Eskielvr

Hi, I found your site while browsing around for info about Otocinclus. First of all, I just wanted to say that you guys are all crazy! LOL Holy Cow some of you have tons of aquariums! I was nearly floored! You must spend your whole lives cleaning the tanks! lol! I just have 1 55 gallon that has 1 African Cichlid and some kind of Corydora (both are about 4 to 6" long), and a 20 gallon planted tank I'm currently working on. It contains 2 Amazon Sword plants (I just bought last Saturday), some Anubias Nana (one of my favorites, of course the Sword is also becoming a favorite ) 6 neon tetras, 2 Otocinclus (I just purchased 1 yesterday....they've been hard to find, I was told they're out of season right now so I was lucky to find a mate for my other), 1 Panda Cory, 2 Cherry Shrimp and 2 Bumble bee shrimp (all 4 just purchased last Saturday as well.)

I'd like to get more shrimp, since I only see 1 Cherry during the day and at night I see the Bumble bee under my driftwood. There's no telling where those things are hiding. I'm also planning on adding more neons in a few weeks. My tank had been neglected for some time and I'm just now taking care of it again, so it's basically like I'm setting up a brand new tank.

Anyway, I was disheartened to learn that Otocinclus are all caught from the wild. I was told they're not very successful breeders in captivity and I was looking around trying to find out why. I try to get all my fish tank raised since I have strong feelings about taking animals from the wild. I've found that the Otocinclus is the only worthy algae eater out there that won't hurt my live plants. Plecos do good at first but then stink at it when they become adults, and also get very big. I'm fighting algae big time since I neglected it for so long and it seems to have hardened on the glass. I scrape and scrape and scrape and only make small progress. If the Otocinclus and shrimp don't eat much of it I may have to resort to using a razor on it.

So, that's how I found this forum. I'm also on a dog forum that's surprisingly set up identical to the way this one is. I'm from Columbus, OH.

Jmarcus

Welcome to FishLore stick around and I am sure you will get all of Questions answered.

Butterfly

Welcome to FishLore!! If you still need oto information may I suggest www.otocinclus.com . It is an awesome oto site
Carol

Richard

Welcome aboard.. your setup sounds pretty cool.

guppygranny

Hi! I wanted to welcome you, fellow newbie. I really like this site, and I know you will too. I found a tiny mention in my catfish/loach reference book about otocinclus breeding. They lay their eggs on broad-leaf plants (Dr D Pool, et al) Wholesale breeders report them laying eggs on the side glass of the aquarium (The Innes book). So, hopefully, you have a pair. Add an amazon plant and see what happens! Good luck! Guppygranny.

atmmachine816

Welcome to fishlore Eskielvr.

Joe G

Welcome to FishLore.
Joe G.