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Nano Walstad tank startup

I caught 57 shrimp in total out of the otto fry tank :) Honestly, it looked empty I would have never said there were so many in there. Also, I wonder how many shrimp I had in there prior to emptying the tank because I had moved out tons of them already.

Anyway......this picture is so gross, I had to put it up :)
So far I've been growing an algae factory, a snail factory and I even saw fresh water limpets appearing which I haven't had in 2 years. All of this without one bit of fish food, just the constant zucchini slice inside which gets replaced promptly after a couple of days.

The otto fry is inseparable with it's poop :) I think it's around 1 month old now. It's getting ticker and ticker.
Today I blocked the gap behind the internal filter frame in the tank I intend to put this otto in.....just in case....
I'll have to wait with the move because I made a big mess trying to clean the never cleaned before 2nd filter which is a trickle filter planted with emersed tropical plants and I want to make sure the water quality is fine in there.

DSCF6652_zps315e0094.jpg
[DOUBLEPOST=1403896619][/DOUBLEPOST]Oh, and I forgot, I found a fish egg in my other tank inside the powerhead, it was viable looking so I plopped it in the otto fry tank. I am not sure what it is, could be a cory egg that didn't get promptly eaten as usual or a forktail rainbow egg.
I may have jinxed it though because I cleaned the filter, stirred up a lot of junk and tried to siphon the floating detritus so the egg may have been unlucky and gone down the drain, I hope not.
 
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Well guys, I finally got brave yesterday and moved the oto fry to another tank. I just scooped him out and dropped him.

I had a disaster happen prior to it. The trickle filter of the same tank I moved the otto to was trickling water down the light unit cable, straight into the socket inside the cabinet! The importance of loop!! That's the 2nd time it happens to me.
All electricity went down yesterday evening including in all 5 tanks and I knew where to look for the problem this time...

I found the water, it wasn't too bad and I managed to fix the problem of the electricity failing to start after unplugging the problematic devices. There was water in two plugs and I replaced them. Anyway, this killed the light unit in that tank as it was the main one causing the problem. It is a very very old Chinese unit integrated into the hood. So now I am short of lights and have to move a light unit between tanks until I buy yet another light unit.

However, one of the filters in where the otto fry had failed to restart without me noticing for a while and by the time I managed to fix it which was the powerhead inside getting some filter floss on it, I had made an awful mess in the tank.
I first did a water change but then just bit the bullet, waited for the otto to reappear and straight next door he went.

So he is now in his new temporary or permanent home, yet to decide.
The otto was at first spooked by the higher flow as the tank is a tad overfiltered but I think he's getting the hang on things and learning where it's ok to hang himself upside down on the glass.
I think ottos are way tougher than one may think.

Well, here is him shiny self:

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and a better glimpse of his new habitat. I love this brown play sand.
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Thanks GF2. I was very lucky indeed. With so many cables around it's not impossible to have an accident but this time I took extra preventative measures and I blocked the holes in the cabinet so water can't drip from outside. It's always this stupid trickle filter and I was fiddling with it the other day for maintenance and I must have caused it then.

I hope the otto will be ok in the new tank. Time will tell. He tends to disappear in there because of the décor but comes back to the front glass often as usual.
 
Thanks Troi, I didn't do much at all.
The otto fry was really an easy one so far to be honest but I was lucky to have a diatom outbreak and he went for the zucchini immediately. Then green algae of some sort appeared on top of the diatoms so he kept munching. And after moving all the shrimp to the 2nd tank I got a second diatom outbreak lol and he's in there now. This little otto was really lucky as I hadn't seen so much diatoms in years :)[DOUBLEPOST=1404513807][/DOUBLEPOST]Can you spot the otto :)
He does prefer algae on the glass now but at the very start he only seemed to eat the zucchini. He/she is so cute.

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Getting bored myself of updating this thread but for anyone reading the little otto is doing great in his new tank but doesn't go for the zucchini at all anymore so I won't bother putting it that often as that bunch of shrimp in there is crazy hungry.

The adult two ottos are doing great but no spawning yet though today I saw them cleaning leaves together and chasing and I got excited temporarily but didn't stay watching if they spawned or not.

I haven't got around of setting up the ex baby otto tank yet and my plants are still in a bucket, some now trying to grow emersed.
 
The otto doesn't actually touch the veg anymore. And I can't blame him not eating zucchini when " beef steaks" are growing on the glass :)

A month and a half old now.

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I think I am getting the hang on diatoms and know how to grow them, well kind of as its my first consistent effort. Overfeed the tank, keep light low enough for long enough, fertilizers in the water column, lack of plants and regular water changes just in case because of overfeeding.
 
The otto actually looks bigger on pictures than he is in reality. He's only about 21-22mm long and about 2-3mm wide.

How to raise otto fry :)

1. Pick the filthiest tank you have, preferably one that hasn't got a substrate vac in 2+ years.
2. Place 2 day old otto fry in it.
3. Uproot all plants, try to make as much mess as possible while doing so.
4. After water clears, catch all remaining shrimp and snails.
5. Unplug the filters
6. Go shopping
7. if baby ottos are still alive, plug back filters :)

If you pass step 7, then proceed:

8. Add two plants, add 3 oak leaves or similar.
9. Add blanched zucchini, replace every 2nd or 3rd day.
10. Leave lights on for 12hrs+, switch off when you think of it.
11. Change a bit of water daily carefully as to not to disturb the tons of mulm covering the sand. Add fertilisers occasionally to keep algae growing.

Results achieved: Algae factory, snail factory and happy otto :lol:
 
What I find interesting is that the algae, in the tank where I previously kept the otto fry, is fast receding on its own. I have a couple of platies in it at the moment to keep the filters ticking until I set it up but almost all algae has disappeared itself, only a bit left on the right side as in the picture below. And now I am even feeding food daily. Algae is odd, it ran its course it seems.

The diatoms are long gone but they got replaced by green sort of algae, I suppose green dust, which is also now almost gone. I have not touched the glass to clean it.

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A couple of pictures of the little otto below who's about 2 months now I suppose. He doesn't seem to be growing fast, or at least he's still way smaller than any otto I've seen in a shop. He refused to eat zucchini anymore. I presume he had enough of it when he was tiny, but I tried cucumber and he went for it, although not immediately. He is otherwise always polishing the front glass 95% of the time and isn't skittish at all, very used of splashing and water changes.
The adult ones have not spawned, not that I've seen but they seem to be doing great otherwise. It was quite warm so temperatures were up to 28C but they didn't mind.

Otto1_zps14091749.jpg


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