:iagree: I bet they are in there. I can never find all of mine except for the rare occasion.
4 Otto's disapear from my 120 tank
- Thread starter CWO4GUNNER
- Start date
:iagree: I bet they are in there. I can never find all of mine except for the rare occasion.
If they are gone that does not mean that they jumped out. I lost two, and never found the bodies in my ten gallon guppy/snail tank.
Otos are wild caught, and from what I understand the catchers travel upstream, and poison the water with arsenic. This renders the fish immobile and unconscious, and they float downstream to where they are gathered in seine nets.
That is the reason that so many of them die withing the first few months of purchase. Wild caught fish + Poison + shipping stress + store stress + acclimation to the home tank stress is plain to much for them, not that you can really blame the poor little things.
Kristina
Otos are wild caught, and from what I understand the catchers travel upstream, and poison the water with arsenic. This renders the fish immobile and unconscious, and they float downstream to where they are gathered in seine nets.
That is the reason that so many of them die withing the first few months of purchase. Wild caught fish + Poison + shipping stress + store stress + acclimation to the home tank stress is plain to much for them, not that you can really blame the poor little things.
Kristina
Well I pulled out that extra pre-cut piece of Plexiglas 4'Lx4"W that was left over from covers I had cut at Lowes. When you buy the 3x5 Plexiglas sheet Lowes will cut it free in whatever and how many pieces you want. Using this leftover piece sealed up that back slot perfectly as all I had to do was use my drumel cutting tool tool to cut out the pre-measured locations for my hang filter and canister lines and it fit like a glove, no more fish overboard, no more water bubbles wetting my wood canopy and hopefully less water dehydration and heat loss in winter.
I did my water change today vacuuming both tanks with my extra long vac tube. No Otto's in sight anywhere so after I was done I went to PetSmart cause I saw some adult size Otto's a week earlier for $1.98 each and bought 5 of them. After acclimating them the went in and schooled on the glass for a while then an hour later when I went to look for them they seemed to be all gone, but then I saw 1 or 2 here and there which is how it should be. So whatever happened to the old tiny one I had, these fat adults should hold up.
It is sad and no doubt some of these wild caught fish are ripped out of their habitat to service us and the demand we create but hopefully in the future we will have better ways of marketing these fish like domestic breeding. Im sure my buying these 5 placed some demand for those catchers to head up stream and trap more, just playing a little devils advocate there.
I did my water change today vacuuming both tanks with my extra long vac tube. No Otto's in sight anywhere so after I was done I went to PetSmart cause I saw some adult size Otto's a week earlier for $1.98 each and bought 5 of them. After acclimating them the went in and schooled on the glass for a while then an hour later when I went to look for them they seemed to be all gone, but then I saw 1 or 2 here and there which is how it should be. So whatever happened to the old tiny one I had, these fat adults should hold up.
It is sad and no doubt some of these wild caught fish are ripped out of their habitat to service us and the demand we create but hopefully in the future we will have better ways of marketing these fish like domestic breeding. Im sure my buying these 5 placed some demand for those catchers to head up stream and trap more, just playing a little devils advocate there.
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yeah. oto's are known to not breed in tanks easily, so it's doubtful we'll seen domestic bred ones anytime soon. I feel bad about keeping them myself, but they are great fish, and perform a task... it's hard not to have a few.
That said, there are days when I can't find them in my 15g... they just blend in so well.
That said, there are days when I can't find them in my 15g... they just blend in so well.
It is easy to say that if we would not buy them there would not be a demand for them, but what about everyone else? If it wasn't you or I, it would BE someone else that might not take care of them correctly.
I love my ottos, and I do not feel guilty for owning them. They are such neat little fish.
Kristina
Oh please don't misunderstand me, I don't feel guilty either but its always good to put things into perspective. Its all created for our pleasure and I believe that if they become endangered we will temporarily have them protected until numbers go back up as we have with so many other species. Take the crocodile for instance we almost wiped it out but after being protected for decades there are so many now that people are endangered LOL.
Anyway all is well. When I get a mood moment Ill take some pics of the new fat Otto's, hopefully this time I can get some to eat a zucchini slice in my 120 this time, the way they do in my 60 tank. I wish I could shrink myself so I could don my SCBA gear and dive in with them lol. Only thing bad about living in the desert is you miss the ocean and the kelp forest off the west side of Catalina Island, just like a giant aquarium.
I had 3 in a 10 gallon with 6 corydora.It had fake plants,and sand substrate.When I took out all the plants to clean one time,I found the skeleton of one of the otos.I also have 6 in a planted 30 gallon,and the only way for me to make sure they are all there is to put in spirulina discs once the lights go out,wait an hour or 2 and turn the light in the room the tank is in on.During the day with the lights on,I might see 1 or 2,but never see all 6 of them at once.Yours could have died,or are just hiding,and you'll never know it.
Do you think it was diet? I mean do you now feed them spirulina as opposed to zucchini or algae wafers? I know my old common Pleco grew too fast on zucchini. If this doesn't work out and they die or disappear again, ill probubly invest in small Pleco's the kind that don't grow into monsters. These Otto's may prove to be too delicate for someone like me.
I have always feed mine spirulina discs.As far as the one dying in the 10 gallon,I have no idea why it died.I moved the remaining 2 into the 30 gallon,bought 4 more,and everything has been fine with them.
