otocinclus

[Furgan]

Hi guys,

For those of you that have had success with otocinclus, how long would you recommend for a tank to be established before adding these. I am feeding the tank with bactea ae to establish a nice bio film for the shrimp that will be going in with them.

 

[tam]

I think it depends how clean you keep the tank. If you turn up the lights and run them for a long period you'll get loads of nice algae/diatoms fairly quickly. Adding in some leaves or new wood also makes lots of tasty food fairly fast. If you aren't keen on farming algae then you probably want to wait a bit longer. Obviously that's just in terms of food, you want the tank to be cycled too.

I would either quarantine them or add them and then wait for the shrimp. That way if you do need to treat for anything you don't have to worry about shrimp safe meds.

 

[Furgan]

I think it depends how clean you keep the tank. If you turn up the lights and run them for a long period you'll get loads of nice algae/diatoms fairly quickly. Adding in some leaves or new wood also makes lots of tasty food fairly fast. If you aren't keen on farming algae then you probably want to wait a bit longer. Obviously that's just in terms of food, you want the tank to be cycled too.

I would either quarantine them or add them and then wait for the shrimp. That way if you do need to treat for anything you don't have to worry about shrimp safe meds.

Do you think I should pump up the lights then to make more food.

 

[tam]

If your goal is making oto food then yes, up the lights and that will grow it fastest, but if it's also a planted display tank and you don't want an algae farm then best to wait patiently. Otos consider a slightly grungy looking covered in diatoms tank a lovely buffet. You can also prep rocks/wood in a separate tank/water holding container in the same way - stick it on a window sill and grow some algae - takes a bit longer this time of year than in summer though. Then cycle them in/out of the tank to snack on and regrow.

I quarantined them successfully in a tank that was about 3-4 weeks old. Left it to grow diatoms/algae, added rocks and a piece of wood. At the same time left the sponge for the filter in my main tank, and then moved it over when I got the fish. So lots of natural food and a pre-cycled filter.