Odd Otto Behavior?

K

karen99

AC Members
Nov 21, 2005
93
0
0
We're having hot weather and the air conditioner broke so in my planted tank (lots of lighting) temps are over 80 even with adding ice cubes. The fish seemed to be handling it fine until I looked over and saw an otto lying belly up and motionless.
I reached in to scoop him out, but as soon as I touched him, he swam off and started happily sucking away on the glass.
I used to have a kuhlie loach who scared me by sleeping draped limply over a plant... but this is the only time I've seen a fish apparently sleeping belly up.

Is this normal behavior for ottos sometimes? Or could he be stressed out from the heat?
 
karen, is this the tank with the "smelly water?" if so, ottos are very sensitive to poor water conditions, so i suspect that may be it. they really need a well established, balanced tank to survive. even then, many people still lose them.

no, otos do not rest belly up. i have had 6 over the years, 2 died rather rapidly. how long have you had the fish? sometimes they come to the store suffering from poor capture techniues, so there's not much you can do to save them.
 
I have never had an otto rest belly-up unless they are hanging upside down from someting by the lips (such as a leaf or archway) Over time, I have owned 8 ottos, I have only lost 1, which died shortly after purchase. How long have you had the ottos? Does he have a full belly? Look otherwise healthy?

I've never heard of resting belly up...
 
No, the otto is in the planted 29 gallon, which is well established and healthy (been in for maybe 5 months?). There's very little algae in the tank, but if I look close I can always find a little on the glass, so I don't think they're going hungry. I have 4 ottos and can't tell them apart... and with all the plants I rarely can see all 4 at once, but as far as I can tell the ottos all seem ok.
It was weird, I've never seen the ottos do that before, and I was sure that guy was dead until he swam off.
 
the algea you're seeing may not be the kind that is edible to otos. does it come off easily when you touch it? if so, they can eat it. if not, and it takes a scraper or a scrubbing sponge to remove it, it's too hard for them to rasp.

yes, how are their bellies looking? what a lot of people don't realize about algae eaters is you need to feed them. they can not and should not survive on what's in your tank. i supplement mine with bottom feeder food, veggies, as well as algae that i'm currently farming in a separate container. they will also eat some flakes and frozen food that falls to the bottom (it contains spinach and spirulina).

like other herbivores (think cows) they need to graze constantly. which means they should basically be pooping constantly, too. i think it might be starvation and not the temperature that's the problem. 80 degrees is nothing for tropical fish.
 
I wouldn't think that 80 F would even phase them. My go throught that routinely with no issues with the climate here.
 
The temperature was around 85, and the otto was lying on a mound of moss, just two inches below the lights where it might have been even warmer.
But you might have something with them being hungry. The two SAE's seem to have been begging more when I feed the other fish... maybe they aren't getting enough algea either. The only visible algae in there are many tiny little spots of algae on the glass. I can scrape it off with my fingernail, but it doesn't just wipe off.
I just dropped in a spirulina wafer and I'll see if they eat that. I've heard that ottos are pretty picky eaters, but even if the SAE's and snails are the only ones who eat the spirulina, maybe they'll leave more live algae for the ottos.
I do dose with Flourish Excel for carbon - the doseage they reccomend, but only every other day. Some people seem to think Excel also inhibits algea... so would it be good to cut back on the Excel a little?
 
Yeah, they can't eat green spot algae. If they show no interest in the wafer, you might try some veggies (microwave them in water to get them soft before you put them in the tank) Ottos are little pigs and like to have plenty to eat, so maybe that'll solve the problem:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom