Dilemma With New Ottos

[snazy]

Thanks Baccus. Yours have more brown on the top body than the ones that died on me. Instead of brown, the whole top body above the black lines was actually black and white, except the surviving otto who was brown. It's really strange. They actually look more beautiful when they are stressed

I think, the survivor and the two new ottos seem ok, though I don't want to be jumping to conclusions yet. I saw them playing and polishing the plant leaves, however there isn't any algae I can see but this tank has been setup for over a year so there's probably/hopefully miscroscopic stuff they can eat. I don't want to stress them, and they are still kind of under quarantine, but maybe they'll do better in my 100G. There is anubias all over and I can see algae on the older leaves. I've got a common pleco for competition there who eats half a cucumber in two hours and his mouth is as big as an anubias leaf, so he is literally missing the point but he's trying hard the poor thing so I can't blame him.

How do I grow algae on the window? Can I use a stone or something to grow it and do I need a lot of sunshine? There's almost none here but it does get bright enough to call it a day
Do I put it in dechlorinated water or just tap water?

 

[Baccus]

Mine seem to have very mottled brown backs, last night I was watching them and my original ones are really solidily marked down their sides and quite dark on top.

Algea to grow on the glass is pretty simply just add light, even a lamp with the flexible neck and you could shine it at one area. Or you could get some rocks (tank safe of course) and put them in a shallow dish of water (water covering the rock) and leave it in the full sun, before you know it the rocks will develop a lovely green coat and then you can add the rock to the tank. I would only put one green rock in at a time and keep the others growing their blanket so that you have an on going food source. For the water just plan tap water will do, since the sunlight will evaporate off any chlorine and the water will age naturally in the time it takes for the algea to grow. If you wanted to you could add a pinch of fertilizer something high in urea for the nitrogen which will kick start algea growth. If you don't have enough sunlight then putting the dish on a window sill or similar place in a room where the house lights will be on for long hours should also work.

The other bonus of using a dish of water to grow the algea you can also get mozzie wrigglers in the water. I always see mozzie wrigglers as a bonus since all of my fish (expect maybe the oto's, but they where interseted in blackeworms that I put live into the tank) love to scoff mozzie wrigglers. Its really funny to see a cory bumble into a wriggler and then realise it just disturbed some food and then have the cory hunt down the wriggler and inhale it in one gulp, then go looking for more.

 

[snazy]

Opposite to any common sense I am now going to try to grow algae

 

[Baccus]

Yeah most people are cursing algea and here are oto and other algea eater lovers doing everything in their power to grow the stuff . If you have a decent enough tub you could also try soaking some timber in it for a few weeks, the timber will also grow some interesing micro plant life and if you do it during spring/ summer and out doors you can end up with your own supply of live bloodworms.

 

[snazy]

Yeah most people are cursing algea and here are oto and other algea eater lovers doing everything in their power to grow the stuff . If you have a decent enough tub you could also try soaking some timber in it for a few weeks, the timber will also grow some interesing micro plant life and if you do it during spring/ summer and out doors you can end up with your own supply of live bloodworms.

I put that up under my "monster platy" thread but you can see a couple of the ottos in the same video.

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_VsZKBnko0

 

[snazy]

The 3 otos are still alive, well coloured and doing fine from what I can tell. The smallest one which is one of the latest 2 I bought is in a constant cleaning mode, he does more work than the pleco. The other two are lazy sods and prefer to swim around rather than clean. And they don't hang around together at all, the two bigger ones sometimes stay together on a leaf but the small one keeps it to himself. Their heads really look like a snake head if you look at them straight when they are perched on a leaf They can swim so fast too!! I really think they'll enjoy the space in my 100G a lot better and I'll move them at some stage in the coming weeks.

Also, my 5 sterbai corys are doing great, zipping around the tank. They look a bit skinny but I'll fatten them up. And they are also not shoaling, scattered all over the place and they do like joining the platy gang from time to time.

 

[snazy]

I moved the two big ottos to my 100G tank, plenty of algae on stones and anubias there. They wen't to work straight away. I can't find the third small one at all. He was so active yesterday and he is no where to be found today

 

[snazy]

I found the third otto, stuck behind the plastic that holds the Fluval U4 filter. How did he manage to squeeze, I have no idea. He's still alive, his tail is in bad condition but I hope he makes it.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Those U-series brackets are death traps for small fish, I lost two rare male Phenacogrammus nigropterus to them earlier this year, I was not amused. Since then I ran the U4 in that tank without the bracket, resting the filter on bogwood to set its position. Good luck with the Oto.

 

[snazy]

Those U-series brackets are death traps for small fish, I lost two rare male Phenacogrammus nigropterus to them earlier this year, I was not amused. Since then I ran the U4 in that tank without the bracket, resting the filter on bogwood to set its position. Good luck with the Oto.

First time I noticed this happening, but I did have 3 pygmy corys gone unaccounted for without any dead body to be found. I always thought that they died and got eaten but it crossed my mind now after 4 months since the accident that this could have been the cause

Edit: Forgot to mention that the oto is back to being his active self. He is a lot more active than the two bigger ones I got who were like kids in a swimming pool when I moved them to the 100G last night

 

[Mamba]

Glad all three are out and about as they should be. My Dad got 6 of these, exactly the same as the brown ones pictured previously.

He has an Algae problem in his tank since his large BN seems to spend it's life chewing on the bogwood and not clamped to the glass. Perhaps it is allergic to Algae!! There are various Rainbowfish in his tank. He added the 6 Oto's and since then they've cleared up almost all of the plants and are working at some of the bogwood too and that's only in 2 days! How can something so small eat so much!! (That's something many a mother has said about the boy child!!

 

[snazy]

They are indeed lovely. The three are still with me and the injured one is a happy bunny like nothing happened. I would love a big school of them to see them shoal.

 

[snazy]

I moved the third otto to the bigger tank too last friday. He is still missing half his tail but is growing. And all three are doing great but they don't school together, they don't even come close to each other in that big tank. Maybe it just makes them feel comfortable that there are more from their own kind, I don't know. I am still learning about their behaviour but even the small one that was on his own for a while in the other tank seemed to me just fine and very active. Also, the surviving one from the original 3 I bought didn't go over excited that there was more ottos in the tank, in fact it made no difference. I suppose one has to have over 10 of them to see their true nature.
I normally put a cucumber for the pleco every 2nd or 3rd day and although I saw the small otto hang on one in my other tank sharing with the baby bristlenose, the other two bigger ottos have never even approached veg so far. There's still a bit of algae in the tank but not too much. There must be some type of food ottos go crazy for?

 

[Mamba]

I'm glad to hear your Otto's are still doing fine.

I've noticed from watching my Dad's 6 Otto's in his tank is that they seldom shoal. When they are grazing they can be all over the tank individually. However, when the lights go out you do see them gather together for safety. I suppose seeing them all over the place is a sign that they feel safe, which in itself is a good thing is it not?

 

[snazy]

In fairness, the only fish in this tank that stay together and swim together are a bunch of male guppy I raised from babies and a 2 of the 4 male platies are inseparable. Isn't it odd? The 13 corys I have don't shoal. The 5 clown loaches do sleep together in a cave but once out, they scatter all around the tank unless fighting for food.