually swimming around or at least visible somewhere. I believe naturally they live in massive schools near riverbanks and the likes, where it's easy to quickly duck into cover.


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## fishbro (23 Oct 2018)

Just to update my last comment, unfortunately the one I mentioned didn't make it. I can only infer that it was the stress of the move, the other 4 are fine and eating the algae in the tank, so will just have to keep a careful watch on them for a while.


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## azawaza (24 Oct 2018)

The trick with ottos is to carefully select them at the LFS. Because of their terrible living conditions in transit, you’ll need to look out for two things: 1) high activity; meaning that they swim fast when you try to net them 2) large belly; meaning that they are better fed than the rest.

The ones which survive your first month in the tank usually lasts quite a long time. Those which succumb, well I guess we have tried our best to provide the best environment possible.


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## rebel (24 Oct 2018)

Ottos like Mulberry leaves which they share with my shrimp. Try a blanched leaf or two.


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## Madhav (24 Oct 2018)

This is one fish I failed to keep them alive all the three times I tried. first time I introduced 4x after tank cycled and stabilized for more than two months in a two foot tank, they died one after the other
they always seem to graze on the glass and plant leaves but got skinnier and skinnier over few months and finally belly up. I tried all sorts of algae wafers but they didn't touch. I concluded CO2 is the reason for their poor health/performance after going through some posts in the forums. next I tried in 5 ft tank, same story there too, i cant even find the corpse. Finally i wanted to try in another 2 ft tank which was running for more than a year, they did exactly as first try, never touched fresh veggies at all. mostly visible and not scared. now they are off my list.


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## fishbro (24 Oct 2018)

Madhav said:


> This is one fish I failed to keep them alive all the three times I tried. first time I introduced 4x after tank cycled and stabilized for more than two months in a two foot tank, they died one after the other
> they always seem to graze on the glass and plant leaves but got skinnier and skinnier over few months and finally belly up. I tried all sorts of algae wafers but they didn't touch. I concluded CO2 is the reason for their poor health/performance after going through some posts in the forums. next I tried in 5 ft tank, same story there too, i cant even find the corpse. Finally i wanted to try in another 2 ft tank which was running for more than a year, they did exactly as first try, never touched fresh veggies at all. mostly visible and not scared. now they are off my list.



That's a shame  They are cute little fish but very fragile from the looks of it. Hopefully I won't have to add them to my list of "fish I will never buy again", the last addition to that was dwarf gourami


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## RiaHx (24 Oct 2018)

Thank you everyone, going to try cucumber & courgette see if they like one better than another, I know they hate algae wafers in mine no-one eats them in my tank. Has anyone got an reviews on spinach & kale & spinach sticks?


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## Konsa (24 Oct 2018)

Hi
I had 4 ottos for few years.Kept them in my 72l community high tech as a start for about an year then transferred them to 36l low tech shrimp tank where they bred few times but not many fry made it as they seem to vanish slowly at arround 1cm long(and 4-5weeks old)with pristine water and food abundance.Never foung the  reason why that happened as always thought the first weeks will be the dangerous ones.Now I have 2 left  from the 4 in my puffer tank after long ich treatment and high temps.
They are finicky fish.The first few weeks U have them in are crucial and is often few will be lost.But once they addapt they are pretty robust fish.They are not shy eaters once U get them used to the offerings.I always only fed Hikari wafers and nothing else.They are well in to them pushing in to get their share between corys and adult amanos all the time.It is best to establish one spot where U offer the  food. Once they taste it in water they are straight there.
If they have the hiding space they will hide as is only natural.Dont over think it.
Regards Konsa


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## RiaHx (24 Oct 2018)

I’m not overthinking I just worried there not eating much & theres now 10 of them, as I haven’t seen many of them


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## RiaHx (24 Oct 2018)

They are getting braver I have given the option of cucumber or courgette, proud mummy moment hopefully I will start seeing more & more of them


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## fishbro (25 Oct 2018)

Strangely enough one of my new ones just randomly died overnight. Was fine then gone! Down to 3 now, but I have seen them eating away at algae today so I'll keep a watch on them. Meanwhile I have bought some Amano shrimp as a backup. Can't see them either


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## Edvet (25 Oct 2018)

They are tough little blighters though, i threw in a bunch 5 or 6 years ago still some there


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## RiaHx (26 Oct 2018)

Update on Otocinclus we have 8 one with fat round belly? Is this good or bad? Need advice please everyone


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## Fiske (26 Oct 2018)

RiaHx said:


> Update on Otocinclus we have 8 one with fat round belly? Is this good or bad? Need advice please everyone


Fat as in well-fed or as in swollen?


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## RiaHx (26 Oct 2018)




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## Fiske (26 Oct 2018)

Bit hard to see the belly there though. It could just have a full stomach? Or maybe a bit egg swollen? "fat belly otocinclus" is a used search on Google, try to have a gander on the pictures. If the fish seems fine otherwise, I wouldn't sweat it.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (26 Oct 2018)

Other animals including humans gain energy from the grazers so a bull would spend all day eating grass getting very little energy/nutrition from it then we eat a small portion of the bull in 10 mins and get the energy/protein the bull took a long time to build up. same for say a Gazelle and a lion, it eats tons of grass all day the lion eats one gazelle job done for a while it's just the transfer of energy. Wow did I digress there haha.

The theory goes with these fish that their stomachs contain bacteria that breaks down the food they eat but what they eat is low in nutrition so they graze like say a cow would most of its day other than sleep time. If the fish doesn't have any food in its tiny stomach the bacteria in there responsible for breaking it down also dies off through starvation. It's said that these fish spend so long in transport and end up in the LFS in bare tanks with little or no algae so by the time you get them the bacteria has gone, regardless of how much they eat they can't break it down to release the nutrition and starve anyway which explains the high mortality rate even though they appear to be feeding.

If the fish stomach is in proportion to the rest of its body that's a good sign. females obviously look broader and fatter when carrying eggs but still relatively in proportion so I wouldn't panic. If they are out and feeding and not looking emaciated happy days. From what I hear the gut bacteria can be transferred from fish to fish so if you put some thin ones in with healthy feeding ones you can turn the situation around apparently.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (26 Oct 2018)

Just to add, the fish in the pic looks healthy to me. Shows good colour and good proportion. When they are not well they tend to lighten with a more pronounced stripe and it's usually their tails that are very thin from the stomach back when starved.


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## Konsa (26 Oct 2018)

Hi 
It all looks good.Keep feeding in one spot and U will start seeing them all there.8 is awesome tho.I started with 10.Few weeks after they were 4.Tried another 4 to bump them  up to 8 latest 4 went in few weeks and gave up .Unfortunately they have high mortality when purchased as most very stressed and underfed.I like picking specific  fish individuals in shops after observing them  for good 30-40 min(for that I get the look from salesmens and my girlfriend)  but still U never know.
All the best.
Konsa


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## RiaHx (27 Oct 2018)

Thank you everyone


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## RiaHx (27 Oct 2018)

It’s tummy is like this? Full tummy I just it?


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## Konsa (27 Oct 2018)

Hi
Yes thats one happy little fatty
Well done.
Regards Konsa


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## AverageWhiteBloke (27 Oct 2018)

Also a good sign with green faeces coming out. Non stop algae eating machines which is why they need added green stuff veg added. They strip the tank of soft algae in no time. 

Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk


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## Fiske (27 Oct 2018)

RiaHx said:


> View attachment 118959 It’s tummy is like this? Full tummy I just it?


Looks like a happy oto


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## Hendre (28 Oct 2018)

AverageWhiteBloke said:


> Also a good sign with green faeces coming out. Non stop algae eating machines which is why they need added green stuff veg added. They strip the tank of soft algae in no time.
> 
> Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk


Little machines they are! Wish they were big enough to survive with my polypterus


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## Oldguy (22 Nov 2018)

fishbro said:


> cute little fish but very fragile from the looks of it





azawaza said:


> carefully select them at the LFS


Those in poor health seldom pull through though they are the easiest for lfs to catch. Some hide some don't. I keep mine with whiptails & giant otos and the they take the rough with the smooth. Like cucumber especially when slimy. Always give them the slimy first slice. Never remove it from the tank until only the skin is left. Will often graze on plant leaves that are dying back. Quality water but not prissy about tank appearance. At night will graze on the front glass of the tank. Again not over clean, it has a nice slippery feel to it. Bio films are good news for these guys.


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