I do otto pairs in my 5G hex's all the time with my bettas. I have not had the giant list of maladies with any of my aqua-tech hex5's (aka: Marineland's walmart brand) and I have something like half a dozen of them currently. Can't beat the price, especially in the backwater.
The thing with otto pairs in 5G's is that you really must have a nice set of leafy plants for them. All of my otto friendly 5G's have nice java fern clumps on driftwood bits. You should also use daily supplimental feeding rather than every other day. It requires you grav-vac with each and every water change, but I hardly mind the extra work. 2 would be the maximum I'd stick in one tank though.
As for ottos being active and needing alot of room, that's true, but they will also spend alot of time going up and down tank walls.
Two ottos and one betta are nowhere near the bioload capacitiy of the biowheel filter in the hex if you do weekly WC's. And because they occupy polar opposite sections of the water, you don't have to worry about any of those issues either. It's really about as close to an ideal betta setup as you're going to get.
The thing with otto pairs in 5G's is that you really must have a nice set of leafy plants for them. All of my otto friendly 5G's have nice java fern clumps on driftwood bits. You should also use daily supplimental feeding rather than every other day. It requires you grav-vac with each and every water change, but I hardly mind the extra work. 2 would be the maximum I'd stick in one tank though.
As for ottos being active and needing alot of room, that's true, but they will also spend alot of time going up and down tank walls.
Two ottos and one betta are nowhere near the bioload capacitiy of the biowheel filter in the hex if you do weekly WC's. And because they occupy polar opposite sections of the water, you don't have to worry about any of those issues either. It's really about as close to an ideal betta setup as you're going to get.
Last edited:
