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January 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| New Otos
I just bought 5 little ottos from petsmart 3 1/2 days ago. I put them into a fully cycled ( ammonia - 0 , nitrites - 0 nitrates - 10 ) guppy tank. I have some visible algae , but not a lot in the tank. I can't really feed algae wafers as the guppiggies will eat it all with the result being very overffed guppies. I have added a slice of well washed parboiled cuke to the tank and the guppies have been eating that as well. The otos are doing fantastic ( knock on wood ) with no losses yet and very active. Their bellies were not sunken but not rounded either when I got them. Now they are slightly rounded. My question ( finally) is this. Are they usually so hyper? I was thinking of getting them some riddelin...lol ( joking) They are almost constantly swimming around the glass of the tank. They stop and feed for a few minutes and then swim then feed....seems almost non stop. Is this normal?? | 
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January 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Nice otos! I remember having almost that exact same question when i got mine about a year ago. The answer is yeah it's normal. Mine were really hyper for about a week till they finally settled down and started eating normally and schooling | |
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January 21st, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thank you for the compliment and the info.
I changed the cuke in the tank and this time I took the seeds out as they made a mess in the tank...lol. | |
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January 21st, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Yep at first they are really hyper learning all the cool hiding places. Now mine are more active in the early morning and late at night.
Carol | 
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Bum
| I'll take the penny!  Love the Oto pics. My two (the survivors) are now doing great. I had to learn the remove the seeds trick as well. No more tiny messy bits.  Otos Rock!  | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks everyone. The otos are still doing fine, but after hearing that they can die for no reason up to a month after you get them, I am still nervous about them. I can't find zuchinni in the grocery store so I figure it isn't in season. Can the fish eat brocolli?? I have a bunch of that in the fridge to. I am out of cucumber and the ones in the store look awful. I also have iceburg lettuce and green peppers....can any of these be fed to the otos? | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Cute little otos! I have the one, the survivor of three. He's very active but should really have a few friends. | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Congratz on the Oto's.
Good to see you got them as a group and as an odd number at that. No idea why but they always seem to do better in odd numbers 
Yes it is unfortunate that a month is when you can say your 'in the clear' with them but keeping up the water changes etc will help ensure their survival as they are quite sensitive to water quality.
Feeding them brocolli is fine but do blanch it first as that will soften it up for them. Zuchinni as you already know is best. Iceberg lettuce and green peppers are not good. Romaine lettuce and even green peas with the outer skin removed are also recommended greens.
Best of luck with them.
Last edited by ≈ D ≈; January 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 PM.
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks a lot... I do have green peas in the freezer . I have been blanching the cuke to and the guppiggies are absolutely loving it..lol. They pick at it all day long but the otos only once in a while . Not sure about at night as there is always a lot gone in the morning. I have been changing it every day. I will blanch up some broccolli and put that in later today. I do water changes of 25-30 percent every week and the nitrates remain around 10-15 during that time. ) ammonia and nitrites are both 0 . | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| More than likely the oto's are getting at the cucumber during the night when everyone else is getting their 40 winks 
If I may ask, what water conditioner are you using?
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Fishies-for-me they sound like they're really doing well. Keep an eye on your nitrates as these little guys are sensitive as you've heard. | |
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January 22nd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| D.. I use prime for the water conditioner...Thanks Jess. I do water changes once a week and test often using API liquid tests. I also vacumn when I do water changes. | |
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January 23rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
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Last edited by Fishies-for-me; January 23rd, 2009 at 10:50 AM.
Reason: forgot to add pix | |
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January 23rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Really like the 4th on the right. You got him looking right at you! Nice job on photography. | |
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January 23rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks ...that was my fav to!! | |
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January 24th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Looking good  | |
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January 24th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Jess  Keep an eye on your nitrates as these little guys are sensitive as you've heard. | Good advice! When feeding fresh veggies it's easy for the Nitrates to rise a little as the veggies soften and seep into the water. When I'm feeding fresh foods heavily I usually do an extra small water change.
Providing the veggies will go a long way toward helping them survive.
Part of the reason so many don't survive is that they aren't fed during shipping and so many times they don't start back when they get to their destination, or the Flora in their stomachs die and they can't digest their food and they die.
Good Luck, and excellent pictures too.
carol | |
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January 24th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks everyone. They are still doing good. I don't see them eating the veggies much ...but the dark algae coating on all of the plastic plants and decor in the tank is slowing dwindeling and I do see them feeding on that. They are so active and look super good. It is hard to count them and usually I can only spot 2 or 3 at a time but I try to count them all at least once a day. So far...So good ...( knock on wood ) !! | |
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January 25th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| If they are feeing off the algae on the plastic plants, then unless anyone else is eating the veg that you put in, just put the extra veg in once a week - sort of like a treat. Other wise all it will be doing is deteriorating in the tank.
D
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks D.. the guppies ...aka..guppiggies!! actually eat the veggies with much gusto...lol. I have had to feed the tank much less as I was scared of them really over eating. I figured the veggies were good for them to so have continued to feed veggies. Maybe I will cut back to every few days with the veggies . This way I will be sure that the otos don't run out of food and the gups won't gorge themselves to death. ( I actually had a goldie eat itself to death one time on earthworms so I know it can really happen...lol) | |
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| nice ottos, do you have any cave like deco that you can hide the food from the guppies, i have a 4-way pipe which my corys live and sleep its pretty cool  . | |
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| You know I have been trying to think of a way to hide the food from the guppies...but this bunch of guppies are really pigs and can track the food down no matter where I put it in the tank. I don't have a tube or a cave...just a hollow tree stump ornament and it has 5 or 6 openings and then is hollow on the inside...everyone swims in and out of there. I have had gups before that didn't eat the algae disks but these ones will eat ANYTHING ...they even nibble my arm when I am cleaning the tank...lol. And they eat jungle labs anti parasite food with no complaints...no other fish will touch it easily and they gobble it...lol. | |
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January 26th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| If your afraid the Otos aren't getting enough food you could try dropping in broken wafers after lights out at each end of the tank. As long as their tummys stay fat I really wouldn't worry though
Carol | |
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January 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thanks for the lights out tip...they are staying fat and doing good still. I can see the algae going down in the tank but I can see there still is some ...I put the veggies in 2-3 times a week and just feed the gups less . I figure the veggies don't hurt them either as long as I feed them less. The guppies really seem to enjoy the veggies and eat them up...it is funny to see a guppy with half of it's body inside a hole it has chewed in a slice of cuke. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| 13 days and all is well. Otos are eating all the algae in the tank as well as the diatoms. They are feeding well on cucumber, broccolli and brussel sprouts ( one small piece added every few days and removed if not eaten after 12 - 24 hrs). The guppies seem to love having the otos in the tank cuz they happily share the cooked veggies that are fed...lol. | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Otos are wild caught and should be quarantined. I got 4 otos 2 weeks ago and they are quarantined and will be for another 2 weeks. I don't want any parasites that are hard to deal with. If there is a death during the next 2 weeks it will be another 2 weeks before any are moved. I even use a different cheap syphon on my quarantine tank. Mine still haven't slowed down it will be hard to catch them to move them in a couple of weeks. They are great little algae munchers! | |
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February 3rd, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| yeah I know I shoulda QT...and I have a qt tank...it is a 5 gall and right now it has a assortment of weird shaped cull guppies. I don't have the heart to kill them even if they are inbred deformed ( twisted and bent backs ) culls. I usually qt for 2 - 3 weeks ....so far so good. And yes they are great arn't they? I wish there was something I could do with the cull gups without killing them. I don't want them in the main tank as I don't want to breed culls. I could toss them into the tetra tank and any babies born there would not make it but that tank is already right to the limit on stocking if not a little over stocked . | |
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