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What Do Ottos Eat?

MegaZerino

MegaZerino

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I am going to be purchasing around 3 ottos at the weekend and wasnt sure what they fed on, i have some wafers that i used to feed my plec and some pellets i used to feed my catfish, but apart from that i dont know what else they eat, and what i could give them as a treat, please give me some advice, thanks :)
 
Mine used to strip the tank of algae quicker than it could grow!!
 
They're algae eaters, but your tank probably won't have enough for them.
Mine love courgette, broccoli stalks, & green beans.
Mine will occasionally nibble at an algae wafer, but prefer the veggies.
You can put some rocks in a bowl of water & leave in a sunny place to grow some algae for them, but that does take a few weeks
 
just to add they are very picky about what they will eat and can be hard to keep alive too. I've had 5 in the last 6 months or so and lost them all. They seem to stress very easily and then keel over.

I just wanted to warn you :good:
 
Akasha's right, they can be quite fragile, especially in newish tanks.
Touch wood, I've been lucky with mine, they're all doing well.
When you go to buy them, spend some time watching them, especially look at their bellies, they need to be rounded to show they're feeding well.
If they're sunken, then don't buy them
 
They'll also eat zucchini, cucumber, winter squash, lettuce and other greens. Here they are eating some zucchini:

12-16-07 with zucchini.jpg
 
Cazgar said:
They're algae eaters, but your tank probably won't have enough for them.
Mine love courgette, broccoli stalks, & green beans.
Mine will occasionally nibble at an algae wafer, but prefer the veggies.
You can put some rocks in a bowl of water & leave in a sunny place to grow some algae for them, but that does take a few weeks
Click to expand...


Inchworm said:
They'll also eat zucchini, cucumber, winter squash, lettuce and other greens. Here they are eating some zucchini:

View attachment 66268
Click to expand...

do you need to boil the veg before you give it to them?? and what types of algae do they eat, at the moment i have brown and green algae, what exact types do they eat?
 
They'll eat both but prefer the brown algae.
Blanche the veg for a couple of minutes to slightly soften it before putting it in.
You don't have to, but softening it slightly first means they'll start to eat it quicker
 
re cooking veg.i tend to nuke mine for a few secs just to soften.sometimes they still don't touch it for a day till it's soften up more.
Algae wise, they seem to like 'soft'algae such as diatoms.They won't touch Black brush, Green spot or Staghorn.Mine spend a lot of time on broad leaf plants,obviously grazing on stuff i can't even see.
Just my experience.
 
I feed the same thing to both Otos and Bristlenose Plecos, so I prepare a batch and freeze it so it's ready when I need it. This, instead of boiling which causes vitamin loss, also softens the tissue of the vegetables so the fish can eat it easily.

I slice them up, freeze them on a cookie sheet, then store them in layers (with waxed paper between them) in plastic containers.

freezing zucchini.JPG
 
Do you just add cucumber as it is? I have 2 otos in my new tank and they both seem happy enough grazing my plants, filter, glass and stones in my tank. I add wafers but to be fair my guppys prefer them lol :/
 
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