feeding otos

[Tarah]

Last night I came home with 2 otos for my 10 gal tank. I bought two, hoping that if I lost one, I might still have one. I did lose one overnight, which was disappointing. I tested the water before I got them, and my cycle appears to be finished....Ammonia zero, Nitrite zero, and Nitrates were btw. 10-20 ppm. My tank is 2 mos old, and I cycled with 1 gourami and 4 neons...all the neons died during the high nitrite phase.

Anyway, now I have the gourami, 3 orange von rio tetras, and the 1 oto left. I really want that oto to stay alive! Can you tell me how to make sure he's getting enough to eat? There's some brownish algae on my glass and plants. And I put 1 algae wafer in last night as I turned the lights off. (I heard they prefer to feed at night) But how do I know he's eating it? Is that more than enough for 1 small oto?

 

[twoluvcats]

yes, one algae wafer is WAY more than enough for one oto. He prob only needs 1/4 of that, if even. If there's brown alage to eat, they will eat it. When he's on the glass, look at his belly, it should almost look like he swallowed a pea or a button...it'll be a littl round fat belly...that's a sign of a well fed oto. if he isn't getting that, he needs to eat more. And it may take a while for him to get that belly as they come from the LFS mostly starved.

 

[discus4everGrl]

yeah, and it's common for fish to not eat the first day or two if they are really stressed after being added to the tank.

 

[derajer]

A word of caution about algae wafers, most of them are not a good source of food for vegan fish. Usually they have a lot of protein and the main ingredient is fish meal. Watch out for what you buy, the best thing for them is really the algae in your tank. You can also grow algae on rocks in tank water for them if you need to.

 

[discus4everGrl]

yeah can also grow it on stones by placing stones in jars and sitting them in a window sill

 

[Balloon Fish]

in my experience i've fed algae wafers to my fish all the time and i've never had any signs of unhealthy algae eating fish and i have a lot lot of algae eaters in my 20g...

Otos are weak fish to begin with cause of their size and they are all wild caught (correct me if i'm wrong) so after they get shipped to the store they are in a lot of stress and once you bring them home they are in even more stress so it isn't your tank's problem and even if they both died i wouldn't be suprised cause they are weak fish but after a few weeks and nothing goes wrong and they eat good then they will be really healthy and if they die that means is your tank's problem

 

[Tarah]

Thanks for the tips!

 

[Lotus]

You can also keep an eye on his stomach. It should be nice and rounded if he's eating enough. If a fish is starving, it will take a few weeks for them to die, so keeping an eye on him every day or every few days should let you know if everything is OK.

 

[Balloon Fish]

sorry to hijack the thread but i have a question, Can otos be overfed? Do they know when to stop when they are full unlike other fish?

 

[Tarah]

This morning the other one was dead. I lost both. I'm very upset! I really want an algae eater in my tank to help keep it cleaner, and everyone said an oto was what I wanted. What should I do....just keep buying them and hope I get lucky enough to keep one alive? I didn't realize they were so fragile. Are plecos tougher? My problem with them is they get big. But, I do have a friend who keeps them and then trades them in when they get too big for her tank. Would that be a better option for me? They aren't aggressive with the other fish are they?

 

[Balloon Fish]

a bristlenose pleco is a really good choice for a small and cheap pleco, it grows to 5 inches i think and takes a long time to reach that. You could probably see if the place you bought the otos from have a good return policy then return them if they do if you still want the oto. some other good algae eaters that could fit in your tank would be amano shrimp, snails (depends what kind and dont ask me what kind cause i dont know ), other algae eater shrimp, bristlenose pleco, rubber lipped pleco(stays small also), otos, and maybe some black mollies but in my experience i've never seen any difference when i have black mollies in the tank, its maybe cause i feed them so they dont want the algae.

 

[Sandtiger]

Tarah, Plecostomus (or Plecs) are one of the most bullet-proof fish in the world. One of my friends had one and he by far outlived her other fish. My Mom had a Plec in her office tank when I was little (she's retired now) and she had to give him away when she packed up the tank because we didn't have room for him at my house. Chinease (sorry, wrong spelling) Alge Eaters or Chinease Sucking Loaches are tough fish too but, like Plecs, they get big to. And while most Plecs are peaceful, as they get bigger, these guys tend to get nasty, very nasty. Think Crocodile, Great White and Mountain Lion all melded into a 9" freshwater fish body. As these fish grow older their alge-eating habits ceases to exist and they start to find the body silme of fish, especially fish with lots of it like Discus, very attractive. I once made the mistake of mixing a 4" alge eater with some goldfish. After about a week the tank was lovely painted with fish guts! That little bogger sucked on the fish so hard their sides opend up! grrrrr!! And the goldfish weren't exactly pool comets either!!
I would definetly say go for the Plecs, but if you're fish are tough then a Chinease Alge Eater would make a great tank inhabitant.
-Sandtiger

P.S. Here's something I thought you might like to know Chinease Alge Eaters aren't from China, they're from Thailand. And they're aren't loaches either, they're in a family all by their lonsome (in the aquarium world).

 

[Balloon Fish]

i've never heard of chinese algae eaters being called loaches but i guess it could be possible... chinese algae eaters aren't the best choice for the 10g because they get to 12 inches i think or was it 6? anyways they get big and dont do anything. The older they get the more lazy they get and more they want to be fed instead of cleaning off stuff. I have 2 of them and even though they are fun to watch they dont really do their job and all day they either lay on top of the rocks or under the driftwood hanging out with my african dwarf frogs. If you want a dedicated algae eater a bristlenose or a rubberlipped will be the best thing to get. If you're scared of the pleco sucking on the fish get a rubberlipped pleco because those are really shy and will most likely not suck on the fish. Plecos sucking on other fish is rare but has happened like to sandtiger. In my opinion if you get a big pleco like a common pleco which is going to get really big then it will most likely try to suck on the fish's slime coating becuase nothing is gonna stop it and it's appetite is huge. If you keep the bristlenose or rubberlipped fed with algae in the tank or an algae wafer every 1 or 2 days then it'll grow slowly and won't bother your fish. If it was my tank i would give the otos another try first cuase they are probably the best and smallest algae eating fish that does a good job at it too. Just buy like 3 or 4 of them cause they like to be in groups and if one or two die off you will still have 2 more but if they all die then that really stinks lol