SIP, my big momma shrimp, mother of colonies. Establishing first colony is hard!

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Example. Have been trying to get better photos when I can, but following the descriptions given in that linked article, I believe these might be O.vittatus and O.macrospilus.

I think I have three O.macrospilus and two O.vittatus.

Another two seem to have more distinct W shapes on their tails than the O.macrospilus, but might be the same species just with slightly darker tail patterns. Clearer photos might make that more obvious and confirm.

Sorry if this is boring to anyone else!

 

[Byron]

This from my species profile elsewhere that may be of interest, or may not, whichever.

The identification of the specific species of oto in the home aquarium is not always easy as there are several with very similar patterns and the names attached to them in stores are frequently inaccurate. Fortunately the care and behaviour is basically identical whichever species you may have in your aquarium. No Otocinclus species possesses an adipose fin, but this fin is present on the species in the closely-related Paratocinclus genus.

Otocinclus macrospilus is probably the species most often encountered in the hobby; this species is often mis-identified as O. affinis [see comments below]. It is strikingly similar to O. vestitus and can be distinguished by the markings on the caudal (tail) fin. O. macrospilus has a distinctive large round black blotch at the base of the caudal fin; on O. vestitus the horizontal black band extends onto the caudal fin with no significant enlargement into a blotch. O. vittatus is another near-identical species, but the upper edge of the black horizontal band along the sides of the fish is bordered by a distinct white clear band separating the black band from the mottled pattern; on O. macrospilus the white band is less distinct in places and on O. vestitus the mottled pattern adjoins the black band with no definable white band.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

This from my species profile elsewhere that may be of interest, or may not, whichever.

The identification of the specific species of oto in the home aquarium is not always easy as there are several with very similar patterns and the names attached to them in stores are frequently inaccurate. Fortunately the care and behaviour is basically identical whichever species you may have in your aquarium. No Otocinclus species possesses an adipose fin, but this fin is present on the species in the closely-related Paratocinclus genus.

Otocinclus macrospilus is probably the species most often encountered in the hobby; this species is often mis-identified as O. affinis [see comments below]. It is strikingly similar to O. vestitus and can be distinguished by the markings on the caudal (tail) fin. O. macrospilus has a distinctive large round black blotch at the base of the caudal fin; on O. vestitus the horizontal black band extends onto the caudal fin with no significant enlargement into a blotch. O. vittatus is another near-identical species, but the upper edge of the black horizontal band along the sides of the fish is bordered by a distinct white clear band separating the black band from the mottled pattern; on O. macrospilus the white band is less distinct in places and on O. vestitus the mottled pattern adjoins the black band with no definable white band.

It's very much of interest to me, thank you! I have a couple of photos that show some patterns more distinctly, and will keep trying for better ones. Would love your thoughts of potential ID when I upload those.

The two in the above photo certainly do appear to be different subspecies, right? The left one doesn't have the gap and blotches that the one on the right has.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I know I don't really need to know the difference in terms of their care, but I certainly find it very interesting, and would like to know which ones I have, especially if it does turn out to be three different kinds.

 

[seangee]

That's so fascinating! The more I learn about otos, the more I love the little guys.

Here are my original observations https://www.fishforums.net/threads/...lity-of-their-tank-mates.457024/#post-3862466.
They were sold as O. affinis, and the manager was quite adamant about that , but I am reasonably sure they are O. macrospilus. Although I did buy 20 out of a tank containing several hundred so they could well be a mix. MAQ were obviously acting as a wholesaler because 2 other (independent) LFS managers were in there at the same time buying large numbers from the same tank

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Here are my original observations https://www.fishforums.net/threads/...lity-of-their-tank-mates.457024/#post-3862466.
They were sold as O. affinis, and the manager was quite adamant about that , but I am reasonably sure they are O. macrospilus. Although I did buy 20 out of a tank containing several hundred so they could well be a mix. MAQ were obviously acting as a wholesaler because 2 other (independent) LFS managers were in there at the same time buying large numbers from the same tank

I will go and check out those observations next, and then take my time going over the threads with your current tanks as a treat in between chores, thank you! Brace yourself for a lot of notifications from me liking all your old posts.

Would love to see what you and @Bryon think about my Oto sub-species from the new photos, am I crazy to think all three look pretty distinctly different? Bought in two different batches, just labelled as otos. Suspect that they're all just warehoused together after being caught.
Oto type one, O. macrospilus?

Type one again, less blurry photo of a tail, sorta. Darker blotch, but only small dark lines towards the middle and end of the tail:

Type two:

Type three- Maybe same as type one? But the dark W shapes seem much darker and clearer at the middle and end of the tail:

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Enjoyed the article - had no idea I'd be getting Otos lol but I'd be doing a disservice to their long lost cousins if I don't! Hopefully I can identify them as O. flexilis when I do.

Reminder time

 

[mbsqw1d]

Reminder time
View attachment 111365

Just been seeing if I can identify those on your last post actually.. think they're all macrospilus then?
Not going to be easy to get my hands on flexilis, is it?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Just been seeing if I can identify those on your last post actually.. think they're all macrospilus then?
Not going to be easy to get my hands on flexilis, is it?

Do you think all of mine are the same then? I thought they were different.

I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to find a specific one, I guess it depends on your local fish stores, where they buy them from, etc. Since most people buy them just as cleaner fish because they don't want to clean their glass, rather than a feature in their own right, I doubt there's much demand to ID and label the specific subspecies. Even less so when it doesn't make a difference to their care requirements.

I don't think it really matters which sub species they are. Maybe flexilis is most often seen among and near your specific cory cats, I think the same principle would stand for the other similar cories and other similar otos. They've all adapted to being near and around cories with the 'hope' of mistaken for them. So whichever species of oto you get will likely naturally gravitate towards your cories. Just a personal hypothesis though by a complete beginner!

 

[mbsqw1d]

Do you think all of mine are the same then? I thought they were different.

I have no idea how easy or hard it would be to find a specific one, I guess it depends on your local fish stores, where they buy them from, etc. Since most people buy them just as cleaner fish because they don't want to clean their glass, rather than a feature in their own right, I doubt there's much demand to ID and label the specific subspecies. Even less so when it doesn't make a difference to their care requirements.

I don't think it really matters which sub species they are. Maybe flexilis is most often seen among and near your specific cory cats, I think the same principle would stand for the other similar cories and other similar otos. They've all adapted to being near and around cories with the 'hope' of mistaken for them. So whichever species of oto you get will likely naturally gravitate towards your cories. Just a personal hypothesis though by a complete beginner!

Actually the third pic ("type two") / my reminder, looks different.

And yeh, makes sense. And as long as they're healthy its all good

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Actually the third pic ("type two") / my reminder, looks different.

And yeh, makes sense. And as long as they're healthy its all good

I think so. At the worse, cories aren't going to harass and pick on other fish, and neither do otos, so even if they don't pal about together (and seangees experience he mentioned above suggests they might adopt the same patterns),then they're not going to cause each other problems either.

Check out this tank I just saw on Gumtree. Makes me very sad. 7-8 gallons, 20 plus cichlids of some kind.

Used stuff for sale | Gumtree

Find the latest stuff for sale on Gumtree. See used items for sale from clothes,electricals, furniture to tickets and more.

www.gumtree.com

 

[mbsqw1d]

I think so. At the worse, cories aren't going to harass and pick on other fish, and neither do otos, so even if they don't pal about together (and seangees experience he mentioned above suggests they might adopt the same patterns),then they're not going to cause each other problems either.

Check out this tank I just saw on Gumtree. Makes me very sad. 7-8 gallons, 20 plus cichlids of some kind.

Used stuff for sale | Gumtree

Find the latest stuff for sale on Gumtree. See used items for sale from clothes,electricals, furniture to tickets and more.

www.gumtree.com

grim even if you haven't done a single bit of research, you'd think common sense would kick in at some point, like after you've thrown the 5th cichlid in there at least. Just realised, that black pad thing is some sort of giant air stone?

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

grim even if you haven't done a single bit of research, you'd think common sense would kick in at some point, like after you've thrown the 5th cichlid in there at least. Just realised, that black pad thing is some sort of giant air stone?

Yep, an airpad. Poor buggers need it. I know cichlids need to be overcrowded, but in a 30L?? The photo shows the kid which says it's an Aqua One 350, which turns out to 30 L/ 7-8 US gallons.

Sorry to spread the sadness, my mind just boggled a bit. @Wills , do you know what kind of fish these are?

Have also seen a nano tank that comes with a goldfish. Was thinking I might get it and add the goldfish to my pond if it was a comet or standard single tail, but it's a fancy goldfish so don't think it would cope in the pond.

 

[Retired Viking]

It may be that they stared with a couple and then they had fry, I started with 8 and had over 50 in my 55 gallon tank in a year. They just kept having fry and grew fast. I had to remove most of the decor and fry grass and was giving them away as fast as I could find people to take them. I ended up giving the LFS over 30.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It may be that they stared with a couple and then they had fry, I started with 8 and had over 50 in my 55 gallon tank in a year. They just kept having fry and grew fast. I had to remove most of the decor and fry grass and was giving them away as fast as I could find people to take them. I ended up giving the LFS over 30.

Maybe. But even thinking it was a good idea to put one of those into such a tiny tank is insane. Can see a smaller yellow fish to the left too, so not just the same type of fish in there.