do ottos clean other fish?

[Briarmoor]

Last night I glanced over at my 20g and saw the gourami facing one of the ottos. At first, given her aggressive temperament, I thought she was doing something to it. It wasn't moving away. I scooted my rolling chair fast across the floor and she ran to the other side of the tank and went to the bottom. Think I scared her. Oops.

Before she ran off and I got close enough to see, I think the otto might have been nibbling on her nose and she was letting him. Her nose was under his belly. That's why I thought she might be hurting him. When the gourami ran off, the otto went up and down the back of the tank, cleaning like crazy. It was fine.

So do ottos clean other fish? I don't notice any weird fungus, parasites, etc on the gourami and she acts fine. What's up? It's not like she hangs out with them or anything otherwise. When the gourami got Ich one time, the corys cleaned her sides and she let them unless they got on her fins. That's why cleaning crossed my mind. No Ich since (fingers crossed never again either!).

P.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

otos do not "clean" other fish. they do however eat slime coats if they are underfed. you should invest increase the amount of algae wafers you feed your tank (if you don't add algae wafers already, you should invest in some ASAP)

 

[boxman]

I've seen this once myself, it was very odd and I did notice that the grouami that it was sucking on wasn't looking it's normal self.

Perhaps it has magical properties like leeches do to humans!!!!(??)

If they keep on doing it then I'd worry, I think pica is right, although mine prefer the real thing so make sure you try and keep a patch of glass with a bit of algae for them to suck on!

 

[Briarmoor]

Thanks for the input. There is some zuchini in there and I wonder if the otto "smelled" it on the gourami who'd just been eating it? Haven't seen it happen again, but I'll keep my eyes open in case the gourami is off. She ate tonight okay and seems normal, but I'll be watching in case the otto found something early.

I put an half an algae tab in the tank each night. There are 2 ottos. That should be plenty, right?

P.

 

[boxman]

If that's your only bottom dweller then I'd do that every other day at the most - if you have lots of algae then I'd cut it down to 1 tab per week.

Also, oto's are best in groups of 3+ (4 of mine died last week if you were looking at my sig - must be releated to lemmings!)

 

[GuppyDude]

iv seen them clean snails (alge off the shell) but not fish. i have heard they will go for the fish if they are out of alge, but i dont see a gourami taking it on the nose by a little otto, are u sure the gourami wasn't just nudgeing teh otto around, they will do that if they feel other fish have invaded their space

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would be concerned your oto is actuallu a chinese algae eater and they can often be mixed up with oto, here some links with pics;

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile47.html

http/fnp_oddball.tripod.com/oddball/lemonalgaeeater1.jpg

These guys become evil little fish and will become very terotorial and agressive as they grow and will suck the slime coats and eyes and anything else they can get a hold of off other fish, when little they are peaceful enough but as soon as they start becoming agressive its not gonna stop and you will have to think about removing the little bugger away from other fish.

 

[GuppyDude]

yes thats what happend to me to, i bought 3 chinese alge eaters (thinking ottos) 2 of them have died (no idea why) but the one i have, i accually like they will grow to 10" thogh are are best kept with outher large fish with bad additudes

 

[Briarmoor]

Thanks for the heads up on the chinese algae eater thing. I think from the pics that these really are ottos. I could be fooled. How fast do CAE grow? These have not grown much at all since I got them. And they are dutiful in their glass cleaning. Usually I never see them interact with other fish, except to ride the current at night with the corys sometimes. It's like the fish need Prozac or something, they can ride for hours after lights out.

It is strange that the gourami tolerates these much better than the corys. I don't know why she is so mean to corys. At feeding time I have to scatter food so the corys get some as she will run at them and chase them away. She lets the neons eat next to her. Weird. And she just doesn't mess with the ottos, except checking that one out that I mentioned, or whatever was going on with them.

She also is the "fun police" with the neons. If they get to zipping around at night where she is resting, you will see her head poke around a log and the neons high tail it to another area to do their playing. She is the matriarch.

P.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its flat bodied fish you have to watch out for with fish like CAE'S as they can get a hold on them easier and although its highly unusual an oto would try to bother a gourami, o would keep a close eye on it- how big is your oto so far? Oto's like the majority of other algae eating fish cannot live entirely by scraping a living off the tank and need their diet substituted with algae wafers/tablets. Otos only grow to 2inchs max i think so if yours s larger than that i would suspect it was somthing else, chinese algae eaters can grow an inch a month.

 

[Briarmoor]

how big is your oto so far? Oto's like the majority of other algae eating fish cannot live entirely by scraping a living off the tank and need their diet substituted with algae wafers/tablets. Otos only grow to 2inchs max i think so if yours s larger than that i would suspect it was somthing else, chinese algae eaters can grow an inch a month.

The ottos are little things, maybe an inch or so long and neither have grown much since I got them 2 months ago. One has a rounder belly than the other, whatever that means, if anything.

Other than riding the current with the corys at night, they don't intereact much with any other fish. Any they get out of the way if the gourami is foraging, even though she is not mean to them like she is to the corys.

I put shrimp pellets in after lights out (or the gourami eats everything) and I break up algae wafers (one a day), also after lights out, so there is some for the corys and ottos.

I sure hope they are ottos and not CAE. I guess if they start growing a lot, I'll know.

P.