I'm losing Otos!

[kaxixi]

A little less than a week ago, I added four otos and three more barbs (I was worried, but my lfs--usually conservative--said it would be ok to add this many fish). A few days later, I found the smallest one lying motionless on his back. Today, I found one of the larger ones in the same place, again lying on his back. It was breathing, and I moved it to the front of the tank where I could observe it (close to the blanched zuchini I just added--in hopes that it would go eat). Its since dissappeared--but I'm hoping its still alive somewhere.

When I found them, they were right under the heater, so is it possible that they were feeding off it when it turned on and injured them? If so, is there something I can do about that?

For those of you keeping track, I added more barbs, and they are now more comfortable around the barb-killing danios. Unfortunately, I did lose one barb a few days after adding them --I'm not sure why. The remaining fish (aside from the injured oto) appear healthy, and my parameters (nitrite and ammonia) are reading zero.

Its been a rouch week in my tank, but hopefully you guys can help me out. Thanks,

erez

 

[adcs]

I read in Practical Fish Keeping magazine that Ottos require food little and often to survive and if they don't get it they quickly starve to death.

Although there are millions of reasons why these fish might be dying.

Just a thought...

 

[tstenback]

This is one fish where i have had some trouble keeping them alive over the first couple of weeks. For some reason they just up and die. I have read that for otos this is fairly normal as they tend to stress very easily. I know this doesn't solve your problem but it may be an indication that this happens to many of us. Any other comments out there? im curious

 

[Annastasia]

I have had my oto's for a week now, and they aren't stressing at all. I have read that they stress really easily though. They also need to eat lot of algae, because they can quickly starve and die. My fish book says they will accept scalded lettuce leaves, boiled peas and cut spinach. You could try feeding them one of those, and see if they like them.

HTH!
Good luck with your oto's.