Otocinclus breeding achieved (Again)

Doomhed

Doomhed

Large Fish
#1
Feb 11, 2003
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Well, I removed my rosy reds the other day and added some platies and guppies. Now I have around 100 eggs that appeared overnight on a large piece of slate and no way to protect them from the other tank inhabitants. I believe there may have been way more but Binky prolly ate them. My large female is way skinnier now though.

Apparently this is ultra rare in aquaria, so I will be documenting with photos Tonight. Do you guys think i should move my betta to a breeder box and steal his 5 gallon setup for the fry? If I had breeder net I would just move the eggs, but I really dont and I have a job interview in 1.5 hours.

Tank parameters-

PH 5.5-6.2 (not kidding, out of the tap at around 5.9-6.0, adjusts its self lower or higher in a day or 2)
Moderate softness, not exactly soft enough for discus, but close
temp is a constant 82 degrees.

It has rained for the last 2 days, just like the last time I bred these.

I have actually decided to run to the local pet store only 10 minutes away and grab a breeder net for the baby ottos.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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apparently my phone does not want to show a photos, so I will describe. I have about 75-100 little bloblike sets of eyes stuck on a flat piece of slate, sitting in a breeder net near the filter.

I will either have baby Otos or baby Kuhlis very soon. I am thinking ottos because I dont think these look like kuhli eggs.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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misterking said:
You sure Binky isn't a female? If the eggs are in rows it could be that. Lone females often lay a batch of eggs on flat surfaces which are usually either abandoned or eaten immediately.
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the eggs are too small to be angel eggs I think. They also arent white like unfertilized angel eggs. they are clear with little black dots in them, like cory eggs or oto eggs.

Last time my otos laid their eggs on the glass and the sides of a flower pot, so I figured that was what it was. Kuhli loaches have floating eggs as far as I know so it doesn't seem like these could be loach eggs.
 

ValRasbora

ValRasbora

Superstar Fish
#7
May 2, 2009
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good luck! I suck at breeding, my variatus platy was so fat I thought she was gonna blow a huge crap load of fry any second. I only saw one fry yet today, I realized she was no longer preggers this morning. and was the bugger ever sneaky! I couldn't catch him, he was *very* fast.

anyhow great going and good luck!!
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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I am pretty sure they are Vittatus.

Not surprisingly, I have at least 20 free swimmers this morning, and another 10 or so caught between the breeding net and the plastic frame, the rest are in the wiggler stage. I know for sure these are not angel eggs since I only have 1 angel. These are either Black Kuhlis or Otos and since they were attached to a rock, I am betting Otos.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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yeah those are pictures way bigger than fry. I guess I will know fairly soon. I am going to see a friend of mine that runs a pet store later today to get his thoughts on what to feed them. I am sure he has a microworm culture I can steal a piece of.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Well, the wigglers are all prettymuch free swimming. they are already nearly 1/4 of an inch long and are looking to be kuhli loach fry from what I can tell, since my last batch of oto fry years ago took 2 weeks to reach that length. I clipped a large section of heavily clumped java moss and put it into the fry net. I actually saw 2 fry picking at and eating a dead one, so these guys are starting to eat already, at only 12ish hours old.

I am hoping the pack of java moss has enough food in there for them for a day or so, since the adults are constantly diving in and out of the moss I assume is collects particles of food and all kinds of goodies for the fry.
 

Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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this is totally weird, I really can't figure out what these guys are. they all appear to be attaching themselves to the side of the breeder net that gets direct sunlight. the tank water is 84 degrees so I know it isn't heat seeking behavior...

BAH....would these little guys decide what they are so I know what to feed them?
 

O

OrangeCones

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#19
Feb 27, 2009
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Doomhed said:
they are already nearly 1/4 of an inch long and are looking to be kuhli loach fry from what I can tell, since my last batch of oto fry years ago took 2 weeks to reach that length.
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My oto fry were 1/4 inch at hatching and looked like exactly like little otos, shape-wise.

I'd love to see photos of your oto fry from before. Its not well documented that they have bred in captivity.

In the meantime, greenwater and infusoria are pretty much a sure thing for fry food!
 

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Doomhed

Doomhed

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Feb 11, 2003
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OrangeCones said:
My oto fry were 1/4 inch at hatching and looked like exactly like little otos, shape-wise.

I'd love to see photos of your oto fry from before. Its not well documented that they have bred in captivity.

In the meantime, greenwater and infusoria are pretty much a sure thing for fry food!
Click to expand...
the last time I didn't realize they were something special, they were just another catfish to me, I figured they must be as easy to breed as cories since I did about as much work to make them breed ( Read; zero).

After spending 15 minutes watching them, I noticed about half of them still appear to have their eggs sacs and the other half have bellies full of what looks like black stuff. I put in some "first bites" and a few of them seemed to be eating them. They stopped hanging out on that one wall of the breeder net and are now spread all over at all water levels.

my wife is getting the camera going tonight so we can take some pictures.

Edit- oh, by the way- there are at LEAST 50 of these little guys here, if not closer to 100. Thanks to Binky the angelfish, the babies like hiding specifically on the plastic runners of the breeder net where they can't get attacked/scared.
 

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