new otocinclus died overnight

Aqualung said:
Wait a minute, was this a typo?

Diatoms are the favorite food of otocinclus.
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Can you show me where you read that? Everything I've read is the exact opposite: otos do not eat diatoms (or hair algae, from what I've seen), but will eat everything else.

If need be I'll move my 5 otos out of my 36g and throw them into my diatom covered 75g and see what they do.

Roan
 
Okay, you guys are right and I'm wrong.

I was confusing BBA with diatoms. Otos WILL eat diatoms, but NOT BBA.

I had so much algae in my tank -- both diatoms and BBA -- that it's hard to see who is eating what.

So, again, otos WILL eat diatoms.

You guys are right. I'm wrong :D

Roan
 
I think one of the biggest problems with otos is the stress from shipping them. I bought a few and put them into a cycled tank that had been running for 4 or 5 months, and they all died. I just got 3 and put them into my tank that has been running for 2 weeks, and they're fine. The only difference was that the first batch was fresh into the fish store, and the second batch, from wal-mart of all places (i know, i know) I guess had been there for at least a week or two. They're doing great now. It seems if they have a little while to get over the stress from shipping and fatten up again, they do better. When you buy them from a fish store, ask how long they're been in stock. I think the longer they're been around, the better chance they have of surviving the move home.
 
Roan Art said:
I was confusing BBA with diatoms. Otos WILL eat diatoms, but NOT BBA.
Roan
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Zebra otos actually do seem to eat BBA. I have observed this myself and have heard the same thing from others that keep zebras. They are the exception though - most otos won't touch BBA.
 
Sploke,
Very good point about waiting until they have been in stock for a while. I never buy fish on shipping days- (unless I requested the particular fish)
 
I had a bunch of brown alge like you're talking about in my 10 gallon setup. I bought a black mystery snail and it's been under control ever since.
 
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