How to get my Otos to eat

I have three otos in my tank right now, I've never had otos before. Is there a trick to get them to eat? I tried to get them to eat some algae wafers, but they didn't even flinch. Heck, my guppies enjoyed the wafer til I took it out. I've tried feeding them veggies like I've read online and they just end up sitting there. Am I doing something wrong? I don't want them to die, but I've had them for four days and they won't eat...

 

Otos are wild caught, otos in the wild eat algae and pretty much nothing else. And algaes in the aquarium may never get use to eating processed foods. Ideally you should have let your tank walls get green with algae before buying otos.
Do you have another tank with more algae that you could move them to?
Do you have decorations in another tank with algae on them that could be moved to this tank?
Maybe a freind with a tank has some.
Otherwise, turn the tank lights on high and leave them on 12 hours a day to grow alage. Put a bowl in the window and add some large river rocks and or driftwood and when they are covered in algae, put them in your tank.
You can also try Nori sheets and you should add catappa leaves

 

Very common problem with otos. If i recall correctly there is also a thing with them if they have had too much time without eating in transit or between different places that they will no longer eat at all and die. I failed with my otos when I tried to keep them and did not succeed in getting them to eat.

 

I have not had a problem with otos, but I have them in quite large, well established tanks with plenty of plants and wood. I don't give them any additional food, they feed on biofilm, you don't necessarily have to see loads of green algae. I think they may sometimes take any small bits of fish food left on the substrate, but I am not sure about this. When I first got otos quite a few years ago, I put them in a fairly new tank, at first they would feed on algae wafers (tetra pro) and zucchini, but later on, as the tank became more established they ignored these foods.

 

I have never seen a definitive answer on anyone finding a way to get them to eat if they have initially not taken to what is being offered. Sometimes they just start once they have been in the tank for a while.

I don’t have guppies but I do have endlers and the otos in that tank have decided they prefer being nocturnal which I’m guessing is because of how boisterous the endlers are. For that tank, feeding at lights out (tank and room) works best. For the other tanks they just eat whatever I’m feeding the other fish in the tank (takes time for them to figure out) and will eat algae wafers too.

Some people use BacterAE and say it makes a difference although I never personally have used it.

 

I have never seen a definitive answer on anyone finding a way to get them to eat if they have initially not taken to what is being offered. Sometimes they just start once they have been in the tank for a while.

I don’t have guppies but I do have endlers and the otos in that tank have decided they prefer being nocturnal which I’m guessing is because of how boisterous the endlers are. For that tank, feeding at lights out (tank and room) works best. For the other tanks they just eat whatever I’m feeding the other fish in the tank (takes time for them to figure out) and will eat algae wafers too.

Some people use BacterAE and say it makes a difference although I never personally have used it.

I grow green rocks for species that preferentially eat algae, including Otos. i don’t try to convert them to eat other food, I just give them what they want. They can’t live on biofilm alone though they do eat it.

The Germans call fish like Otos ‘aufwuchs grazers’. Aufwuchs probablhy contains microfauna that the fish eat as they consume the algae but they’re focused on eating the layers of algae and biofilm that are found on surfaces where they naturally live.

If you don’t have any algae, the chances that Otos will learn to eat anything else are not very good and the chances that they will slowly starve to death are fairly high.

Though I don’t know if the practice is still as common as it was fish like Otos were caught using cyanide to stun them, then scooped up and transported, held for however long it takes to get them ready for shipment and by the time they actually get to a fish store, they may not have eaten anything for a week or two. Their gut biome will have died off to some degree and can take time to be restored so they probably can’t digest food as well as they should do for a few weeks at least.

But in the store, they’re confronted with a bare tank, nowhere to hide and no food that they can recognize as being edible. Then they go home with you and again, may be confronted by nothing they recognize as being edible.

Some of them have learned to eat greens or even algae tabs but not many. Now, if you happen to have them breed you can raise the fry to eat manmade food but wild fish grow up knowing what’s good to eat and that’s generally all they will eat.

I think it’s an obligation on the part of the fish keeper to make sure they get the food they need. For me that means growing green rocks for my aufwuchs eaters.

 

Leave the light on to grow algae you can also get a jar of tank water leave near a window until algae grows and put it in the tank.

 

Thank you guys for the advice! definately helpful! I'd assume that they can't live with bettas, but two of my males have algae growing on the walls. One of those males is disabled and wouldn't be able to even do anything to the Otos. Should I try putting them in that tank?

 

I recommend Repashy Soilent Green for otos. Mine will not eat wafers, cucumbers, or anything else. Only algae and Repashy.

 

Otos are a good tank mate for bettas so give it a try

 

So I was planning to move all three to one of my betta tanks, but two ended up dying. I put the surviving one in the tank with my betta. He thrived for about a week, but wouldn't eat so he sadly passed away.

 

So I was planning to move all three to one of my betta tanks, but two ended up dying. I put the surviving one in the tank with my betta. He thrived for about a week, but wouldn't eat so he sadly passed away.

I am sorry to hear that, but it’s distressingly common for that to happen to Otos, poor things.