4 Otto's disapear from my 120 tank

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CWO4GUNNER

USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
About 2 months ago I purchased 7 Otto's of which 3 I placed in my 60 tank with a community made up primarily of T-Barbs and the other 4 Otto's I placed in my 120 community tank the only possible predators being medium size BPs and a 4" Pleco now donated to the LFS. I haven't seen the 4 Otto's in my 120 tank together for a long time sighting only 1 a week ago on the glass. I placed out some zucchini to bring them out but still no show. In my 60 tank they are always around and accounted for. Could the Pleco have taken the Otto's out as competition (no carcasses) before I got rid of him, or are Ott'o so slow that they were sucked up by the BP's which is so unlikely?
 

noodles62

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Apr 17, 2008
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what else is in the tank besides the pleco and tiger barbs? They are really good at hiding and couldbe in there somewhere.....
 

noodles62

Just Noods......
Apr 17, 2008
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by BP, do you mean blood parrots?
 

pinkertd

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May 29, 2007
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If BP = bristlenose pleco, they absolutely will not kill an oto. Is your tank planted? If so, they are master hiders. Mine won't touch zucchini so it may not bring them out. They may still be in there. I have 2 in my 72G tank and I'm always swearing one of them died....only two catch a glimps of them both on a leaf a week or two later, then they disappear again. And I have a group in my 55G where I see some every day, but never see them all at once.
 

Wycco

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Apr 19, 2009
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Wouldn't have to have killed the Otto. Ottos from what I understand have a high die-off rate in the first few months after purchase.

If the Otto had died of other means- the other fish could have eaten him... maybe. (or maybe he is hiding).


Had two fish as a kid (don't recall species- I was a kid) that had sucker mouths in a community tank... maybe they were Chinese Algae Eater on Reflection... mean little things they were!

One day one went missing... couldn't find it anywhere. Searched all around... thought I checked behind the stand well... (tank had a lid as well with hardly any gap)...


Assumed one had eaten the other. (it was the smaller one that was gone- and they had harrassed the previous occupants to death).



Anyhow a year later- we're packing up the house getting ready to move to America... there behind the stand. One mummified fish attached to a piece of paper from a construction project I had as a kid.

Never stunk or anything...



... anyhow- my reason behind this story... check behind your stand if you don't have a tight lid.
 

arcanecircle

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Apr 18, 2009
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i blame the disappearance on Wycco...

Seriously tho is there a lot of hiding place? because even in my ten gallon tank the ottos don't always travel together at most i will only see two at any one time. When i finally decided to move all the obstacle to see if i lost one it turns out they are all there. really sometimes i wish i can tell them apart some how...
 

April12

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Oct 10, 2008
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I had 4 Ottos in my 60 gallon. One jumped out, but the other three just gradually disappeared. My best guess is that they died and the snails took care of the bodies. I had a decent sized Siamese algae eater disappear out of that tank too. I think I prefer to keep Ottos in a smaller tank; they're just too hard to find in a big tank.
 

CWO4GUNNER

USN/USCG 1974-2004 Weps
I have a wood canopy above my 120 and the Plexiglas cover except the last 3" of the back for filters and lines. I do set my water high sometimes and air wands do bubble up to the edge, lost a 4" Colombian Shark that jumped and my cat half ate. If the Otto's did jump the cat may have left no trace. Now I know I better notch out (cut) another piece of Plexiglas to fit the back filters and lines before I buy more Otto's. My 60 tank has a very tight fitting cover unless I leave it open so I never had a jumper and the Otto's and Cory's are easy to spot. No trace of carcasses behined the aquarium except 2 grasshoppers the cat left. The 4 Otto's are really gone from my 120 even though my 10 jumbo Neons and 3 Cory are all accounted for the Otto's must have jumped during the high water level from either the back slot or me leaving the inside glass covers open for convenience. No more of that.
 
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