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My three new Ottos!

  • Thread starter Clint
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Clint

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I bought three Ottocinclus cats today. They had just been delived and were still in the bag.

I asked for three, and she gave me three, but the lady at the checkout only counted two in the bag so I only paid for two. Alright!

They have good, well defined color, fat bellies, and are moving around and eating. I know that these have a high mortality rate, but I hope atleast one survives. then I'll buy two more and replace the ones that die untill i've got three healthy ones. since these things die so frequently after you buy them (cyanide?), I bought 100 ml's of Purigen just in case.

I'll post pics later tonight. Anyone have tips? All they are with is breeding Cherry shrimp (all but six of mine died in a power failure, i've got 10 more coming). I bought them algea wafers, but I didn't read the ingredients and they have copper sulfate in them (that would kill the shrimp). What do you guys use?
 
The light fades out the colors on camera, but what do you think?

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I've had them abour 5 hours. Looks at how hungry they were!

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Copper sulfate - bad
Calcium iodate - good

You may or may not see any effects of the copper on the shrimp, but it's not really worth the risk.

I use hikari crab pellets, hikari sinking wafers, dried seaweed, spinach leaves, and whatever leaves fall off of whatever plant in the tank. The leaves are better, really. Some would say you should just drop a dried up oak leaf in there and feed them nothing else.

EDIT: Err, that post was about the shrimp, not the ottos.
 
Hey Clint, thanks for the post. I was just about to post about ottos as I picked up two at my local pet shop. I bought the Hikari algae wafers earlier today. I hope they do well..didn't know about the high mortality rate when I bouth them. They are so cute. For some reason, I can't view your pics. Keep us posted.
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Nope, still can't see them.  I installed antiporn software to keep my son from flooding our home PC--maybe that blocks some stuff indiscriminately.  I dunno.  I never see pics that you and some others post anymore.

I hope my ottos survive.  This is a new tank with live plants and I transfered some algae from my established tank.  I'm hoping the algae wafers will hold them over.  They seem to spend a lot of time scanning rocks and other things that don't appear to have algae.  Cute little buggers!
 
I thinkt they can eat the slime coat, too.
 
I read a thing about Ottos and their "high mortality rate" years back, and it makes total sense to me, (and it applies to almost any aquarium fish really)..the theory is this:

Tropical fish collected from the wild are highly stressed during the weeks or months between the time they are captured in their amazonian stream (or wherever) and the time they finally make it to your tank at home..they live in water that is too hot, too cold, crowded, dirty, etc..its really bad, and more than 50% die before they even make it to the fish store..
the ones that do make it to the fish store, and the ones you buy, are still in the middle of their downward death spiral..and many of them *complete* that downward death spiral *after* they make it to your tank at home!
sad.gif

its not because your tank has bad conditions..on the contrary, your tank is probably the best conditions they have seen since being captured, its just that they are already "at death's door" due to weeks of stress when you buy them..which is beyond your control.

This is why many newly-bought fish die..its simply because they were already nearly dead when you bought them..the process just happened to finish in your tank!..even "tank raised" fish can fall under this theory, because fish-store tanks are usually very crowded and sub-prime in terms of water quality.

I have had 4 different Otto cats over the years..3 died within days or weeks after I got them..the 4th is still alive and well in my tank after NINE years!
im amazed that it keeps going and going..
the trick is getting them "over the hump" so that they recover before they die..then they can enjoy a long life..IF your tank conditions are good!
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I bet that 95% of "new fish deaths"..fish that die within days or bringing them home, are due to this concept..

Scot

p.s.
if you want Ottos for algae control, forget it..they do nothing for that..
yes they technically EAT algae, but not enough to be even noticable as far as overall algae control. there is only one reliable way to control algae..nutrient control.
 
  • #10
Well my tank is new so i've got diatoms. This morning I peeked inside and it looked like someone took a toothbrush to the rocks! It was dark brown, and now you can see the light tan rock.

I got 'em because they are so cute and they are shrimp safe. Any algea they eat is just a bonus for me.

Do you think it would be unethical of me to replace them as they die untill I got three healthy ones total?
 
  • #11
From what I've heard (could be a myth... who knows) otos are a special case because to harvest them people pour some kind of neurotoxin into the river upstream to temporarily paralyze them. It makes it much easier to catch large numbers of them. So even though the ones that make it have survived the process, they have some degree of damage to their systems that acts as a ticking timebomb.

I certainly wouldn't put it past people to do such a thing. There may be other species who get the same treatment.

Otos only eat so many types of algae (if it grows on glass, it's probably the kind they'll eat, not counting cyanobacteria which isn't an algae anyway), but what they do eat they eliminate fast. For algae control of that type, they're one of the best species you can get.
 
  • #12
I know that it's common with a lot of wild caught marine fish to use Cyanide.

I'm gonna leave them alone until saturday or sunday when I get home, and either they will be alive and fat or dead and fouling the water (hence why I bought the Purigen...)
 
  • #13
So, how are they doing, Clint? We brought ours home at the same time. Both are still alive and seem very happy but I wouldn't describe their bellies as being fat yet. Maybe they're both males?? I understand females are generally plumper. They play a cute chasing game and get along well with the lone cory.
 
  • #14
One died and fowled up the tank when I got home, but the other two are still alive
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  • #15
I'm sorry about the loss. But the other two are hanging in, yeah! I saw some ottos at my LFS and they were BIG (compared to mine). They weren't for sale though...
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  • #16
Ehh, I expected all three do be dead by now so i'm happy lol. They have put on weight, too.

They aren't eating the diatoms as fast as i'd like.... Lazy otto's
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I'm not feeding them since they are eating the diatoms and i've put some phosphate absorbing material in the filter and upped my nitrates so maybe those three things will help. It's still a new tank but it's choking out the old growth on my HC so it pisses me off
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  • #17
'Lazy ottos' seems to be a contadiction of terms. These guys are active! Especially at night. I guess that's whay you have the smiley face.

I'm hoping that the Hikari algae wafers hold them over. I do have plenty of live plants but I'm having a heck of a time finding java moss. After a month, I'll be adding some dwarf neon rainbows.
 
  • #18
No, they are fat! They just can't keep up, poor guys...

The Diatoms took over and killed my weeping moss
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Other wise i'd give you some.
 
  • #19
I weep for your moss.
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I'm going to a LFS tomorrow and they had tons in their tanks--just beautiful. If they part with some, I'll let you know.
 
  • #20
Nah it's OK. I'm going to wait untill My tank matures to try again.
 
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