Otto's and AC500

[soko]

My AC500 is like an otto killer, I have to keep going to the store to get more because once every week or so I wake up to an otto who wasn't bright enough to stay away from my filter intake is dead, is there a way to prevent this, it's getting annoying!

[Hound]

The only thing I can think of right off is to replace or cover the intake with a sponge.

[Captain Hook]

It's probably that the ottos died first then got stuck to the intake. Ottos are very sensitive when first introduced to tanks and overall pretty hard to keep.

[Hound]

Yeah, good point.

[soko]

I doubt it, I will buy 10 then over about 2 months 4-5 of them will get stuck, I acutally saw one get stuck this morning and was able to turn the filter off and have it escape, lucky one I guess. I am thinking about putting a sponge over it or something

[Hound]

Never realized ottos would have that sort of problem. Of course I just now realized why my sponge on the intake of my cannister filter stays so clean. My golden mystery snail is currently going over it.

[daveedka]

The reverse flow sponge kit for a penguin power head fits very nicely on the intake tube of an AC 500 I run one to prefilter my water going in. Will save you some on media as well as help out your Otto's. I don't have any experience with otto's but it is pretty uncommon for a healthy fish to get stuck to a filter. not impossible though.

[DHR]

I had same problem with young angels, and even a mono. Gave up on that body type with this filter. Sponge over the intake sounds like a good idea.

[daveedka]

Kits are less than $10 (I think it was 7 something) at big Al's online. I did a search for marineland products and then paged through, but someone who knows something about sufing the web might have it easier. Look for Reverse flow sponge kit for Peguin powerhead. you can't miss it. Big Al's also sells alot of differnet miscellaneous sponges if you wanted to DIY it a bit.

[ryan]

I honestly dont think the filter is killing them. They are either sick when you buy them or start to go once in the tank. If my 1/8 inch newly free-swimming salvini fry can easily avoid being sucked into my AC500 i dont think a healthy oto would have a problem.

ryan

[Richer]

I doubt your filter is the problem.

Ottos are notorious for their low survival rates and for their sensitivity when being introduced into a new tank. It is not uncommon for people to have high death rates when introducing those little guys into new tanks. The first time I bought ottos, I lost 6 out of 10 of them in my Q-tank (15 gallons, with a AC-mini) within 2 weeks. I went back to the store to replace the 6 that I lost, however, I lost 2 out of the 6 that I bought within a couple of weeks. Not very fun.

The last time I read up on this, it seems that the general agreement is that since ottos are herbivores, they need bacteria within their gut to help digest the algae that they consume (as is the same with many other herbivores). However, during shipping and such, they don't have access to the foods that they need to keep the bacteria alive, and so the bacteria within their guts die off. When the ottos do manage to get a food source, there isn't enough bacteria to help digest the food that is consumed, and they slowly starve to death.

If you want to buy these fish, I suggest watching them for a couple of weeks at your LFS. If you can, get your LFS to put them aside for you so that you can observe them. If you find yourself lossing a lot of ottos from one particular store, switch to another store and try them out. Thats what I did... since switching to another LFS, I only lost 2 out of the 15 ottos I bought for my 70 gallon tank.

HTH
-Richer