What's Up With My Ottos?

[silkiechicken]

So when ever reading up about oto's, it always said they did best in groups. Well, I have 6 ottos and 7 guppies in a 20 gallon long, with about 50% of the tank filled with frill and another bushy floating plant who's name has passed my mind at the moment. I only have 1wpg but the plants are growing like weeds regardless. The guppies seem to like grouping up in the top left corner when ever they see me... expecting food I bet, as the chickens, turkeys, cats and turtles seem to follow me too despite the once a day feedings.... but the ottos are just dispersed along the tank. I thought the ottos would like to group together but rather seem to be randomly distributed in the tank along walls, plants, and substrate. Is that normal? In hind sight, perhaps they would have been just as happy as a group of 3, and then I'd get a few more guppies to idealistically fill in the middle space!

Thanks for any suggestions on "proper" otto behavior.

 

[schooly20]

I dont know if I know "proper" oto behavior but I do know that I have a group of 3 of them and much like you they are usually just spread about the tank. Occationally 2 of them will be near each other and I think only once or twice have I seen all three of them right near each other. So all in all I would say don't fret too much about it, I'm sure that they are fine and enjoy the company of the same species but may not exactly school.

 

[vinylman]

Don't worry about it; in the four years I've had my five Otos, I've rarely seen more than two of them together. As long as they're fat, they're happy enough.

 

[Amunet]

It's probably b/c they feel safe enough in the tank to spread out. I'm sure if they were in a more stressful environment, or maybe when you do water changes, they group up together.

 

[Corleone]

I think Amunet's right. None of my schooling fish group most of the time. My corys will group together if a fight breaks out at the bottom (my keyholes want the cave that my bristlenose lives in, and occasionally try to run him out), and the rest will form one big cross-species shoal during water changes, but other than that they spread out most of the time.

 

[silkiechicken]

Alright, sounds good then. Guess I was expecting them to do their algae clean up in a group. Thanks!

 

[tenohfive]

I initially added one oto, then 3 more a month or so later. To date only one survived and I think thats the original one, judging by his size. I'm not going to get any more as he seems (and always has done) fine by himself. I'd go with the general consensus which is to keep them in groups if I were you, but from what I've seen its not essential.