Red1313

I'm a little concerned about Ozzi. It might be nothing but I don't know a whole lot about Otto's.

I've had him for at least 3 months now. He's in Cooli's cycled 5 gal and I'm getting concerned that there's nothing in there for him to eat. Between the plants and the snails all that's left in the tank for him to munch on is string algae (which "nothing" eats). I don't think that he's ever touched the algae wafer's that I've dropped in and I'm not sure how to feed him without making him come out in the open.

Coolie keeps chasing him and I think that he's either hiding out on my Amozon sword or he's eating it (I think I blame the snails for that though).

Anyone have any advice? I don't have any algae infected tanks (well a little in the 2.5 but I don't think that would work).

dancerhas

You could upgrade your lighting. Every time we've done that we've had problems with too much diatoms...which Otto's do eat if I'm not mistaken. (ours sure clean it up)

Red1313

I'm already at 18W in a 5 gal tank. Any more and my betta would think he lived on the sun.

prairielilly

My oto never ate algae wafers either, but he did like zucchini. I bought a little one at the grocery story, washed it, cut it into slices and put them on a plate, then microwaved it for 30 sec or so. Then I put the slices in a plastic container and stuck it in the freezer. Every evening I'd take out a slice and run it under warm water til it was thawed, then put a veggie clip on it and put it in the tank. He'd be on it pretty much immediately. I'd take it out the next morning. I did this over night bc he seemed to be more active at night, I know other's otos are more active during the day. I also found if I left it in there more than 12 hours or so it would start to rot - not good.

Red1313

I'll try that prairie lilly. I don't know if Coolie will bother him on it or not though is my concern.

dancerhas

We fed ours in quarantine with Cucumber, they spent a lot of time on that.

prairielilly

I know bettas are pretty nosy little buggers (love em for it too!) but is there any way you can give Ozzie a place to eat where he's safe from Coolie?

Red1313

I'm not sure how to do that. It's only a five gal tank, any idea's?

MeGustaUnaPez926

Well, how much bigger is Coolie? Maybe you could find a cave for Ozzi that Coolie couldn't fit in.

Red1313

I don't know if I want to put a tiny cave in there for a curious betta to get stuck in... though I'll see what I can do.

lew2000

ninja apprentice

prairielilly

You're right you don't want to give Coolie any opportunity to get stuck. What about on the tank floor sort of under some driftwood? that way it's not like Coolie can't go there, he'll probably just have little interest in doing so once he sees that all that's different is the addition of a piece of zucchini (which I can't imagine him being very excited about). I found that the otos don't move around very much when they've got the veg to suck on (a soother??) so maybe then Coolie won't bug him, just sort of forget he's there. At least here's hoping??

Red1313

OoooH I LIKE that idea! There could be hope!
THANKS!!!

prairielilly

(-: Love to hear how it turns out!

Fishies-for-me

My otos love cucumber, brussel sprouts and broccoli so far...I hear string beans...peas...romaine lettuce, sweet potato, and summer squash are good also.