otto is dead

[aquatic-Bizkut]

well this morning my otto was dead, i have two and i cant find the second, they lived in a planted 10 gallon tank with my two puffers who are fine, i think ottos are very sensitive so can anyone post a link about them, so i can figure out what possibly happened, and dont worry ottos are one of the only fish that can live peacfuly with puffers

by the way the tank readings should be fine becuase i put in lots of bio-spira

please help

 

[illusion54]

Did the ottos die within a month of putting them in your tank? Unless they are breed in captivity, ottos are hard to get eating and living past a month in your tank. Chances are they are kept in the wild and caught by using a paralyzer which is why many ottos die early.

I read this on an otto website but cant seem to find it now.

 

[tttnjfttt]

by the way the tank readings should be fine becuase i put in lots of bio-spira

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First of all, never assume the readings are fine. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check them when there are suspected problems in your tnak.

Secondly, puffers are not community fish, and need 5 gallons each. It is not approperiate to keep any other fish in with your two dwarf puffers. It is even a gamble keeping two in one tank, as they are territorial and agressive. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=90950

I would say it is a definate possiblity that the puffers are behind the death of your missing fish, but other things also need to be ruled out, like disease and bad water quality. Otos are also notorious for diening if you look at them wrong.

 

[pnyklr3]

I hate to say this, but I wouldn't be suprised if the puffers are the reason the ottos are dead/missing. Not all puffers will leave ottos alone. The rule of thumb is: If you don't want it to die, don't put it with a puffer. Many puffers will be content in a tank for months, and live with other fish. But one day, boom, every thing is dead, except for the puffer. There are "special cases" where a puffer has dotten along with other fish for a very long time, but I def think this is the minority.

Puffers will sometimes kill just to kill, not necessarily to eat. How long has this tank been set up? Was it cycled properly? What kind of substrate do you have? Don't just assume that adding bio-spira will cause your readings to be good.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

well first off of course im gona test the water, just busy looking at houses, possibility of moving really soon, but i have read and studied about puffers and it says they can live great with otos and amino shrimp..... but of course that isnt always the case, i have had my ottos fora bout 3 days, my tank has been set up for about 4 weeks and it has tons of live plants, and coverage, the puffers love it and i plan on getting a third, but dont worry i study about this stuff on the puffer site/forums and i will know what im doing when i do it...

 

[pnyklr3]

Did you cycle the tank before you added in the fish? I'm not sure how sensitive otos are (or if they are more sensitive than puffers), but this could be a factor in why they died.

How big are the shrimp that the puffers can "live" with? Full grown amano shrimp are 1.5-2 inches. My dwarf puffers ate large ghost shrimp over the weekends. I really wish I could find Sir Minion's pic of a fish that "got along" with puffers for a long time. It was gutted, "just because" by the puffers. How active are otos? (I don't have any).

EDIT: Is the 25 gallon tank in your sig up-to-date? Puffers will kill the fish in that tank, even if the other fish are much bigger than the puffer.

Comments: You are always taking a risk when having more than 1 dwarf puffer in the same tank, and nothing will guarantee you to have happy puffers that will not kill each other. It’s not recommended to keep more than 1 male in a tank, seeing as they tend to be more aggressive towards each other. Also, young puffers tend to get along together great and sometimes even school! Don’t be fooled though, once they get older their aggression grows and chances of them getting along at all are very slim.

Some people keep otos and bristlenose plecos in with dwarf puffers as a clean-up crew. If this will work depends completely on the personality of the puffer, some manage it, others end up with dead catfish. It might be worth trying as long as you keep a very close eye on it, at all times, and have a place to re-home the catfish into

 

[rdd1952]

i have had my ottos fora bout 3 days

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This is quite possibly the problem. When you buy otos, you should always ask the LFS how long they have had them as about 50% of what they get in will die off in the first 2 weeks. Almost all otos are wild caught and shipped from overseas. If the LFS just got them in, it wouldn't be unusual for them to die. I have had terrible experience with them and won't buy any more. Once they died, it's pretty certain the puffers ate them.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

yes well i added bio-spira in the tank emidiatly after about a week of it being set up and i put the fish in right after that, so that should have worked, any way the other otto and puffers are doing fine i just did a water change

 

[pnyklr3]

There is debate on whether or not bottled bacteria "works." Is bio-spira refridgerated? You need to buy some test strips, as this will be the only way to determine whether or not your tank has cycled properly.

 

[rdd1952]

yes well i added bio-spira in the tank emidiatly after about a week of it being set up and i put the fish in right after that, so that should have worked, any way the other otto and puffers are doing fine i just did a water change

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I haven't personally used bio spira so i'm not sure exactly how you add it and the fish. My understandiing is that you basically add both together so the bacteria has an immediate ammonia source. Otherwise, the bacteria start dying off just as they would in a regularly cycled tank if you suddenly took out the fish or stopped adding ammonia. Of course, as already stated, if the bio spira wasn't from a reputable source and had not been refrigerated constantly, it would be useless.

 

[pnyklr3]

How many puffers are in this tank right now? How many ottos? Anything else?

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

well yes the bio-spira is refridgerated, and is only shipped fast, i got mine in two days, so it should of been fine, i have two puffers, a male and a female, and have one otto left, it is very possible my puffers killed my otto, as i saw one pick at the remaining otto..

 

[pnyklr3]

If you saw it pick at the remaining otto, then yes, the puffers could be the cause. Like I've said, I'm not sure about the behavior of ottos, but I think that they are pretty calm fish that don't dart around. I had DPs that killed just for the sake of killing. They'd go right for the "guts" and leave me to pick out carcasses. *I give them ghost shrimp as weekend feeders, but one day my lfs was out, so they got guppy fry. Boy what a mistake. They killed everything, but didn't eat.*

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

hahahahah yeah that happens i noticed they stoped picking at eachother and now they are like a couple, i hope babys come soon

 

[abstract]

your 20 gal is overstocked