# Tips on feeding otocinclus



## FIsh i

Hi all had these great fish for just over three weeks and are really cleaning up the algae in my planted tank.i am adding algae wafers with the morning feed but my three plattys just munch it up so going to try when the lights go out,also going to try some veg Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
Justin


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## livewire

I feed my Ottos a slice of Courgette twice a week, soak it in a cup of hot water for a couple or mins and use something to hold it at the bottom of the tank (I use a metal skewer pushed through the slice of courgette) feed at night and remove any uneaten courgette within 24 hours. 

Ottos can starve if your tank has very little algae so be sure to feed them to keep them healthy, if your tank has a constant supply of algae they will be fine without the need to feed any thing else.


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## candymancan

My otto's do fine..   I have had 4 in my 55g forever, and 2 in my 44g pentagon and my pentagon hardly has any algae at all..  They eat the flakes that I feed my fish, I have slate stones in the tank and the flakes fall on them and the otto's eat them


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## eduard

Hi, my otos love spinach,peppers,cuccumber,sweet potato....... I let everything rest in cup of hot (boiling) water for a hour or so. I hang it on a side of my tank by one of those clips with sucker


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## tam

I was wondering if anyone feeds more fibrous leafy plants e.g. leaves from apple, raspberry, bramble etc. rather than fruits (cucumbers/courgette/pepper)? I thought they might be closer to algae.

Mine seem happy with algae wafers - Hakari ones are their favourite. Although I've seen them go for the shrimp food or too. Maybe go for the biggish disks so the other fish have trouble running off with them.


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## Edvet

When i use blanched courgette i notice the oto's are on the "peelside" more, while other fish prefer the inside more.


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## dw1305

Hi all, 
I have leaf litter in the tanks, and I feed them mainly Cucumber, Courgette and Red Pepper.  I used to stud the Cucumber with Astax Red crumb (from TA Aquaculture), but I've just added some Red Pepper for the last few years. They are quite long lived fish and some of mine are at least 4 years old. When I had more Loracariids I used to buy a Sweet Potato, and slice thin slices from it. The _Otocinclus_ would eventually eat it, and one Sweet Potato would last for several months.

Because I have tanks with braces, <"I wedge a bamboo cane under the brace"> and fasten the vegetables to the cane with an elastic band.  I now put the veg about 2/3 up the tank, and this reduces the amount eaten by the snails and _Asellus_. 

You could put the vegetables in just before lights out, and that should keep the Platys off.

Originally I used a cane because I noticed that the _Otocinclus_ liked resting on a vertical stem, just a little bit wider than their body. Picture in this post <http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/otos-30l-suitable.18613/>.

cheers Darrel


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## roadmaster

I keep some small smooth river stones on the bottom of the bird bath outdoors until they become coated with algae,
I then give em a quick rinse under the tap and place em in the tank for shrimps and about a dozen baby bristlenose.
Also feed em dried Sushi nori hung from veggie clip and fleshy side of banana.
Oto's I should think would also eat these.


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## EnderUK

tam said:


> I was wondering if anyone feeds more fibrous leafy plants e.g. leaves from apple, raspberry, bramble etc. rather than fruits (cucumbers/courgette/pepper)? I thought they might be closer to algae.
> quote]
> 
> Mine quite happily munch on leaf litter or at least the slim breaking down the leaves. Throw in a slice of pepper every week or so until it's just the skin. Never got mine to touch wafers.


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## tam

I was surprised when mine were so happy to eat waffers - I thought they were meant to be fussier - I wondered if they'd been eating them pre-purchase as they took straight to them and pounce on them now when I drop them in.


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## FIsh i

Great ideas guys thanks, veg clip is on its way.
Justin


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## sciencefiction

As far as I know ottos need to eat 24/7 to be healthy, So giving them veg a few times a week is not sufficient if the tank doesn't supply additional food for them to munch on.
So far I've figured that having round pebbles around the substrate helps a lot. They love munching on the algae that grows on them.  Otherwise my ottos are either outcompeted for fish food by other fish or they just don't like fish food. The best success as far as fish food goes, besides veg, was spirulina sticks. They seem to at least try going for them. I've had some of mine for 4 years and they are still going strong. And I have some others for about 2 years and one baby otto that survived a spawning but is now nearly a year old too.


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## FIsh i

Hey all
My otto's are loving the Courgette and red pepper I've been feeding them over the last few days.I'm going to keep a supply in there all the time?I'm thinking I need to switch it out every two days to stop the mush, could this effect my water quality?
Also I have frozen the said veg to keep it fresh over a longer period any more thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Justin


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## jameson_uk

My otos seem to love courgette but as they seem to getting more expensive and harder to get hold of I thought I might mix it up a bit.

They have never shown the slightest interest in algae wafers.

Talk here is only of red peppers.  Will they eat green and if so how do people prepare them?


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## castle

jameson_uk said:


> My otos seem to love courgette but as they seem to getting more expensive and harder to get hold of I thought I might mix it up a bit.



3 for a £1 at sainsbury's.
Grow like a weed in my  veg patch.

Try cucumber, but make sure to cut pieces at least 7mm in thickness, as thin slices fall apart.
Green peppers I use for my farlowella, 1.5 inch squares, I keep skin on, as I think it keeps it together. I don't boil before I put it in tank..I use a metal skewer, pierced through the fruit which keeps fruit from floating.


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## Onoma1

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, however, I wondered if anyone had any luck feeding Repeshly bottom feeder or Soilent Green gels to Ottos?

I have just added a few more Ottos to my main tank to (hopefully) provide a more comfortable environment for them (I now have 16). I have seen a dramatic snd positive change in behavior. 

While they eat cucumber, I understand that I should also suppliment their food as they are ommiverous in the wild. They are ignoring the gel based food or blood worms.  I wondered if anyone had any advice?


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## Edvet

Throw some stones (or wood) in some fert rich water under 24/7 lighting and put one in the tank after it has grown over with algae, then circulate.


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## Tim Harrison

Also take a look at this thread, there is some very interesting info on otos diet and feeding habits https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/the-correct-numbers-for-the-tank.51648/ and a link to this article originally posted by Darrel https://www.myaquariumclub.com/before-you-buy-otos-please-read-this-8507.html


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## jaypeecee

Edvet said:


> When i use blanched courgette i notice the oto's are on the "peelside" more, while other fish prefer the inside more.


Interesting observation. I've also noticed that some fish prefer the peel over the fleshy part of courgette. And, for other fish it's t'other way around.

JPC


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## becks

I just feed cucumber to my tank, I have cucumber available almost every day of the week.  I leave the green algae that covered some rocks, bog wood and even on some Anubis leaves.

my otos are breeding too, so it must be enough.  I only see them at night though, but my tank is planted and grown out.


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## jaypeecee

becks said:


> ...my otos are breeding too, so it must be enough.


Hi @becks 

Excellent! I fancy having a go at breeding Otos - perhaps Zebra Otos (Otocinclus cocama). I may purposely cultivate diatoms specifically for this purpose. Trouble is that there aren't enough hours in the day as I always have several projects running in parallel.

JPC


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## shangman

I feed my otos blanched courgette, pattypans (a sumer squash my mum grew experimentally which nobody else fancied to eat, otos loved it), kale and other thick leaves like raddicchio. I'm very lucky that I have an allotment so everything is completely  pesticide free. They get about 2 portions of veg/leaf a week, they usually ignore it for a day then go to town. I now batch blanch the bigger stuff like courgette and put it in the freezer so I always have something easy to feed and don't have to cook constantly for them.

They also LOVE dried green walnut leaves, and will eat the other dried leaves in the tank too, which I always have in there for habitat + backup food. They're quite fat, a bit like rugby balls, not at all the tiny things I started with, though they haven't bred yet.


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## louis_last

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @becks
> 
> Excellent! I fancy having a go at breeding Otos - perhaps Zebra Otos (Otocinclus cocama). I may purposely cultivate diatoms specifically for this purpose. Trouble is that there aren't enough hours in the day as I always have several projects running in parallel.
> 
> JPC


Given much thought to how you would cultivate diatoms? I've been thinking about this too.


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## jaypeecee

louis_last said:


> Given much thought to how you would cultivate diatoms? I've been thinking about this too.


Hi @louis_last 

I think I would take a sample of water from one of my friends' tanks at the local aquarist society once the current Coronavirus pandemic is firmly behind us. So, that would possibly be later this year. Then, I would add this water sample to a suitable container, fill with _tap_ water*, place in a well-lit location and wait, keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and I'd probably add a few drops of plant fertilizer.

* I'd probably test the tap water for SiO2

JPC


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## John q

Don't know how reliable this chap is (Thomas Harbich) but his website makes interesting reading. @jaypeecee 






						Diatoms
					

The cultivation and observation of diatoms are described. The focus is on observing the motion of pennate diatoms.




					www.diatoms.de
				




Feel free to tell me if the sites bunkum.


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## louis_last

jaypeecee said:


> Hi @louis_last
> 
> I think I would take a sample of water from one of my friends' tanks at the local aquarist society once the current Coronavirus pandemic is firmly behind us. So, that would possibly be later this year. Then, I would add this water sample to a suitable container, fill with _tap_ water*, place in a well-lit location and wait, keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and I'd probably add a few drops of plant fertilizer.
> 
> * I'd probably test the tap water for SiO2
> 
> JPC


Was wondering whether you had some method for cultivating diatoms specifically as opposed to other kinds of algae


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## jaypeecee

louis_last said:


> Was wondering whether you had some method for cultivating diatoms specifically as opposed to other kinds of algae


No, not yet!

JPC


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## jaypeecee

John q said:


> Don't know how reliable this chap is (Thomas Harbich) but his website makes interesting reading. @jaypeecee
> 
> Feel free to tell me if the sites bunkum.



Hi @John q 

Many thanks for the link to Thomas Harbich's website. It's very interesting and informative. I'm in no position to pass any further judgment on it as this is far from my area of expertise. Sorry if I gave a different impression. On the basis that diatoms readily grow in our tanks without any human intervention, that's essentially the approach I hope to take.

JPC


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## louis_last

jaypeecee said:


> No, not yet!
> 
> JPC


Damn. I was just about to link you to a website where I thought I'd found a promising lead on cultivating specifically diatoms - "www.sciento.co.uk". It looks like they've shut down since I posted my first message in this thread though which is a real tragedy. They had some cool stuff available for sale before now but one of the cladoceran species they sold was described as being "easily maintained on a diet of diatoms" which made me think they might have known of some way to cultivate the diatoms.


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## jaypeecee

Hi @louis_last 

All is not lost. You may find something of interest here:






						Phytoplankton
					

Quality fish food, brine shrimp, and equipment for the modern fish hatchery. Lab tested diets with excellent and reliable results.



					www.zmsystems.co.uk
				




They have all sorts of interesting stuff. I have bought _Roti-Rich_ from these people before and used it to culture Daphnia, Moina, etc.

JPC


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