Feeding an Otto

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GobyGuy5

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Nov 28, 2002
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I've been trying to acclimate a couple ottos to my tank, one died shortly after I added it, and I have had a great deal of trouble getting the other to eat my food. I had a pair before that ended up starving So I got even more fish food types and am trying again (with your help) I have them isolated so the other fish won't eat their food for them. So far they have rejected:
Wardely Algae Discs
Lettuce
Wardely Spirulina Plus (might have mispelled)
Regular Flake, etc.

What will these guys eat!?!
Please help!
 
Stick a fork into a slice of zuchinni or cucumber and drop it into your tank.
good luck
:)
 
Zuchinni is the only thing I've ever seen mine eat other than browsing the plants. I put in algae tablets off and on but I think the other fish may eat them instead. The Otos seem healthy enough so I suppose the zuchinni a couple of times a week along with the plant browsing is enough.
 
I have never seen my otos eat and i have had them for a few years. Are you feeding them are night? put the food right next to them,like in their cave.

But it also might not be your fault lots of otos are sick and are jsut bad stock. I had to try a few times before i got some otos that finally lived.
 
I've never seen an oto eat anything other than algae, and, I've put a lot of different fruits and vegetables into my tanks. They do best in groups and in well-planted tanks. If conditions in your tank do not promote the growth of the right kind of algae, they will waste away. Good luck.
 
I have never seen my otos eat any of the vegetable matter I put into my tank for my clown pleco. However, they do manage to survive quite nicely... they've been in the tank for half a year now.. with only one loss (out of 6).

You have to be patient when buying otos... they are known to die quite easily due to transportation shock. Otos need a constant supply of algae to feed the bacteria residing withint their digestive systems. Without the constant food supply, the bacterial colonies within the oto will die off, and the benefits the otos gets from the bacteria will dimenish... resulting in a much weaker oto, and probably a dying one.

HTH
-Richer
 
I have 8 otos. Mine eat zucchini (raw or previously frozen or blanched) and other kinds of squash, cucumber, and Hikari algae wafers. I also see them eat Hikari bottom feeder tablets and nibble at flakes.

Mine feed much more actively in late evening and at night. If I drop an algae wafer in during the day I won't see any otos come near it all day. If I do the same in the evening, there will be 5 or 6 munching on it as soon as it's dark.

They don't compete well with larger fish and bottom feeders attacking the food at the same time, so if there are other fish going after the food the otos may not get enough. Prepared foods and vegetables should be only a supplement to algae, not a replacement ... they like the brown diatoms and soft green algae(not hair algae.) Healthy otos are neither hollow-bellied nor bloated, just plump in a streamlined sort of way.
 
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People who never see their Otos eat the veggies they put in the tank might be removing them too soon. I never pull the veggies, unless they're getting a bacterial/fungal cocoon round them. Otos like their veggies pretty soft and disgusting! But they don't get more til they've cleaned their room, as the Skeptical Aquarist observes...
 
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