the correct numbers for the tank

[alto]

I can never get my Otos to eat anything vegetable
but when I feed frozen bloodworm it's like an Oto feeding frenzy
(I guess mine forgot to read the book )

 

[Tim Harrison]

I've often wondered about that @alto ...they're such a diverse group it's difficult to know which species you've bought and what their exact feeding habits are. I guess we could potentially rewrite the book if we knew for sure.

 

[castle]

I have had a bit of push back in the past online with my thoughts on otos, but I still stand by it.

In short, if you're buying otos, buy double the amount you planned on. They die heavily, well that's not always true, but you should expect some not to make it. Otos species get mis-sold all the time, you probably do not have O.Affinis.
Even when buying really healthy looking fish, some will drop off. I think most of the damage is done in collection/transit.

Otos will come round to eating vegetables, but to encourage it house them with other algae eaters, Farlowella work really well here. Otherwise your weaker plants might get damaged.
They're very hardy, once the weak have died. I find them to look more comfortable at 22° than 25°.

I have 7 otos in one of my tanks, it's a jungle I admit. I bought 12 for that tank, sadly. They did spawn, but nothing came of it. Maybe I'll put a bit more effort into them later this year.

Also, good article.

 

[castle]

Has anyone noticed a difference in the shyness of Otos in relation to species? It seems like the stripe, gap, tail spot ones I have are more out going than the solid stripe, but I don't have a big sample size.

Yep, vittatus (probably) is far more nervous than macrospilus in my experience. Much smaller too.

 

[alto]

what their exact feeding habits are.

I forgot to say, my Otos do love any sword plants I might care to provide, and the Nymphoides hydrophylla 'Taiwan' will be allowed to flourish, until, suddenly it becomes the #1 Favoured Dish

 

[tam]

I've been trying Rapashy solent green on mine, it's meant to be specifically tailored to aufwuchs eaters. They like it, although I don't think I've quite mastered the right cooking technique as mine doesn't gel very well.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

I watched this on youtube and will get round to making some one day. I use a bbq skewer to put my cucumber on and for some reason the ottos love rasping up and down it even when the cucumber has gone so maybe worth a try.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I use a bbq skewer to put my cucumber on and for some reason the ottos love rasping up and down it even when the cucumber has gone so maybe worth a try

A bit of bamboo cane for me. I'm pretty sure it helps with getting them acclimitised to vegetable food, because they really like resting on a vertical bamboo cane (it is about the same width as their body?) even when it doesn't have any food on it.

cheers Darrel

 

[sciencefiction]

I've often wondered about that @alto ...they're such a diverse group it's difficult to know which species you've bought and what their exact feeding habits are. I guess we could potentially rewrite the book if we knew for sure.

Well ottos are not strictly algae eaters exactly. They eat the micro-organisms developing in Periphyton/Aufwuchs, which is partly algae, partly some other micro-organisms living within, so I am not surprised them eating bloodworms. If one tends to be obsessive about clean glass, and has fast growing plants that have no time establishing biofilm, ottos may starve.... Mine did not touch fish food. I got excited a few times but thinking of it now they just used to sniff it and swim away. Even the otto I raised never ate fish food and refused veg after a while.

I have hillstream loaches, and although they're supposed to love aufwuchs and algae, etc...and are stuck to the glass most of the time, they go bananas for fish food, they make a sandstorm while eating I've never seen that happen with ottos.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Yeah I would agree with that, when I watch mine they pay little attention to commercial food. They spend most of their time on anything that's decomposing matter so I would suggest its the bacteria on decomposing matter they are after. They appear to hang on the glass walls but more resting than grazing and the glass gets clean pretty quick. They seem to graze more on decomposing plant litter, the sponges on the filter and wood. Same as the floating plants where there's dead leaves and still water which turns into mush. This "mush" appears to be the favourite. I could quite easily imagine that's what's going on with the cucumber as well. When it first goes in they will sit on it and have a rasp but after it decomposes a bit and turns mushy that's when they really get tucked in. I would say their main diet is the micro-organisms and bacteria breaking down matter than the actual matter itself.

Maybe that's why people struggle with them in scrupulously clean show tanks, what they need is some rubbish to sift through. Like I previously mentioned as well I don't think they are fans of co2 injected tanks either, it seems to have a debilitating affect on them where they sit not doing much most of the time. My ottos and sterbai came from a co2 injected tank and although healthy enough there wasn't much to see, in my non co2 tank with oxygenation via an air driven sponge filter they are very active, same goes for the sterbai, they would just sort of sift around the bottom but in this tank they shoal as a group from side to side along the front which I never saw in the other tank.

I would say best way to keep them would be in well oxygenated non co2 tank with plenty of decomposing plant matter to sift through which is why I set up This Project. Seems to have worked and I haven't experienced the losses of biblical proportions normally associated with these fish. Only lost one so far even with some new fish in poor health when bought but they rest seem to have got on their feet very quickly in this kind of set up.

 

[sciencefiction]

I would say best way to keep them would be in well oxygenated non co2 tank with plenty of decomposing plant matter to sift through which is why I set up This Project. Seems to have worked and I haven't experienced the losses of biblical proportions normally associated with these fish.

I never noticed them eating decomposing matter but 4 of mine lived in a sparsely planted community tank for over 4 years. They were strictly "glass cleaners" from what I noticed. I never cleaned the glass of that tank. The losses are not immediate except for the odd poorly otto that comes emaciated. I haven't had a problem keeping them alive after purchase. I've lost just one otto to emaciation and one getting stuck behind the internal filter. But they can disappear one by one over the course of a year if not kept in a suitable environment, whatever that is. That's how I lost my old ottos as they had to move to a small tank when the big one broke(from a 100G to a 10G tank)

I also raised a baby otto in a bare tank with just sand and algae/biofilm on the glass which tank had been running for some years prior and the baby found itself there as an egg via some plant cuttings( I had just removed all plants and shrimp from the tank to rescape when I noticed something small "fish" looking wise stuck to the glass ...All that after catching over 300 shrimp So I kept the tank running and never rescaped...

Then I moved it to another bare tank that had just a couple of anubias in. There was sand and oak leaves for the kuhli loaches and some manzanita branches. I lost it along with its father when that tank broke, sadly never found it on the floor although I recovered one, but it was happy until then for a good while. So in my view, a planted tank isn't even needed for ottos....They need an established tank with access to biofilm of some sort, small number of grazers to limit competition(I had 3 in a 30G tank), and perhaps you're right about decomposing matter, although I never noticed my ottos paying much attention to oak leaves...

 

[John White]

I origonally bought 5 Otos, lost a couple then bought 6 more from a different lfs with the same results ending up with 3 which fingers crossed seem to be doing fine. I have witnessed a couple of them dying, they seem to have rapid jerky movements like a heart attatck then finally just die...............not pleasant viewing at all. I did wonder if it was something I was doing wrong but as all the others in the same tank seem happy and none have died I looked on line for clues, hence the link I posted earlier in this thread. The three I have left get a piece of blanched Courgette or lettuce leaf depending what we have in the house at the time and they love it. The Courgette soon looses all it green skin as they happily much away at it. I feed algae wafers which my salt and pepper Corrys and Amano shrimp love but the Oto's totally ignore.
I think the thing with Oto's is make sure they have plenty to eat then you have done the best you can and just hope they are not to damaged internally from their capture.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

I wonder, as these fish seem to graze pretty much non stop with only small stomachs and limited nutritional value to the stuff they eat whether it doesn't take very long without access to food for them to take a turn for the worst. They've been in transport for some time no doubt starving and nothing for them in the LFS for however long they are on display. Maybe their stomachs have shrunk and then they get into a situation where there's plenty of food and fill their boots causing pressure on the swim bladder? The death throws when these things go seems to be inability to maintain balance in the water. Just thinking out loud.

 

[sciencefiction]

Maybe their stomachs have shrunk

I read once that if they're not fed for a period of time, their gut fauna is altered and the reason for emaciation is lack of correct gut bacteria. That article mentioned that for that reason ottos should be kept in groups because they can "exchange" gut bacteria???.....not sure how true that is...

 

[Looneeyy]

Wondering about the up keep of ottos? never kept them but heard there very difficult? Sorry to add to the post!


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[tam]

If you get them successfully through the first few weeks they seem pretty tough. It's just that initial period which is the problem.