Can I Get The Otto Catfish This Coming Weekend?

[Fishkeeper4567]

Hi everyone. My local fish shop is getting a delivery of fish this week on Friday. I really want to get a group of three Otos catfish that I have wanted for a month for due to delivery reasons. I purchased one guppy on Saturday and by the time I am ready to purchase the Otos I would of bought 2 guppy's 3 weeks before. My tank has now cycled 8 weeks. Would it be allright to purchase them and not have amonia levels build up? My 3 guppy's are fine and are feeding well. So no high amounts of ammonia yet. Please comment on what you think. Thanks.

P.S My tank is a biube.

 

[electropunk06]

Hi ottos can die very soon after being added to a new tank, it should be a mature tank. They die because bacteria in their digestive system dies during transport, so i would see how they do at the LFS, try to see some nice fat stomachs on them and they should be fine in your tank but might tank a month before you know they are going to be ok.
Lloyd

 

[Fishkeeper4567]

Thanks. I will have a close look at them in the fish shop.

 

[FishFanatic13]

Hi ottos can die very soon after being added to a new tank, it should be a mature tank. They die because bacteria in their digestive system dies during transport, so i would see how they do at the LFS, try to see some nice fat stomachs on them and they should be fine in your tank but might tank a month before you know they are going to be ok.
Lloyd

sos for taking over your question but i never knew that because this weekend i went to my lfs and he had a tank full of otos which i liked but for some reason i didnt thank goodness i think i need to do reasearch but that is very intresting

 

[Fishkeeper4567]

Thanks for the comment.

 

[mattlee]

most ottos die due to the way they are caught. in the wild they are hard to catchdue to the size and fact that they are stuck to everything munching on the algae. so they put cianide or some poison up stream to knock them out so they fall off the plant or wood etc and into a net down stream. this will kill alot straight out and many never recover 100%. so when they are then shipped and kept in poor conditions throughout their journey here or wherever it doesnt help the cause and again many die.

let them stay in the lfs fpr a few weeks and make sure they are eating ok and are active and as mentioned go for the fatter bellied ones in the tank as this almost certainly means they are feeding. unless they are huge then it could be a disease or bacterial infection. ive never lost an otto when adding to a tank and have found them quite hardy when moving them about from tank to tank etc in the past. they will need some kind of algae and this is why they say not to add to a new tank unless its been running for so long but give them things like algae wafers and cucumber, courgette etc etc and they should be fine.

 

[neo83]

most ottos die due to the way they are caught. in the wild they are hard to catchdue to the size and fact that they are stuck to everything munching on the algae. so they put cianide or some poison up stream to knock them out so they fall off the plant or wood etc and into a net down stream. this will kill alot straight out and many never recover 100%. so when they are then shipped and kept in poor conditions throughout their journey here or wherever it doesnt help the cause and again many die.

Never knew about that mattlee. Thats pretty sad

 

[FishFanatic13]

so if i went back this weekend and they looked fatish
how many should i get
my tank has been running for a long time and have lots of BBA do they eat this
also would they be compatible with 4 loachs a cory and a bn plec and some barbs and angels
i put cucumber and lettace in there for my bn plec and tetra tabmin for my ground feeders do they also eat these

 

[mattlee]

they wont eat BBA and due to their very small size wont make a dramatic effect on algae without a huge group of them. i would get 6 at least as they do prefer to be in groups.they should be fine with the stocking suggested the only thing i can think of thats a risk are the angels. as they get bigger they may eat the ottos and the other thing is that if under fed the ottos might try eating the slime from the side of the angels. if this happens remove the ottos straight away as the slime is a barrier against infections etc .

i think 1 of the only fish that will touch BBA are true siamese algae eaters but they can be aggressive towards each other unless in a big tank and a single fish again wont touch the amounts of algae im affraid. if you have algae trouble then find the reason for it and rid it naturally as buying fish to prevent algae isnt the way to go.....

 

[FishFanatic13]

they wont eat BBA and due to their very small size wont make a dramatic effect on algae without a huge group of them. i would get 6 at least as they do prefer to be in groups.they should be fine with the stocking suggested the only thing i can think of thats a risk are the angels. as they get bigger they may eat the ottos and the other thing is that if under fed the ottos might try eating the slime from the side of the angels. if this happens remove the ottos straight away as the slime is a barrier against infections etc .

i think 1 of the only fish that will touch BBA are true siamese algae eaters but they can be aggressive towards each other unless in a big tank and a single fish again wont touch the amounts of algae im affraid. if you have algae trouble then find the reason for it and rid it naturally as buying fish to prevent algae isnt the way to go.....

ok i will leave them for now and try and find the cause first thanks for all your help

 

[mattlee]

they wont eat BBA and due to their very small size wont make a dramatic effect on algae without a huge group of them. i would get 6 at least as they do prefer to be in groups.they should be fine with the stocking suggested the only thing i can think of thats a risk are the angels. as they get bigger they may eat the ottos and the other thing is that if under fed the ottos might try eating the slime from the side of the angels. if this happens remove the ottos straight away as the slime is a barrier against infections etc .

i think 1 of the only fish that will touch BBA are true siamese algae eaters but they can be aggressive towards each other unless in a big tank and a single fish again wont touch the amounts of algae im affraid. if you have algae trouble then find the reason for it and rid it naturally as buying fish to prevent algae isnt the way to go.....

ok i will leave them for now and try and find the cause first thanks for all your help

take a look on here. it may help you
http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/

 

[FishFanatic13]

ok thanks

 

[flix_cw]

most ottos die due to the way they are caught. in the wild they are hard to catchdue to the size and fact that they are stuck to everything munching on the algae. so they put cianide or some poison up stream to knock them out so they fall off the plant or wood etc and into a net down stream. this will kill alot straight out and many never recover 100%. so when they are then shipped and kept in poor conditions throughout their journey here or wherever it doesnt help the cause and again many die.

So this is not how they're caught usually?

 

[Uriel]

+1 for not adding otto's to a tank with Angels. If as the Angels get larger they try to eat the otto's the ottos will deploy there barbs inside the angels mouth and you will probably lose both fish.

 

[Fishkeeper4567]

Going back the first reply's, I have lots of orange algae so that should keep them happy. 2 questions:

Do I need to feed them at night? and Will they be all right in a group of three? ( Six is to much for my tank)