GIANT OTO'S

I saw a discussion here, where they were talking about how baby fish end up eating "poop" from their parents to get the bacteria in the 1st place... but an adult fish must not have the instincts to eat "poop" as I've had adult common Oto's and other Zebra Oto's in with my "surviving" Zebra Oto, that I've had for about 2 years... it continues to live, while all others have died...

the trouble I find, with the common Oto, is they all look healthy, I provide for them the best I can, often you really can't tell, as they seem to eat... I'm trying adding Bacter A E to fortify my algae, & am beginning to culture scuds... I think there is a good chance that many of these fish are actually Aufwuchs (Algae and Small Living Organisms) eaters, & our "sterile" aquarium grown algae may not be providing some of the nutrition they need... ( I'm also raising several varieties of Hillstream Loaches ) I also feed Repashi Soilient Green, which, while it's not actually Aufwuchs, it mimics it, maybe baby scuds, or similar can provide added nutrients, as well as the Bacter A E...

@Uberhoust suggested that they were likely not actually in the Oto family, in the other thread... the Industry is calling them Giant Oto's... so I've just been calling them "giants"...

I'd be curious if gut bacteria can be transferred, like it seems to be to baby fish, & if freshy harvested "poop" from an algae eating species. couldn't be introduced into a food the others could, or would eat... maybe something like Repashi... and if, for example a more common "poop" monster, like the common pleco, couldn't be used to seed the common Oto's gut???

just got word that one of my fish orders from another source, is shipping today... so the "Giants" will get exposed to a couple baby Super Red Plecos, we'll see how that goes starting tomorrow... as a plus, maybe the "giants" will see the lil plecos cleaning the glass, & learn from that??? & there is always the possibility or hope of cross bacteria for their guts if needed

also on this order is 4 Cupid Cichlids, so that will change the tank dynamic quite a bit...

Magnum Man said:

just got word that one of my fish orders from another source, is shipping today... so the "Giants" will get exposed to a couple baby Super Red Plecos, we'll see how that goes starting tomorrow... as a plus, maybe the "giants" will see the lil plecos cleaning the glass, & learn from that??? & there is always the possibility or hope of cross bacteria for their guts if needed

also on this order is 4 Cupid Cichlids, so that will change the tank dynamic a little...

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My cupido are wild caught and i can say they are a bit on the shy side; i'd say the shiest fish i own - i did add some wild caught m. egregius and that helped them calm down (the m. egreius are fairly small but they are already laying eggs).

Here is a picture of my cupido:

Well, haven’t seen any face to face confrontations… this is one of the little Super Red Plecos on the same stick as both Giants… no challenges in the first 30 minutes….

This is the 4 new Cupids… they immediately started working over the sand… much differently than the Acaras or Rams… no confrontations here yet either

Well no issues with Giants, and lil pleco’s

Some pictures right there for @CaptainBarnicles. Look at those sucky mouths and the poopin machines

About the algae-How long do you have your aquarium lights on @Magnum Man?
For algae, I’d recommend about 11-12 hours.

@Sir Guppy ... I’m totally not normal on lighting… I’d have to do the math, as tank lights are on my schedule, and algae buildup seems to depend on tank and plant maturity… my 55 gallon that is TOM, has literally no algae on the glass or the plastic plants, at least it doesn’t grow faster than the one Zebra Oto, and my Gold Nugget Pleco ( that’s not a great algae eater) can keep totally clear… my Asian tank gets just slightly more algae than the fleet of Hillstream Loaches can handle ( I need to clean the front glass about once a month ) the TOM tank has mature aggressive growing plants, that have bushed out, and shade the tank from harsh overhead light, and I’m sure the nutrients needed for algae growth in that tank are next to nill… whereas the Asian tank with mostly lucky bamboo ( not an aggressive, fast growing plant ) likely has more nutrients available for algae… I have added several Chinese Evergreens, to that tank, a couple weeks ago, and have already seen a reduction of algae on the front glass… I expect as the Chinese Evergreen matures I may have to try harder to keep enough algae there for all the Hillstream’s, and may even add a 2nd bank of main lights… the newer 45 gallon tank, that the Giants are in has a lot of algae to start, for a couple reasons…. Hours of light ( which I’ll address in a second ) and light intensity ( both my 45 gallon tanks have 2 full length 24-7 lights per tank, because of the added depth ( they are both 24 inches deep ), and lack of maturity of the tank and plants... I have 6 Chinese Evergreens started in this tank, they are as of yet, immature, so, they haven’t bushed out above the tank yet, for any shading, or haven’t started to outcompete the algae for nutrients yet…

Hours of light… I back light my tank backgrounds beginning at 4:00 am, then 1st grow light strips for the plants come on at 4:30 am, then main full length led lights I turn on manually, at 4:45 am, and those stay on until about 9:30 pm ( that can vary by my bed time, but I have a pretty normal schedule ), at which time my lights are switched to night mode, blue lights, for about 15 minutes… tank background lights go off around the time the main lights come on, and come back on about 9:00pm and stay on until around midnight… so altogether, there is some light on for about 20 hours a day, but main lighting is on just over 16 hours a day… I know that’s much more than what would be considered normal, but it centers around my hours… some fish don’t deal well with lighted activity outside their tanks, after the tank lights are off, so this works better for those fish… for example, my shoal of adult Tin Foil barbs can create a lot of tank damage and injure themselves if the tank lights are off, and I come into the room, and turn a bright overhead light on, and start moving around the tank…
So as witnessed by my TOM tank, you can have lots of hours of light, and not have an algae issue, once the tank has matured, if set up correctly…
I’ve not taken a picture of the backlighting on the Giants tank, because of the algae, but this is an example of the back lit background on another tank… not really conducive to algae growth in the tank, but maybe on the back glass… 1st is the overhead blue night light, that I keep on for about 15-20 minutes after the main overhead lights go out...and 2nd is the back lit background, with no overhead lighting, that stays on for an hour or so, after all the other lights are out...

Well the jury is still out on the sustainability of the giants in an aquarium… they are getting along fine with both some little Cory’s, and little Pleco’s, so that’s a good thing… the 2 in my display tank ( the 45 gallon ), haven’t been spending much time off a stick, I am seeing some signs of eating, but the 2 smaller Super Red bushy Pleco’s, being half the size, are eating twice as much… I think so far, it require Repashi, or similar to sustain them… they seem content to hang on a piece of wood all day… they may also have the gut bacteria issue, similar to the common Oto’s

Magnum Man said:

We the jury is still out on the sustainability of the giants in an aquarium… they are getting along fine with both some little Cory’s, and little Pleco’s, so that’s a good thing… the 2 in my display tank ( the 45 gallon ), haven’t been spending much time off a stick, I am seeing some signs of eating, but the 2 smaller Super Red bushy Pleco’s, being half the size, are eating twice as much… I think so far, it require Repashi, or similar to sustain them… they seem content to hang on a piece of wood all day… they may also have the gut bacteria issue, similar to the common Oto’s

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See if @CaptainBarnicles wants them for her tank.

Ahhh I'm in trouble now but I couldn't resist

Colin_T said:

See if @CaptainBarnicles wants them for her tank.

Ahhh I'm in trouble now but I couldn't resist

Click to expand...

Giants are active this morning saw some interaction between the two in the 45, they are both on the glass, rather than their favorite stick, and they actually touched each other seemed almost accidental, as it was like “oh sorry” and they moved apart… also curiously one of the reds was right there as well, and one of the giants touched the red, same “respectful” type of interaction, but those 3 fish were all in a 6 inch space of the tank… they have all peacefully moved on, doing their own thing…
The tank algae is definitely being eaten… the lil reds are typical poop machines, but I’ve not seen any stringy poop from the Giants… but my Zebra Oto In another tank was on the front glass, yesterday, and I was admiring how round and fat it’s belly was, and I’ve never seen poop strings from it, so there must be a different biology going on between pleco’s and Oto’s, so either different gut bacteria, or significantly different digestive systems…

Giants just touched again about a half hour after the 1st time… again peaceful contact, but they are at minimum acknowledging their presence… they may be more nocturnal than the pleco’s are, as after the main lights have been on for about an hour, they have moved to their regular hang out, on the stick…

No territorial issues here… this is the smallest giant, and the biggest of the reds

When I zoom that last picture… almost looks like the giant has a fat belly… maybe was eating algae all night???