I have a oto and I don't ever see him eating.:help: At first I thought he might be rummaging around the bottom to find and eat the algea wafer because it had nibbled on, but I saw my gourami eating it one day and now I am worried he never eats anything but the algea and eventually that will run out,right? I've tried giving him lettuce but he's a bottom feeder and the lettuce just floats at the top. Please help!!!:help:
Please help! Otocinclus not eating!
- Thread starter Gouramiluver
- Start date
Hi! What does his belly look like? It should be round- if it isn't, he may not be eating. This is common with those little guys, unfortunately. If you have room in your tank, I suggest getting 5 more for him to school with- they are schooling fish, and tend to be insecure in small numbers. If you don't have room for 6, do you at least have room for 2 more? As far as the lettuce goes, you need to weigh it down with something- a rock with a rubberband, a spoon with a rubber band, a veggie clip, any of those will work. They can be quite partial to raw zucchini, as well, but- otos not eating in aquariums is not at all uncommon, unfortunately. Do you have a lot of plants in your tank for him to hide in? They're pretty insecure- lack of plants and buddies to hang around with will make him less likely to eat, as well. Sometimes its just trial and error with these guys. I started with 6, 3 of them refused to eat anything I put in the tank (even with heavy plant cover), but the remaining 3 will even eat flake food scraps and algae wafers from the bottom of the tank. Some just will, and some just won't. But, yeah, try getting him a few friends, and some plant cover, if you don't already have it, and see if he perks up a little. It also isn't uncommon to actually never see them eat, though... they're shy. You can tell by looking at his belly if he is eating or not. He should have a bit of a round pot belly, if he is eating. If it is sunken in, he probably isn't.
I also in agreement with what Jamie has said...your oto should look round and not sunken. You might not see it eating yourself but they belly size is a good indicator of whether or not it is getting food.
Otos are notorious for not always faring well when first introduced to tanks, and I'd say that issues with feeding are one of the bigger reasons as to why. A big part of their diet is the "biofilm" (you might see the German word "Aufwuchs" used in some context) included with all the soft, green algae and diatoms. Unfortunately, in this case, most tanks don't contain a lot of this stuff or at least not enough to fully sustain an oto. But as mentioned, even if you have some algae, it needs to be softer. I've yet to see otos go after anything hard, stringy, or fuzzy.
By attempting to get them to feed on some veggies you're making a good start. You definitely want to make sure that nothing's floating though. And I definitely agree that it would be good to get a group if you can as they seem more comfortable that way.
Otos are notorious for not always faring well when first introduced to tanks, and I'd say that issues with feeding are one of the bigger reasons as to why. A big part of their diet is the "biofilm" (you might see the German word "Aufwuchs" used in some context) included with all the soft, green algae and diatoms. Unfortunately, in this case, most tanks don't contain a lot of this stuff or at least not enough to fully sustain an oto. But as mentioned, even if you have some algae, it needs to be softer. I've yet to see otos go after anything hard, stringy, or fuzzy.
By attempting to get them to feed on some veggies you're making a good start. You definitely want to make sure that nothing's floating though. And I definitely agree that it would be good to get a group if you can as they seem more comfortable that way.
I have some oto's and i rarely see them actively eat except at like midnight if i watch them with lowlight. For food i would suggest cucumber (mine dont like zucchini) boil it first, let it cool then chuck it in there....if you have alot of fish then just weight it down and at night leave it where they usually sleep/hide. Another minor tip would be to leave the film at least on the sides and back glass of your aquarium because i know they like to suck on the buildup.
