DrGueedo

Hi guys!!

Here is what happenned my wife decided to do a second tank (a plant only tank) so i got her a brand new 25g tank. She wanted to grow one of those red tiger lotus (and i got to say her lotos looks awsome) at one point in my other tank my zodiac loach spawned so with her permission i move the eggs to that tank to let the hatch since there are no fish in there. It eventually worked (i saved 4 only in my inexperience with those little loach) so now the algae in that tank started to go up a little more (well actually there was always alot) so i introduced my wife to the oto (cause she was cleaning EVERYTHING by hand in there like when you have your backyard garden) and she was extatic. She didnt find them cute but at least they where part of her clean up crew and thats what counts. Now those little bugged decided to spawn and there is eggs a couple of place in there and i know the loach lay there eggs at the bottom not on plants. Long story short what do you feed the fry for algea eater anyway cause now i have my wife in her baby fish crazr all over my back not wanting them to die (plus i love oto wouldnt mind having a few more in my own tank)

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!

I don't know what to feed them, but if you truly have oto eggs, you're one of rare few who get them to even lay eggs, let alone complete spawning. You're doing something right already.
I would think that they would eat algae from the beginning, since it's such tiny stuff, but I'm not positive. I think we've had a successful breeder around here. Maybe they'll chime in.

Edit: Oh, yeah, and if they hatch, we're gonna want pics. It's so rare that we get to see the little guys, and you'll achieve instant fame around here if you post some.

Barbrella

Getting otos to spawn in capitivity is not an easy thing! If you have oto eggs, congratulations!!

Are you sure they're oto eggs and not something else, like snail eggs? Can you post a picture of them? I'm sure we'd all love to see them!

DrGueedo

Ok will try to post a pick soon. But i have been studying and in sure there not snail eggs. But they seem to be going away one by one and its too soon for them to hatch... And i cant get those loach out of there i would have to remove all the plants...and my wife would kill me... Any idea how i could get my zodiac loack out of there those bugged are pretty small and REALLY fast.

sirdarksol

Trap them? Put a long container on its side on the bottom with a shrimp pellet (or whatever their favorite food is) at the end, and when you get one, lift it out of the water. That's how I snare my Amano shrimp.

DrGueedo

Thanks that sounds like a great idea!!

Allie

Are you sure they are oto eggs? How many otos do you have in the tank? How long have they been there? It's very rare to have them breed in captivity.
http://www.otocinclus.com/breeding.html

DrGueedo

Im sure they are...but there all gone now...i guess i had my chance i should have used an other tank to keep the eggs in... do you guys know if there seasonnal breeder, i mean if everything stays the same they SHOULD breed again right?

Allie

Congrats. I am not really sure about the seasonal part. But I imagine if you leave their tank as is, they breed again.
How many do you have together? I have 3 and want to get 3 more to try to get them to breed someday. I imagine if you google oto catfish you'll learn more about them than I can tell you.

DrGueedo

I currently have 4 in the tank and couldnt even tell you which one is a male or female (can you even tell it on an oto)

Allie

I read that the females are suppose to be stockier/chubbier.

ray-the-pilot

I don’t know about how difficult it is to get Otos to spawn? I have lots of them!

Here are my recommendations:
You need at least six fish preferably more.
A well planted tank with driftwood
Very soft water KH 2-4 deg
pH vary between 6.5 – 7.8
Temp 79F
Lots of algae preferably brown surface algae which they eat first.

Set your tank up pH 7.8 KH 4 and get it green.
Add Otos
After they acclimate change water (5-10% a day) using RO and CO2 bringing pH down.
After about 2 weeks the fish will become very active at first at night and then during the daytime. At first the fish will dart around the tank by themselves. Eventually you will notice one fish chasing another. At this point you will begin to distinguish the sexes. The female will have a larger abdomen, the male slimmer.
Eventually you will see two or three males chasing a female around the tank.
When the female stops usually on the underside of a leaf, one of the males will mount her. Here is a picture of what it looks like:

http://www.otocinclus.com/breeding.html

They stay this way for some time maybe as long as 15 sec.
When the male get off the female moves on and 3-4 eggs will be on the underside of the leaf.
If you want to save the eggs cut off the leaf and transfer it to another tank or a fry net.
The eggs hatch in 48 hours at 79F
They are free swimming in another 48 hours.
I feed them algae from the drift wood and bits of algae pellets.

Here is someone else who is successful:
http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/v...ic.php?t=16816

Actually Otos are really prolific. I have eggs all over my community tank and they breed side by side with my neon tetras.

Amnagrla

Wow. I've been to otocinclus.com before. I just read that other link you posted. Incredicle pictures!

Breeding otos is definitely more on the rare side as far as fish breeding goes. I think the key here is to have a large group of them...

It's incredible that you got some to breed! Congrats!