Unexpected oto fry!

[meadoughlark]

I have 3 otos in my planted tank. I'm having a bit of an issue with green algae at the moment and spotted a tiny oto fry whilst I was cleaning algae off the glass! I then took a closer look and spotted 2 or 3 more. Trying not to think about how many I murdered whilst cleaning algae off the glass. I'm pretty much a beginner and never had anything breed in my tank before so just sharing out of excitement. I'm also taking it as a nice indication that my water quality must be pretty good. I don't have high hopes for them as my neon tetras might eat them or they could easily get sucked into the filter, but cool to see nonetheless. Any tips on how to increase their chances would be welcome, aside from setting up another tank which I can't really do. I've also included a pic of the tank so you can see the sort of environment that prompted them to breed. No idea where they laid the eggs, I never saw them.

 

[Naughts]

Wow that's amazing! Love your tank. The fry seem too big to fit in a neons mouth (from the photo anyway) and you have loads of plants for shelter so I think they will continue to do just fine.
You can buy floating breeding boxes/ hatcheries but they are not a good environment long term.
Good luck, those fry are the cutest!

 

[Colin_T]

Stop cleaning the algae off the glass because the babies are living on that and on the micro-organisms in the algae.

Get a round/ cylindrical sponge from an internal power filter and put it over the intake strainer of your power filter. This will reduce the chance of the fry being sucked up.

Don't gravel clean the tank for a month and if you have to gravel clean it, drain the water into a white bucket and check it for fry before you tip the dirty water out.

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You need a picture on the back of the tank to make the fish feel more secure.

If the neons are well fed, they won't bother the babies. However, if you have removed all the algae, the babies will be more visible and more likely to attract the neon's attention.

 

[Back in the fold]

That is cool beyond all cool. Last I heard all Otocinclus were wild caught. Your aquarium must be perfect. That is just so very cool man !

 

[Colin_T]

Otocinclus are regularly bred in captivity.

 

[Byron]

Agree on the suggestions from Colin, and in addition I would get some floating plants of substance. "Substance" meaning not something like duckweed, but substantial floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris cornuta, ideal floater) or one of the stem plants that grow well floating like Pennywort, Wisteria, etc. It is easier, and more natural, for fry to remain among floating plants and escape predation. I have had several species fry survive among floaters, including otos.

Also some dried leaves such as oak, beech, maple (collected from a safe clean site when completely dead and off the tree), or Indian almond leaves purchased from a fish store, will speed up the growth of all fry.

 

[Back in the fold]

Otocinclus are regularly bred in captivity.

The things you miss when you've been away awhile.