skippi

My female ottos are super full of eggs. What kind of environment do i need to make them in the mood. Will it hurt the females if they don't lay their eggs?? I have 10 ottos and most of them are females i think. It looks like 2 are males because they are still really skinny. Does anyone know about these cute little buggers.

Heidi

chickadee

OH GOODY!!!! Get Pictures as the guy on the http://www.otocinclus.com will want pictures. Otos have only been bred in captivity a very few times. I think my little pair did a couple of times but Alexander had a snack and that was that. My temp is at a solid 82 degrees which they seem to like and I feed them Hikari Algae Wafers about 1/2 wafer a couple times a week and I do not do more than one 50% water change a week. My ammonia is 0, nitrites are 0, and nitrates are 10, pH 7.4, Alkalinity(KH) 150, Hardness (GH) 300.

This is all I know. You might try looking on the otocinclus website I listed above as there may be some information about breeding them but it probably won't be much as I am sure that I had only heard of it happening once before my little ones did. and I am sure there have been more but for some reason they do not seem to write about it.

Rose

skippi

Here's a couple pics of my ottos.... are they prego

Heidi

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	PICT0005.JPG (262.6 KB, 61 views)

skippi

I just check water levels and this is what I have. 10 gallon tank. Temp @ 80F Ammonia @ 0 Nitrite @ 0 Nitrate @ 20 GH @ 17 and pH @ 8
When I turned on the tankslights this am they all went crazy, should I leave the lights off so they don't get stressed. The tank wouls still get light from the room so it wouldn't be total darkness.

Heidi

chickadee

I do not know. Mine never looked that plump but I do not see mine every day, sometimes not for a week or more. They only really come out a lot at night and the going ape thing when the light comes on is normal not wear and tear so don't worry about it. Your conditions sound fine so just watch them and let nature take its course, I guess unless you have a q tank to put them into. But I am not real sure that would be a good idea either. This is really uncharted territory here. Butterfly would probably know about the most as she has had cories that have given birth or layed eggs and I am at a loss.

Rose

Butterfly

Skippi if you are sure you have males and females I would recommend moving them to another tank where they can be alone. plenty of plants and other stuff to hide in and good water quality should have you seeing babies in the not too distant future. Good luck and check out that site Rose sent you
Carol

chickadee

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

Try this page at least.

Rose

skippi

Thanks guys, went to the site and contacted Paul. He sent me a reply to keep him posted with some water levels he knows them to like. I have them in a breeding tank with no snails or other fish. The only thing it doen't have is gravel or any substrate on the bottom. All the gravel and such that I have is infested with snail. I placed some floating hornwort in there this AM from the tank that they came out of to see if that would help. *If you can think of anything else that I should try just let me know there are like 6 of them that are fat.... *I will try and post the reply that I got from Paul on here so you can read it and give comments... *Will keep you updated, and will post new water levels and such tonight to keep a record and you all in the loop.... *keep your fingers crossed....

Heidi

chickadee

All fingers (and FINS) are crossed here. Have had communication with Paul a couple of times, he is great to deal with. Just listen to him as he is the expert by far.

The bettas, otos, cory, and I are so EXCITED!!!!

Rose

skippi

Here is what Paul sent me. I am going to try and get some better pics of the fat females too.*

Hello Heidi-

Yeah they look pretty fat and healthy.* How are you keeping them (tank size,
feeding regiment, etc.) ?

For breeding they like to have lots of plants to deposit eggs (plastic or
otherwise) like swordplants, anubias, or other broad-leafed plants.* They
also seem to like tall skinny plants like vallisneria or some types of
crypts.* Some water changes with water a little cooler than the tank during
a storm (low atmospheric pressure) may set them off as well, similar to
corydoras.

According to some reports they also like softer water that's slightly acidic
(6.0-7.0).* You might want to try to lower the pH with something a little
more natural like a CO2 yeast reactor or something.* :-)* For lowering
hardness, it might not be worth the trouble but some peat moss pellets in
the filter might help.

Let me know if you get any really good shots of a pregnant female close up.
The pictures you sent were somewhat blurry.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you're successful.* GOOD LUCK!
~Paul

Below are acouple better pics of the ottos..

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	prego otto 2.jpg (103.3 KB, 42 views)
	prego otto 3.jpg (166.1 KB, 42 views)

chickadee

How are things going? Are they still little fatty Otos? The pictures are very good, it is too bad they won't give you a profile shot. Isn't just the pits to try to take pictures of the fish.

Rose

skippi

Sorry I haven't posted lately have had a breakout of URI here (upper respritory infection) As of today still no action. The females are still really big. I don't think they are going to ever release the eggs. I put them back in the bigger tank to see if they just like it there better. I was getting worried that they might not be getting enough of the algae that they so love in the smaller tank. I will let you all know if anything happens.


Heidi

0morrokh

Any updates??

skippi

Wow I forgot to update here, sorry guys.... My ottos went through a bad spell Found some dead in my 55 tank. I don't knowwhat did it but still have some left. Never did have any babies. Females are still fat but never see any eggs anywhere. They usually hide on me so will just have to wait and see what happens I guess.

Heidi

ucdchan

Mine otos never got that fat... but already given birth twice. The babies are soooo tiny that you can't hardly see them w/ your bare eyes. It looks like a speck of dust. I initially thought they were water fleas or something. When I turn on the light, I can see some swimming against the current. I took some pictures.. I dunno if they'll turn up.

chickadee

If you have documented Otocinclus mating with pictures, you need to get in touch with Paul at http://www.otocinclus.comHe manages the website for these delightful little fish and keeps track of any matings done in captivity as it is VERY rare.

We would love to see any pictures you can share with us. It sounds wonderful.

Welcome to Fishlore.com We hope you browse, comment and question to your hearts content. We have members of all age groups and interests and from many nations.

Rose

ucdchan

Yeah, they're pretty awesome fishes. I didn't really make any documentation since I didn't think the fish would breed in my aquarium. This is my first aquarium.

Here's my tank spec and fishes/plants:
10gallon
Honey Red Gourami
2 Tiger barbs (used to be 3, but one got aggressive. Looking for a 30g tank for them.)
2 Ottos
5 Ghost Shrimps (2 of them are full of eggs)
Java Moss
Java Fern


I had the ottos for ~3 months now. I fed them the alegy waffles before.. but they don't seem to eat it. They love the brown alegies on the glass tho.
Not long ago, i started feeding them cucumbers slices... and they love that stuff. I would see them two swimming around early in the morning bumping into each other and chasing each other around. So I keep feeding them the cucumber whenever they finish eating it. I saw some tiny ottos about 3mm long about a week later. I think they got sucked into my filter or got eaten... So now about 2 weeks later.. i saw around 20-30 super tiny specks of ottos... I think they're less than 1mm in length. On some of the slightly bigger one, I can see their two eyes and belly, everything else is transparent. They're hanging out at the java moss. Some are already cleaning the glass near the moss .
I dunno if the shrimps are gonna eat them or not... they seem to zap around pretty fast. I guess I'll let nature take its course.
I took some photo w/ my digital camera set at maximum quality with macro mode... dunno if they were too small to be captured or not. I'll post them when I can find my usb cable to transfer the pictures.

ucdchan

Oh yah.. i added a cloth (from a tshirt) to cover up the filter suction holes. And I put in a breeders net and moved a few in there (i think i did.. they're too small).