Louise

I have one Oto left in a 10 gallon tank all by himself. I wonder if I should put him in my 25 gallon with harlequins, kuhlis and 2 honey dwarf gouramis. I'm not buying anymore otos because I have no luck in keeping them, I give up.

Any thoughts?

TFA101

your oto is likely to pine away without the company of others either way. I've had no luck with them either, they're so picky sometimes. Never ate my offered algae wafers or flakes, not even blanched cucumber or lettuce! Anyways, maybe you could try getting some from a different location. If you're getting them from petsmart or petco, I've always found them to be hard to raise from the start. If you get them from a fish specialist store, you have much better chances with them.

Tavel

they're very hit or miss...and from what I've seen, will not eat manufactured food. You just have to make sure there's a lot of algae growth for them to munch on.

I have 2 in a 10 gallon, and 2 more in a 20 gallon. I had some in my 75 gallon but I'm pretty sure they got eaten. I thought they'd be really good at hiding, or maybe they ARE that good at hiding and that's why I haven't seen them.

agabr123

i'm sorry to hear that

however, you shouldnt give up on them. otos are great little fish, the problem is that 99% of them are still wild caught. this means that 1. sometimes the methods used to catch them are questionable at best and 2. there is a certain kind of bacteria in their stomachs that lives and thrives off of greens (algae, plants, veggies, etc), since they don't eat any veggies from the time they're caught until basically the time they get into your tank (unless your LFS ensures they have algae to eat, which most dont) then the bacteria in their stomachs will either mostly or completely die off, causing them to starve to death even if they are eating well. generally, a very large percentage of otos die within the first month, but if you can get them to live longer than a month then they'll live for years

Louise

I know I've done so much research it's unbelievable but I've killed at least 15 of them since I started owning aquariums. I promised myself no more otos. I LOVE the little guys they are so funny to watch playing together but when I come home and have to count heads 5 times a day and then fish out little bodies I find it too hard on me. Even worse is watching them die. I HATE it.

I want the one I have left to have a chance and if he goes he'll be my last. I'm just wondering if he'd do better with other fish or all alone in his 10 gallon.

Jonah

I have had a similar experience with otos and now find my self with only 1 left out of 15 bought from various shops over a period of a few months. I ended up putting my survivor in with our betta and they seem happy enough togethe. they have been sharing now since January and they seem to get along fine.

I do thing your would prefer to be in with company rather than all alone in the 10 gal.

But then you could put a Betta in your 10 gal as well, and as the oto is already there it may work for you as well