Otocinclus managment.

[prsturm]

Hello, I have some questions about my oto catfish. First I bought 3. One swam up a powerhead and got stuck and died. So I bought 2 more. So now I have 4 otocinclus catfish. (I took out the powerhead.)

I've had them about two months. I stress constantly over whether or not they have enough food. Because of this, I only scrape the front glass pane and let green stuff grow everywhere else. Thing is, I can't tell if they're eating it. I drop in algae wafers and they ignore it. There is some brown algae growing on some Texas holey rock, but they ignore that too. I see them scouring clear glass and clean plants.

Their stomachs look round. Are they living off of microscopic algae, and don't need the "established" green algae (the hard stuff that comes in circles)? Should I just scrape the old algae, thus giving room for more new algae?

I have a 20 gallon high tank with lots of plants. 4 otos and 3 flagfish. 1 bamboo shrimp and 1 african dwarf frog. 28 watts of T5 lighting.

 

[OrangeCones]

My otos ignore algae growing on rough rocks, but keep rounded rocks clean. I've never seen them touch green spot algae.

They do eat the microscopic bacteria slime that grows with algae and we cannot see it with the naked eye. I have taken high-powered photographs and have seen the clear 'path' they leave when sucking on seemingly 'clean' glass. As long as they have rounded stomachs, they should be fine. They prefer young algae over older algae.

Not sure how the oto would have died with a powerhead. I keep three species of otos and all of my tanks have had powerheads.

 

[IThinkTherefore]

Lovely tank!

If your otos have full, round stomachs, they are getting enough to eat. With the attention you pay to them, I have no doubt you'd notice if their stomachs became concave. In the event of that happening, you could grow more algae for them on rocks in a sunny window.

Few otos will eat algae rounds - although some will take blanched zucchini or spinach

 

[prsturm]

I put my powerhead down low to provide current for the bamboo shrimp. One of the otos swam up the nozzle diffuser and couldn't back out. His side fins got past a plastic flange and he couldn't back out.

 

[Kiara1125]

Aww. I had 2 Otos. 1 died from stress a few days after I got him (they were freshly wild-caught and he wasn't eating, my fault cuz I should have waited). The other died a week ago for unknown reasons I had enough algae in the tank and I gave him zucchini, but I found him hanging upside down from my heater on Friday. I have a heater that doesn't shock or burn you, and when I found him (even though he was dead) I still had to pry him off as if he was stuck there.

 

[nanu156]

Yeah i lost a cichlid in a power-head once.... Many years ago i used to just suction them to the glass with the bottoms uncovered to provide maximum water flow....

If you buy a sponge filter (2-3.00) and put the head on the top of it it will keep fish from getting sucked up as well as provide additional filtration.

 

[aakaakaak]

Yeah i lost a cichlid in a power-head once.... Many years ago i used to just suction them to the glass with the bottoms uncovered to provide maximum water flow....

If you buy a sponge filter (2-3.00) and put the head on the top of it it will keep fish from getting sucked up as well as provide additional filtration.

Just a thought. Couldn't you just butcher a net and wrap it snugly around the whole head? Or maybe an old nylon? It might provide more flow.

Personally I'm 50/50 on otos. One died within a week and the other got good at dodging kuhli loaches.

 

[Noxamanda]

So glad I found this thread. I just got a couple of otos' to replace our nasty tempered Bristlenose Pleco; our otos also prefer "clean" areas, and don't attack the visible (to us) greenish algae. They are growing quickly, and do not SEEM to be thin. Since now I know to check the tummys' for roundness, and that they are eating what we cannot even see, I feel much better. Thanks.