Otocinclus Are Machines!

[TheJ0kerrr]

So I stopped by this LFS that's held by a pretty old woman in my city. She is also selling all kinds of oldies clothing and ornaments... but she has a nice set of well planted aquariums and I saw these otocinclus that looked healthy. I asked her for how long she had them and she said 15 days. I wanted 3, but there were 4 in there and since they are notorious for not dealing with moving very well, I figured i'd get all 4 and if I lose one, then i'm still good.

Anyways, I acclimated them for a good 45 minutes and released them in my tank. At first, they just sat on whatever they could find first and didn't move much for 15 minutes. Then a couple of them found some diathom and started the munch. Soon after that, the others joined in and the frenzy started!!

I have diathom all over a pretty large fake plant and they went through it overnight. I expected them to be snoozing this morning after such a feast, but no, they were still scavenging whatever diathom was left in the tank (not much). Man, they are such pigs. Now i'm worried algae will never grow fast enough for them, so i'll feed them waffers and zucchini I guess.

I don't want to imagine the amount of poop they have produced already, I could see them poop every 5 minutes while I watched last night. Interesting fish though, I hope I can keep them healthy!

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Yes they're great little chaps.

The problem, as you suspect, is that they will soon deplete the tank of all the best algae and so you really do need to give them some blanched courgette to supplement their diet. Mine won't eat anything but algae and courgette. Any wafers I've tried they completely ignore.

Also try to provide as much surface area in the tank for algae to grow on by, for example, adding broad leaf plants and ornaments, rocks etc.

 

[HAMBONE]

what you can do is fill a busket with water and put some aquarium rock in it, put it in the sun for a couple weeks and juss add the rocks to your tank, tank some old rocks out and repeat.. that way you'll has fresh rocks with algae on every couple of weeks..

I seem to has enough algae to keep my ottos well fed.. hey, what are my stats??

 

[Prime Ordeal]

what you can do is fill a busket with water and put some aquarium rock in it, put it in the sun for a couple weeks and juss add the rocks to your tank, tank some old rocks out and repeat.. that way you'll has fresh rocks with algae on every couple of weeks..

I seem to has enough algae to keep my ottos well fed.. hey, what are my stats??

Just doesn't work for me. I have grown some beautiful, green furry-rocks and the otos just ignore them.

Strange, but true.

 

[Akasha72]

love oto's so cute

If you have some decoration (stones, bogwood etc) in your tank they should get enough to eat. I have 2 and they spend their time going from stone to stone, then onto the bogwood, onto plants, even the smooth pebble substrate I have munching all day long.
When you clean your glass just clean the front - leave the sides and back where possible aswell. They feed on the micro-organisms in the tank and there's more of those growing everyday to keep them full.

Mine also don't touch algae wafers. These 2 I have now are replacements for the 3 I lost when I got my new tank. They havn't discovered courgette yet (I keep putting some in but they ignore it) but the other 3 loved it - shame it wasn't enough to keep them from starving though

I posted something similar elsewhere this week but I'll repeat it - I read that the first 4-6 weeks is the crutial time. If you can keep them from starving in that time they should continue to live a long happy life. Also if they are constantly pooping they are doing well. A fat, pooping oto is a happy well fed oto apparently

Good luck with em. Keep an eye on your Nitrites - it's fatal to oto's

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

I just put a zucchini in there and 3 of the 4 are stuck to it since... Should I let them eat as much as they want or should I remove it eventually? How long can I leave it in there before it starts to rot or something?

Update : All 4 are now there...I have a feeling they could suck on that for hours.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Yes just leave them to it. After about 24 hours it starts to disintegrate so remove it well before then.

 

[NeonNeptune]

what you can do is fill a busket with water and put some aquarium rock in it, put it in the sun for a couple weeks and juss add the rocks to your tank, tank some old rocks out and repeat.. that way you'll has fresh rocks with algae on every couple of weeks..

I seem to has enough algae to keep my ottos well fed.. hey, what are my stats??

I thought they mainly eat brown algae so wouldn't green algae mainly grow in bright light?

 

[HAMBONE]

what you can do is fill a busket with water and put some aquarium rock in it, put it in the sun for a couple weeks and juss add the rocks to your tank, tank some old rocks out and repeat.. that way you'll has fresh rocks with algae on every couple of weeks..

I seem to has enough algae to keep my ottos well fed.. hey, what are my stats??

I thought they mainly eat brown algae so wouldn't green algae mainly grow in bright light?

My ottos must live in some sort of strange algae vortex where they eat whatever algae happens to be growing in my tank, 'cause I don't feed them veggies and I has had them fer months.. they're eating somethang..

 

[kcartwright856]

Otocinclus eat (And, consequently, poop.) almost constantly. Therefore, they need a constant food source.

As mentioned above, let them have at the veggies. I put something in my veggie clip every evening and then take it out in the morning, but they have nearly constant access to aufwuchs gel.

They are very sensitive to water quality issues of all kinds, so keep a close watch.

 

[TheJ0kerrr]

Thanks for the tips everyone, so far so good here, they are very active all the time