Tank bred otos?

[connorlindeman]

Ive been doing some reading on otos. It seems they are extremely hard to breed in an aquarium. Have they ever been tank bred? If not, why not? What makes them different?

 

[Crispii]

I'm pretty sure Otocinclus have been bred in aquarium, though not many people who keeps them will try to. I have seen one person on Discord who claims to breed Otocinclus.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yes, people have bred them in aquariums, you can find videos on youtube about people who have, but they're not easy to breed.
I managed to have a female carrying eggs, but no fry yet. My long term dream is to breed them.

I suspect the difficulties like in both the water conditions they want, and a lot of people struggle just to keep them well fed. They live in massive groups in the wild, and people tend to keep just 1-3 or so in a tank. When I'm ready to try breeding them, I intend to keep a large group of 12 or so, and species only tank. They're easily bullied by other fish, so not likely to breed in a tank with other fish, and not many people keep them in large groups or in a species only tank.
This is just my suspicion based on research I did when I first began keeping them, and when I had a female carrying eggs.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

My aquariums are apparently overly fertile. Babies...all over the place, none planned

I started with 5 Otto last year. I now have 8 so someone, somewhere has been up to no good...none are actually owning up to getting jiggy with it and I didn't add three extra....so old Mother Nature has been at work again

I am inundated with baby BN's, baby Cories and three extra Otto....managed a few extra Rams along the way too......there is obviously something in the Highland Spring bottled water & zero additives method of fishkeeping that makes for healthy reproduction....maybe a little too healthy reproduction

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

My aquariums are apparently overly fertile. Babies...all over the place, none planned

I started with 5 Otto last year. I now have 8 so someone, somewhere has been up to no good...none are actually owning up to getting jiggy with it and I didn't add three extra....so old Mother Nature has been at work again

I am inundated with baby BN's, baby Cories and three extra Otto....managed a few extra Rams along the way too......there is obviously something in the Highland Spring bottled water & zero additives method of fishkeeping that makes for healthy reproduction....maybe a little too healthy reproduction

That's wonderful! Please, would you share a photo of your tank and describe your set up? Breeding otos has been a long standing dream of mine!

 

[Deleted member 149562]

That's wonderful! Please, would you share a photo of your tank and describe your set up? Breeding otos has been a long standing dream of mine!

Its in this month's competition

Its just an ordinary aquarium, nothing remotely special.....just bottled water, absolutely zero additives/medications, 60/40 artificial/real plants and artificial rocks.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Its in this month's competition

Its just an ordinary aquarium, nothing remotely special.....just bottled water, absolutely zero additives/medications, 60/40 artificial/real plants and artificial rocks.

Which bottled water though? Do you add any minerals?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Which bottled water though? Do you add any minerals?

Highland Spring & Evian water. No added anything. No dechlorinator, no extra minerals....nothing whatsoever added to anything

 

[Deleted member 149562]

See....totally unmessed with, no additives....just a normal aquarium

If I had to try and identify anything different...it would be the 4 independent oxygenation sources - air curtain, 2 x venturi fitted filters and the waterfall from the 24w UV that runs for 48 hours once a month (the UV is not actually essential but I have yet to experience any fish illness or disease in the decades that I have used them on the same routine) and maybe the light being on the brace at the rear and not on the hood, so its virtual mimic of normal daylight sunshine angle

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Highland Spring & Evian water. No added anything. No dechlorinator, no extra minerals....nothing whatsoever added to anything

Just checked out your tank in the competition, it's lovely! So many gorgeous tanks this month again, wow!
I wonder if it's the very soft water, combined with a lot of hidey places and a decent sized group (five isn't bad, better than most people have) that has them breeding.
Oh, and it has a lot of flow? That makes sense, when you look at the shape of an oto, and that they tend to live alongside corydoras in the wild too, who also tend to appreciate flow to spark spawning.
It must be pricey though, buying the bottled water for that large of a tank?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Just checked out your tank in the competition, it's lovely! So many gorgeous tanks this month again, wow!
I wonder if it's the very soft water, combined with a lot of hidey places and a decent sized group (five isn't bad, better than most people have) that has them breeding.
Oh, and it has a lot of flow? That makes sense, when you look at the shape of an oto, and that they tend to live alongside corydoras in the wild too, who also tend to appreciate flow to spark spawning.
It must be pricey though, buying the bottled water for that large of a tank?

I had the exact same water in my smaller 60 litre aquariums and had exact same over fertile behaviour from the fish

I have the same water setup in Fred Betta's cube too, his bubblenesting ability has been seriously excessive too lately

Flow wise.....air curtain 400 lph, Aquael Turbo filters x 2 (1500 lph + 500 lph) and 24w UV 450 lph waterfall

Fred Betta has a CF1 320 lph waterfall filter that he actually enjoys playing in and out of the waterfall

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I had the exact same water in my smaller 60 litre aquariums and had exact same over fertile behaviour from the fish

I have the same water setup in Fred Betta's cube too, his bubblenesting ability has been seriously excessive too lately

Flow wise.....air curtain 400 lph, Aquael Turbo filters x 2 (1500 lph + 500 lph) and 24w UV 450 lph waterfall

Fred Betta has a CF1 320 lph waterfall filter that he actually enjoys playing in and out of the waterfall

I'm super tempted to try it in my 60L! Just a bit worried about the cost of the water. Do you get large bottles? How much do you tend to water change, how often?
Sorry, I hope this isn't a thread hijack/off-topic - I just think when someone has successfully bred otos, learning their set up could crack the case you know? @connorlindeman @Fishmanic

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I'm super tempted to try it in my 60L! Just a bit worried about the cost of the water. Do you get large bottles? How much do you tend to water change, how often?
Sorry, I hope this isn't a thread hijack/off-topic - I just think when someone has successfully bred otos, learning their set up could crack the case you know? @connorlindeman @Fishmanic

2 x 30% water changes per week....Sunday & Wednesday
I buy in bulk from ASDA...averages at £50 per month and I use the water for my hot/cold drinks too, so not all of the water is bought specifically for the aquariums. Normally either 5 litre bottles or packs of 6 x 1.5 litre bottles. They are delivered with my normal grocery order (I am housebound so everything gets delivered)

My tapwater is awful, I asked for a water meter, they could not fit one due to my flat being on a shared supply so they (Yorkshire Water) gave me their single resident rate which is £240 per year - which covers supply and disposal as normal on water bills. The empty water bottles are collected fortnightly by the binmen for recycling.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Sitting here thinking about how my aquarium is apparently so fertile...

TBH....its all down to luck and good old Mother Nature at the end of the day. If you try and force things or try too hard to get everything perfect, things don't always happen the way that you want them to.

So I have just set the aquariums up how my dad used to set his up, nothing special, nothing added from bottles other than pure spring water and just sat back and let nature take its own course

I feel that sometimes people can try too hard to reach perfection and that it is too easy to add this or that to reach that perceived perfection when all that is actually needed is time, patience, good clean water and let the fish do what comes naturally

 

[connorlindeman]

This is all very interesting. And no, this wasnt highjack