Otocin Babies!

[skillful abbot]

Hahaha. I don't know how many or when it happened, but I've got little otocin babies now. Cute little guys. But I will try to take them out during the next water change.

[chesterthehero]

pics?

[Rbishop]

Good deal! Need pics though! (hint, hint)

[H3D]

Congrats! :woot:

[Bk718]

cool, cant wait to see some photos

[skillful abbot]

Yeah, I know. I actually took some but they don't look so good.

[Bk718]

Whats the tank setup? How many otos for the tank/ rest of the stock.

[J double R]

SA... we all know you have good camera skills, you need to try harder and get some pics up. ;)

[emptywallet]

baby otos?!?! sweet what other fish are in the tank with them?

[skillful abbot]

This was the best I could get...

[Bk718]

cool, they seem faily large already

[msjinkzd]

that is great!! congratulations!

[SchizotypalVamp]

congrats!

[skillful abbot]

Yamato Numa Shrimps (Amano shrimps) 10?
mini bushynose plecs 2
otocin 5

*the rainbow dwarf tetra in the old picture below and all others were moved out a couple of months ago to my tank at work so the above are the only inhabitants of this tank...

When I came home last night I thought they were the baby plecs. But on closer inspection the markings look like otos.


baby otos?!?! sweet what other fish are in the tank with them?

[emptywallet]

thats sweet and herbavore tank lol

[skillful abbot]

cool, they seem faily large already

Yeah, they do seem pretty large. they are actually about 10~12mm in size.
(in one of the pics you can see the eheim strainer in the back. That's a good size reference. I just noticed them in the tank last night. A few are still kind of transparent)

[skillful abbot]

Same "tank of the month" setup


Whats the tank setup? How many otos for the tank/ rest of the stock.

[Ulan]

That's so cool :thumbsup:! I would like to have some baby fish other than guppies (:grinyes:) one day. Unfortunately, in all my tanks, everything will get eaten immediately.

[247Plants]

You might want to document all your water parameters etc. Otocinclus are very rarely bred in aquaria and with their habitat loss and how sensitive they are, it could be some great info for others to build on.

[Marinemom]

Very sweet! Keep up on the water changes since they are quite sensitive to water quality and they should be fine.
Congrats!

Marinemom

[skillful abbot]

Wow. Seems Ive gotten lucky then. Never had any problems with otocin being sensitive or not eating. These guys have been in this tank a little over 2 years? So far Ive counted 3 or 4 kids. I think the Yamato shrimp may have feasted on a few? Tank is heavily planted though. I just keep doing what Ive been doing. Can't afford any test kits right now though. For tank specs see my tank of the month entry.

[H3D]

Great pics.

[Spunky]

That is soooo great! Congrats on all little otos. Maybe with it being so heavily planted you will find one or two more lurking about.

[Hooked Newbie]

Congrats!!!


You might want to document all your water parameters etc. Otocinclus are very rarely bred in aquaria and with their habitat loss and how sensitive they are, it could be some great info for others to build on.

:iagree:

[jpappy789]

awesome! now if I could only get mine to show there faces more often...

[Lupin]

Good grief! Congratulations!:eek: :nilly:

[skillful abbot]

Geez, if I knew otocin fry would be such a phenomenon I wish I would have been better prepared!

Now, I know some of you all are probably going, "Yeah right.....suuuuure" hahaha. I would too. And because of that I'm starting to doubt them myself.

Originally I thought they were spawned from my two mini bushynosed plecs. However they look like ottos too. I won't be sure until they are a little larger I guess.

I did my water changes last night. The plan was to take the babies out but upon second thought I decided to leave them in there. No place for them to go and I there only 3 or 4 that I've seen.

Before and after water change I tried to snap more pics. They are really small and very quick.

They are about tadpole size.

[Ulan]

I have to say that's a very nice tank. It's just a bonus that it looks like a good grow-out tank, too :).

[emptywallet]

wait i thought breeding otos where semi difficult lol

[00Smurf]

What kind of plants are in your tank. That looks really nice and green!

[fishorama]

Congrats on the oto babies & the beautiful tank.

[skillful abbot]

wait i thought breeding otos where semi difficult lol

Apparently they are. I either got lucky or those are baby mini bushynose plecs. We shall see.


What kind of plants are in your tank. That looks really nice and green!

Thanks Double Oh Smurf. I have three types of J. Fern, Bolbitis, and Anubias nana 'pucci'. Also have several stems of Amazon chidome [Pennywort] Thats it. Its the same tank as in my avatar, but a few months ago I pulled out all the riccia and stem plants.

pH: ~6.5
tmp: 26.5°

[skillful abbot]

Just took some more pictures of the little guys. These came out pretty good. So I am asking for your help . . . Do you think these are otocin kittens or plec kittens?

I am still leaning toward otos.... but after hearing all the replies about it being somewhat of a phenomenon I lost some of my confidence.

Anyway the pics!

[last pic is of one of my mini bushies... notice the prominent bristles, the other one has none, also in the pic is a Siamese algae eater and if you have a good eye, an otocin]

[chesterthehero]

they look like otos

IM SO JEALOUS

[b.greene]

Those little tails sure look like otos to me!!!

[pinkertd]

I'm gonna guess pleco babies because they are dark....darker than what ottos would be.

[Dwarf Puffers]

Great pics, SA. I'd say otos, because of the barred tailfins and the slenderness, although the main body colour makes me wonder. Maybe some have that shade of colour only when young?

[247Plants]

otos for sure....they do not look like pleco fry to me.......

[Hooked Newbie]

Maybe it's a Pleco / Oto crossbreed? :eek:

Looks like an Oto to me, but I've never seen their fry. Also, I'd trust those with pleco breeding experience personally because I've never seen hatchlings.

[jpappy789]

I would initially have to go with otos based on the slimness and tail markings...

[skillful abbot]

At least two of the adult otocin in my tank are a very dark gray, almost bordering on black.

[Rbishop]

Man..I'll go out on a limb because of the coloring and tail fin shape...otos.

[fishorama]

First 1 I thought oto, 2nd I was pretty sure oto, then the third I thought hmm, could be ancistrus. Now I have no idea. Clear fins say oto to me.

[pinkertd]

Be nice if they turn out to be otos.....I'm just really on the fence about what I think they are. Some of the pics look like baby plecos....but sort of emaciated. Some look like otos. But there's no side stripe, no white belly. You have to post pics of the dark adult otos you have. Otos are extremely tiny when hatched, really really tiny...so if they are otos, they've been in ther quite a while. Throw a piece of zuchini in there. I just think whatever they are, they need more food.

Compare the your picture in post #10 to this, side by side have both pictures open on your screen http://www.otocinclus.com/. The eyes aren't placed right for an oto, and there's the little what I call a whisker that curls up on the face of your pic #10 on the right side of the face...that's pleco.....take a look and what do you think?

[skillful abbot]

You comparing the two pics side by side they do not look like otto babies. Is that a baby on the otocinclus page? They probably are hungry since I didn't know they were in there until about 3 days ago.

[skillful abbot]

They were Plec babes and she still churns them out. Oh well.

[LiL GinGeR]

oh well. :( id still like to see more pics though :)