New otocinclus

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hcgirl80

i is a gud righter lyke leela.
Jun 3, 2004
372
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USA
www.freewebs.com
Hello! :D
I got 2 otocinclus last night and they are doing fine and getting along with the guppies quite well. I will get a 3rd one whenever my LFS gets any more in, they only had two last night. ANYWAY, I have a couple of questions about them (first-time owner of catfish). First, how do you sex them? Second, how can you tell if they are getting enough to eat? Third, the guppies have eaten the piece of algae wafer that I put in for them. Would this be bad for the guppies and will the guppies eat it all so that the oto's won't get any?

Thank you!
:)
~HC
:)p to happychem)
 

DaveinSF

AC Members
Apr 12, 2005
80
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I have 3 Oto catfish and I love 'em. They're great, peaceful little fish. You can find out a lot about them at: www.otocinclus.com.

Apparently, otos should have nice round, full little potbellies that you can view when they are attached to the side of the glass (which is often). I believe that having a mature planted tank is necessary, as they get some of their food that way. They are reportedly can devour a lot of algae and I know that mine do eat the sinking algae tabs that I put in the tank.

Be sure not to put too much in there, because it'll just sit and start to molder. They eat surprisingly little in terms of volume... they'll go a while without eating, then they'll devour whatever I put in there and leave a lot of droppings the next day. So they seem to eat in spurts.

One suggestion might be to time your feedings to minimize competition. I feed mine at night when the light is off... because Otos are nocturnal and more active at night. I don't know if guppies are active at night, but it might help.




hcgirl80 said:
Hello! :D
I got 2 otocinclus last night and they are doing fine and getting along with the guppies quite well. I will get a 3rd one whenever my LFS gets any more in, they only had two last night. ANYWAY, I have a couple of questions about them (first-time owner of catfish). First, how do you sex them? Second, how can you tell if they are getting enough to eat? Third, the guppies have eaten the piece of algae wafer that I put in for them. Would this be bad for the guppies and will the guppies eat it all so that the oto's won't get any?

Thank you!
:)
~HC
:)p to happychem)
 

knashash

AC Members
Oct 28, 2004
517
0
0
I have 10 ottos in my 55 gallon planted tank and never feed them anything.....have them for over a year so it seems the algae alone is enough for them
 

hcgirl80

i is a gud righter lyke leela.
Jun 3, 2004
372
0
0
29
USA
www.freewebs.com
Thanks for the info dave!
Your probably right knashash, that's why I bought them instead of neon tetras.

Thank you!
;)
~HC
( :sim: to happychem)
 

vtchica

AC Members
Jun 8, 2005
6
0
0
VA
I have 4 otos in my tank. They eat the algae wafers and shrimp pellets that I put in for the loaches. When I first got them, they eagerly scraped algae in my tank and they never seem to stop. now, i see them eating algae less and less and waiting for the nightly fixings.

Otos are kind of hard to keep in the beginning. The first time I bought 2 home, one died in the bag. I later bought 4 more and one died suddenly the next day. I've had the four remaining otos in my tank for more than a month and they seem to be doing very well. I can tell that I have 2 females and 2 males. Why? Because two otos are pregnant! They've been preg. for a while and the stomach is huge, I can see eggs in it!

Hope you enjoy your otos, because I sure do!
 

f8ldzz

AC Members
Feb 26, 2005
307
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0
Honolulu, Hawaii USA
I wouldn't worry about sexing them, as I've heard they are very hard to breed?
 
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