AJ the oto

[kaley822]

i got him i think it was like 5 days ago. he seemed okay at first and ihad a lot of algae so he was all happy swimming around and sucking all the algae off like CRAZY. also i have never seen a fish that poo's so much in my entire life, but i guess thats beside the point. Anyway, now he has eaten all the algae pretty much off all the plants, rocks, glass. He just sits on the air tubing in the corner of the tank and seems to not want to leave that part of the tank. I dunno if he is scared or what. so i put a cucumber in there today and weighed it down but it has been in for like 2 hours and he wont eat it. Will he die if there is not a constant supply of algae? i never thought he would clean it off so quickly...

 

[kaley822]

oh by the way i did a like 15% water change the day i got him and last night.

 

[heresmike]

My otos compete with the cories for the food on the bottom when the algae is gone. So, they do eat stuff other than algae.

I've also had otos that act the way you describe, and then they suddenly die

Do you just have the one oto? A small school of them might help get him more active.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Do you just have the one oto? A small school of them might help get him more active.

That's what I would suspect and suggest.

Did we see AJ the other day in the pics section? I remember saying about the need for more than one (usually).

 

[kaley822]

yeh i was gonna get more but then seeing how quickly one depleted all the algae, i thought i shouldnt

 

[heresmike]

You might still be OK in getting more though, since mine eat the granule food that falls to the bottom. I will add that the tank with the otos that do this has sand substrate, so it's much easier for them to find the food.

 

[Liliano]

I would definately get AJ a mate or 2 to play with, As for there being enough algae, if there is not enough for 2 otos (and you don't have any other bottom feeders) then you can feed them shelled peas, cucumber, spinach, bottom feeder pellets or algae wafers. I have 2 and am planning on getting another.

Unfortunately with Oto's they do have a tendancy to just die, this is because they are not bred at a hatchery, but caught in the wild. As they are very quick and small the streams that they reside in are laced with cyanide to make them easier to net. If the LFS have not given them suitable time to adjust, then a second move to your home aquarium can be just too much for them. This usually happens within the first 2-3 weeks.

 

[corrosive]

Yeh, defo get him a friend, im stocking my 20g tank up with them and a couple of other fish, i was thinking of getting no less than 3.