Weird Filter Gunk And Coloration

[Miss Wiggle]

depends totaly on the betta, some will be fine with otto's, some will not tolerate any companions at all..... it's trial and error tbh, get a betta, monitor it's behaviour and be prepared to remove and re-home fish if needs be.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, and forgot to say that otos will be fine in a 10G. Probably a small group... how many would you say MW?

The one other thing is that otos are very sensitive and like a really stable tank. AFAICT, your's should be ok, but with otos always be prepared for the unexpected death - I don't really think its a known thing, what they are so sensitive to, so people just wait until the tank has been running for a long time.

~~w~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

3 is a nice number , enough for there to be a group, not too many for a small tank

 

[blaxicanlatino]

I did alot of research on otos and it appeares that that are easy animals to care for. The only negatives a read about them was the "sudden death" that you mentioned during acclimation and they can be picky eaters.

I was going to get: 3 otos and 1 ghost shrimp. Would otos be okay with just 2 together instead of 3?

 

[waterdrop]

funny thing is, I agree with MW that somehow odd numbers seem to work well with some of these fish that like little groups - maybe there's no basis for it but I kind of think 3's and 5's and 7s are especially good for otos, corries and some others...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

funny thing is, I agree with MW that somehow odd numbers seem to work well with some of these fish that like little groups - maybe there's no basis for it but I kind of think 3's and 5's and 7s are especially good for otos, corries and some others...

lol

ummmm no i don't think there is any basis for that!

that being said there is a difference between a pair and a group, even a small group. i would get the three ottos.

yes they are easy to care for, they're even easy to acclimitise, providing the tank is mature, put them in a tank under 6 months old and ther'es a very strong chance they'll just keel over. best to wait a few months, also don't buy them when they are too young, very young ottos tend to keel over as well

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, I had a passing thought when I wrote it that it would sound superstitious or something , but I meant what you said there that for instance when you move from 2 to 3, there could be a factor of either removing the breeding urgency or of distracting a slightly more agressive or energetic fish with two species-mates. The cichlid considerations for this are well known as an example, but here I'm thinking of these in-between behaviour-styles like otos, that are not the styles of cichlids or tetras but have some grouping behaviours that clearly are distinctive nonetheless. I admit to a bit of probable anthropomorphism in thinking of a group of 3 as bringing on more "playful" behaviours than a group that is a pair.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Yeah, I had a passing thought when I wrote it that it would sound superstitious or something , but I meant what you said there that for instance when you move from 2 to 3, there could be a factor of either removing the breeding urgency or of distracting a slightly more agressive or energetic fish with two species-mates. The cichlid considerations for this are well known as an example, but here I'm thinking of these in-between behaviour-styles like otos, that are not the styles of cichlids or tetras but have some grouping behaviours that clearly are distinctive nonetheless. I admit to a bit of probable anthropomorphism in thinking of a group of 3 as bringing on more "playful" behaviours than a group that is a pair.

~~waterdrop~~

i agree, probably anthropomorphism (god had to really think to spell that!) with these smaller non-aggressive fish it's more a case of safety in numbers than anything else, there more of them they are the more secure they feel, the more secure they feel the more active they will be, if they don't feel secure they will be permanently alert and stressed which wears them out and leaves them more susceptible to disease. so if you keep them in a group they're much more likley to be healthy. weather that group is an odd or even number doesn't seem to make much difference except in the cases where you need specific ratio's of males to females in which case you often keep an odd number.

it does as you say reduce any minor aggression between them.

 

[waterdrop]

absolutely! I agree. I credit my TFF with one of my favorite "Ah-Ha" moments about schooling fish like tetras. I was reading something here on the forum similar to this topic and suddenly realized the full weight of now true this all probably was, that fish used to huge schools (like that amazing pic someone had of the swirl of millions of neons or cardinals together or some such) could easily be understood to be terrified if they found themselves suddenly alone or in a group below some number -- their evolutionary built-up behaviour would probably be telling them death must be near. And one could just picture that for each species there must be some minimum number, below which this stress is triggered (possibly modified by age and by surrounding shelter possibilities, wouldn't you think?)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

absolutely! I agree. I credit my TFF with one of my favorite "Ah-Ha" moments about schooling fish like tetras. I was reading something here on the forum similar to this topic and suddenly realized the full weight of now true this all probably was, that fish used to huge schools (like that amazing pic someone had of the swirl of millions of neons or cardinals together or some such) could easily be understood to be terrified if they found themselves suddenly alone or in a group below some number -- their evolutionary built-up behaviour would probably be telling them death must be near. And one could just picture that for each species there must be some minimum number, below which this stress is triggered (possibly modified by age and by surrounding shelter possibilities, wouldn't you think?)

exactly, when you put it into the context of their natural behaviours, even a shoal of 6 is puny which is what we usually recommend as a minimum.

yeah i think inevitably their surrounds will play some part, i don't know the extent of their understanding of being in an aquarium vs being in the wild but i think they must realise on some level at some point if there are no predators in the tank.

 

[blaxicanlatino]

alright, im selling my silver mickey mouse platy on Monday because it keeps attacking my betta and in exchange im going to get 3 otos. Hopefully, the otos will be in good shape because all the petstores around me suck and are run by a bunch of teenagers. I may be one myself but dang are we ignorant!

would it be alright to have 1 betta, 3 otos and 2 ghost shrimp? I know its over crowed a lil bit but...