Oto died

[Stefanie]

Hi,
this morning one of my oto catfish died... I have a 20 g tank, and I added two of them about 1 week ago, since I thought they would be the most suitable algae eater for a small tank. I checked my water this morning and it seems all is fine (0 ammonia, o nitrites and below 20 ppm nitrates). All other tankmates seem to be doing fine... any idea what might have caused this? Will my other oto be fine by himself or should I replace the one I lost? I am reluctant to adding another one until I figure out what is wrong with my tank...

Thank you for any ideas... Is there anything else I should check for when it comes to keeping otos?

 

[blueturq]

my otos did that too

My ph was fine, my temperature was fine, etc and my other fish are still fine.

Apparently otos just die unexpectedly, alot of people have reported this.

I would get two more to make a group of three, just so if one dies, you have another one there.

 

[Karnaaj]

Otos are very touchy for the first week or so. The best advice I have heard is to make sure that the ones you get all have fat bellies on them. My own personal experience tells me that otos that go straight into a planted tank do much better than those that are kept without plants. I think this is because planted tanks tend to have higher quality water.

 

[emoore]

I have heard that ottos have a specialized bacteria in their stomachs to help digest algea. When they go without food for a while (being shipped across the world), the bacteria dies and eventually the otto dies. When I first tried ottos they died but I finally got some that survived and they are about 2 years old. I also have a heavly planted tank so that might help.

 

[Archangel]

Yep, Otos prefer a planted tank. The thing about the Bacteria in the stomachs is true too. Some Otos just don't live long after prolonged shipping. Your best bet is to know when your lfs receives their shipments, then wait a week or so. By then, most of the fragile ones will have died off(sad, but thats life), leaving the hardy ones. Then your purchase will be more likely to survive

 

[redbucket]

I bought three otos about a month ago.. one of the three died after three days. After it died I planted my tank and added drift wood. The two that are remaining are constantly on the driftwood, and I have heard that can survive off that drift wood when there is no algea for them. I add algea wafers occasionally, but my other fish eat the wafers slowly and the otos totally ignore them.

I love the otos I have left, they're very interesting and.. well, cute, fish. I would recomend you get a piece of driftwood to fit your tank, and some plants (low light plants like java fern if you have low lighting, but I found out cheap shoplights at homedepot do amazing things).

 

[Swimfins]

I bought three, one died about a week later, no apparent reason, another went missing in action. I am left with one that schools with my 2 flying fox. I plan to add 5 more as soon as I can find them. It seems ottos have been a problem, none of the lfs have them in stock here at the moment. I think they are a difficult fish to transport. My lfs had some that later came down with ich. I have been all over looking for ottos and sae's, but none available. They tell me, 'in a couple weeks.' So, I wait.

 

[Karnaaj]

My otos hang out on my driftwood as well but they don't eat it or receive any other benefit from it other than a place to hang out. It is possible that there is some microscopic algae on the wood that your otos are feeding off of, but they are not feeding off of the wood.

 

[Stefanie]

Thank you all for your advice... I went ahead and bought two more ottos, and I made sure that they have little bellies (they are not big bellies... but they were the fattest ones I could find...)
After I put them in my tank they started to eat straight away, and they seem OK so far... They like my algae wafers...
A question about the driftwood, though... does this not lower the pH of the water? Or am I mixing this up with something else?

Thank you again, and I hope this time it works out...

PS: Just in case it does not work out... is there any other small peaceful algae eater that I could keep in a 20g tank? Nothing complicated, please... I am a newbie...