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Are Otos more sensitive to Co2 than other fish?

My observations agree pretty closely with Darrel's - I have 12 otos in a 600l tank which is stuffed full of wood and leaf litter to graze on. I don't specifically feed anything else for the otos but they are outrageously fat from biofilm grazing and I see very little activity from them during the day. Highly active otos = underfed otos in my book.
 
That's a really informative article Darrel. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I've tried feeding courgette and also peppers to my Otos (I have two of the Hisonotus notatus) they don't seem to go for it though.

I use Fish Science mini algae wafers; they like those. The 5 Desmopuntius pentazona (Pentazona Barb) and also my three Corydoras habrosus (Salt and Pepper Catfish) seem to enjoy them.

I think that I'll get hold of some good leaf litter to hide away, a bit of a natural, wild corner. I have plenty of nettles available, as I have a planter with them in a corner of the garden. Do they need to be dried first? What about freezing them first to break down the structure?
 
markk said:
Couldn't agree more. Mine are well fed and are generally inactive during the day, only starting to move around when the lights are dimmed/off.
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Well, then mine have been underfed for 4 years and grown huge being underfed. I think that's not the way to judge things. Mine are quite active during the day although they really shine at night. They play rounds on the glass just like my clown loaches do, chasing each other, nothing to do with food or the lack of it I think.
 
sciencefiction said:
My ottos will not try eating vegetables if there's enough suitable algae in the tanks..
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Today i did put some blanched cucumber in my tank, the oto's don't even bother looking at it and graze around it.. Only the shrimps are interested a bit but more looks like curiousity than hunger. And the tank looks pretty clean by now.. But still there seems to be something in there for them they prefere above the vegies. 🙂 Quite interesting all those diferent experiences. Also did put some garlic in there and the shrimps seem to prefer that more. They realy seem to love it. My goldfish in the pont also love garlic.
 
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Mine have never been the slightest bit bothered by high CO2 even when my equipment played up and nearly gassed my other critters they were swimming around without a care in the world behaving quite normally. But mine have always darted up to the surface to gulp air even in my low-energy tanks which have always been very well oxygenated.
They posses digestive tract adaptations that allow them to "air breath" it's a diagnostic trait of the genus apparently. Loricariids are mostly facultative air breathers but I've heard/read somewhere that that may not be true of all oto species...in that some maybe obligate air breathers
 
I think a combination of things works for ottos.. driftwood, smooth round stones on the bottom, plants, leaf litter and some veg supplements when needed. I don't think I ever clean the glass in my tanks so it doesn't have to be an algae ridden tank glass, it's probably the biofilm and mine graze a lot on the glass due to being in tanks with just a few plants.

As for gulping air, mine do it extremely rarely. I might not see them for months or a year doing it. 4 of mine are in a tank next to my sofa so I see them all the time. I really love looking at them, that's why.
Maybe it depends on the species. I've got a few different ones for sure, the only one I can recall the name of is zebra otocinclus. But I have a lot of surface movement and flow in my tanks. Both tanks with ottos have trickle filters as well which could be playing a role. I've got very fast evaporation because of it which helps with oxygen exchange to an extent.
 
I do nightlight simulation with the RGB strip.. At night under a dim natural colored shades not always just blue - 10% capacity, i can see all. They are realy little rascals at night they interact more then during the day, chasing eachother and even making small jumps in the stream. I can regulate my pump got 40 litre and pump can push 600l/h. If i put it half power they go play in the stream. Seems to be a reflex which can be triggerd. 🙂 Even the shrimps like cruising around at night, rather than eating. Plants are resting at night like chain saws and they play or sit togheter on a wavy leave, surfing.

Go to the gray shades
http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorper.html

They are the most beautifull. And then devide the % under the 10% led capacity. Amazing!

Now that i come to think of it.. Maybe it is the sudden change in oxygen level when using high co2 during the day. Which result in different behaivor. Or the Ph fluctioations. Could be a interesting study. We all should make notes and compare. Haha..
 
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These are my 4 older ones during the day, normal behaviour. Two minutes after the video and a couple of them were gone to other parts of the tank. I don't see them often dosing on one spot for ages or not cleaning up. Some other people's ottos are probably plain lazy 🙂 Please excuse the tank state. It's my BBA algae ridden tank.



And it looks like the zebra otto kicked the other otto away from his stone 🙂
 
sciencefiction said:
Well, then mine have been underfed for 4 years and grown huge being underfed. I think that's not the way to judge things. Mine are quite active during the day although they really shine at night. They play rounds on the glass just like my clown loaches do, chasing each other, nothing to do with food or the lack of it I think.
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You're right of course - not the only way to judge it, but as you said later, there are other factors at play such as species, flow, temperature etc.

sciencefiction said:
These are my 4 older ones during the day, normal behaviour. Two minutes after the video and a couple of them were gone to other parts of the tank. I don't see them often dosing on one spot for ages or not cleaning up. Some other people's ottos are probably plain lazy 🙂 Please excuse the tank state. It's my BBA algae ridden tank.
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You think you're algae is bad - you should see mine at the moment🙂 After a week away with the family, I had some filamentous algae that was 12 inches long - much to my son's amusement. Judging by your video, I would (respectfully🙂) suggest that your ottos have to work much harder to find food whereas mine (all Otocinclus affinis I think - and relatively young) barely need to move to find a new patch to graze on. They also have virtually no competition at the moment, being the only fish in the tank.

Flow in this tank is also relatively high - no spray bar, just the filter outlet directed diagonally across the tank; so unsurprisingly they tend to congregate at the far corner where the flow hits the glass.

I had some success breeding oto's many years ago and the tank was always high flow/high algae - with no supplemental feeding.

regards

Mark
 
markk said:
and relatively young) barely need to move to find a new patch to graze on.
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That's my point. They eat all day long. And as far as I know ottos need to eat 24/7 to maintain their digestive balance/bacteria that helps them digest. If you've happened to buy an emaciated otto like I did, twice I might say, you'd notice they don't move around one bit, sitting on one spot refusing to munch on algae or any veg, and eventually starve themselves to death. In my mind an active otto is a healthy otto and mine have done well so far "being active". They also love playing in the airstone a lot, diving in and out of the bubbles. Also, ottos that spawn chase each other around the tank for hours.

But I would imagine a fish that overfed itself may need a "chill" time to digest all that. It probably applies to ottos too but mine as I said are not inactive during the day. The otto fry that I raised was munching 24/7 around the tank and a year later does exactly the same, eats all day long, light or no light, cleans the glass, plant, leaf litter, stones.. I call them water butterflies.

I've got high flow in both tanks by the way. The first with 4 ottos is at 12x only via filters plus a large airstone. I used to have an additional powerhead and one more filter for 2 years before, way overkill.
The other tank has a flow of 14x.
They certainly don't lack flow and oxygen in my tanks, both have trickle filters as part of the filtration. One is a completely open top. The other has all it's lids staying open permanently, including the lid for the trickle filter which I recently planted as well.
 
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Hi all,
sciencefiction said:
In my mind an active otto is a healthy otto and mine have done well so far "being active". They also love playing in the airstone a lot, diving in and out of the bubbles. Also, ottos that spawn chase each other around the tank for hours.
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I think we may-be at cross-purposes about how we define active. Yours look really good in the video, nice and plump and what I'd consider "normally" active. What they aren't doing is continually swimming around (looking for food).

That is pretty much how mine behave during the day, although I have much more heavily planted tanks, with large Amazon swords where they might spend extended time periods.
sciencefiction said:
If you've happened to buy an emaciated otto like I did, twice I might say, you'd notice they don't move around one bit, sitting on one spot refusing to munch on algae or any veg, and eventually starve themselves to death.
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I think once they are just sitting moribund, like the poor things you see in some shops, there is little hope of recovery.

cheers Darrel
 
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