Ottos are Breeding
- Thread starter Waterloo Kid
- Start date
Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
Stuck six eggs in a separate tank and left them for the weekend. I now have at least 3 fully formed 2mm long ottos!
WK
WK
corrosive
Fishaholic
Dude! Nice oneWaterloo Kid said:
, I havnt heard of anyone else who has bred oto's.TorPeteO
Fish Crazy
That's very interesting, congratulations. I haven't heard much information, either, try and record the parameters and if you've done anything unusual to the tank that may have coerced the spawning, make sure to let us know!
Just a question, if you look at the bellies of your otos, can you see a noticeable difference? I think that there may be a way of sexing them where the male has a darker-coloured belly, whereas the female's is larger and all white. If you have a picture of your otos from their bottoms, it would help me with this theory.
Thanks, and congratulations again!
Just a question, if you look at the bellies of your otos, can you see a noticeable difference? I think that there may be a way of sexing them where the male has a darker-coloured belly, whereas the female's is larger and all white. If you have a picture of your otos from their bottoms, it would help me with this theory.
Thanks, and congratulations again!
Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
Hi Waterloo Kid
Congratulations on the spawn. I hope some of the fry have survived.
Otos are very interesting fish and are, from a lot I have heard, difficult to get established in a tank. You must have done an excellent job.
I hope they will spawn for you again, when you are expecting them and are better prepared to raise them. The future spawns might yield more eggs too.
If you haven't seen this site, you might enjoy it. There are links to a number of interesting articles about otos on it.
http
/www.otocinclus.com/
Congratulations on the spawn. I hope some of the fry have survived.
Otos are very interesting fish and are, from a lot I have heard, difficult to get established in a tank. You must have done an excellent job.
I hope they will spawn for you again, when you are expecting them and are better prepared to raise them. The future spawns might yield more eggs too. If you haven't seen this site, you might enjoy it. There are links to a number of interesting articles about otos on it.
http
/www.otocinclus.com/Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
Well, it's been a week and 6 days since the eggs were laid and I have 3 oto fry doing quite well. I did have 4 but one became week and stopped moving much. It was placed back in the community tank to take it's chances. The other three are starting to exhibit the typical grazing behaviour of the adults. The only food I've placed in the tank is liquifry no. 1 for the rainbow fish fry in there with them. I did try boiled lettuce but they were not interested. They tend to graze the sides of the tank, feeding (I think) on the general grime on the tank sides. I have deliberately left the sides dirty to allow the fish a ready source of food. I cannot see any algae growth but there must be something there as they have grown to 5-7mm total length now. They could well be eating the liquifry that sticks to the sides/bottom of the tank.
I do daily 30% water changes using either water from the community tank or conditioned tap water.
The fry are showing a mottled brown colouration and are vigorous swimmers when they are not stuck to something. They dwarf the 4 day old M.Praecox fry they share with.
The tank is not filtered and has no artificial light (it's a combo tank and you can't have one without the other). The filter would spell the end of the rainbowfish fry. As the fry grow I will introduce filtration.
I'm going to add algae scrapings from the main tank this evening to add another source of food.
So far so good.
WK
I do daily 30% water changes using either water from the community tank or conditioned tap water.
The fry are showing a mottled brown colouration and are vigorous swimmers when they are not stuck to something. They dwarf the 4 day old M.Praecox fry they share with.
The tank is not filtered and has no artificial light (it's a combo tank and you can't have one without the other). The filter would spell the end of the rainbowfish fry. As the fry grow I will introduce filtration.
I'm going to add algae scrapings from the main tank this evening to add another source of food.
So far so good.
WK
TorPeteO
Fish Crazy
That's good to hear. I just realized that the pictures you took show the Otos engaged in something very similar to the 'T' formation which Corys use with their mating. Your pictures might be some of the best, if not the first, of Otos engaging in this.
One thing I'd recommend you try is a sponge filter for the (hopefully) next time you have the Otos spawn. Many breeders keep a sponge filter in their community, and when they find eggs, they simply throw it into the fry tank to offer biological filtration. You seem to be doing quite well, but more filtration never hurts.
Have you got any pictures of your little fry? I'd love to see them.
Cheers,
Peter
One thing I'd recommend you try is a sponge filter for the (hopefully) next time you have the Otos spawn. Many breeders keep a sponge filter in their community, and when they find eggs, they simply throw it into the fry tank to offer biological filtration. You seem to be doing quite well, but more filtration never hurts.
Have you got any pictures of your little fry? I'd love to see them.
Cheers,
Peter
Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
The only one I have taken to date is further on in the same thread that the first pictures are in.
Still got three. One of them is far bigger than the others already which is strange as they are not competing for food at all.
I do daily water changes so water quality is not an issue really.
WK
Still got three. One of them is far bigger than the others already which is strange as they are not competing for food at all.
I do daily water changes so water quality is not an issue really.
WK
Waterloo Kid
Fish Addict
Down to two fry now. The other stopped eating and faded away. They are about 1cm TL now and colouring up well. They are light brown with dark brown patches along the sides. They are definitely grazing off the bacterial growth on the side of the tank. I put some algae from the main tank in there but they just pass straight over it without stopping. looks like, at this stage in their life cycle they are into very soft, fine food. I did put some BBS in the tank yesterday for the rainbow fry. The oto's stomaches are a bright red colour now which seems to indicate that they are hovering up the shrimp that sink to the bottom as they are dying. I hope so as when I put the filter on in a short while they bacterial growth will definitely not be as prolific as it is now. They are becoming far more active at night now too.
WK
WK
clutterydrawer
where is my mind?
Sweet
do you have pH/hardness/any other useful readings of your water that might be useful for others trying to get them to spawn?
do you have pH/hardness/any other useful readings of your water that might be useful for others trying to get them to spawn?
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