Oh my god

I came home today and I looked inside my tank and one of my otos died. What could of happened I checked my water and its fine and their wasn't any sign of diesease? Also now I have only one oto, 4 danios (2 are glofish) and three cherry barbs so if I add one more fish what should I add?

 

What size tank?

 

15 gallon

 

I would add one or two more of a single species you already have. 1 or 2 cherry barbs -OR- 1 or 2 danio -OR- 1 or 2 otos.

All three of those are very social fish and get along better at higher numbers of their own kind. (the more ya have within tank capacity the happier they'll be)

 

Can otos be okay by themselves

 

Yeah, but they do better in groups, in my opinion. They will survive alright alone, you will probably just miss out on seeing them quite as playful. (They would probably be more active in groups.)

 

how long did you have the Oto? They tend to be not-so-hearty fish unfortunately. He'll want a buddy or 2 - if you have a quarantine tank for the new otos, you can acclimate your current oto to it and let them enjoy the company while they're in quarantine.

For us, we feel otos tend to die when alone.. we had 2 tanks that had 2 otos each (all we could get from the LFS) and the day after 1 died, the other did - in both tanks.. no sign of disease & perfect water temp and chemistry.

 

All right then I'll get another oto

 

Sorry about your oto. It's hard to have a fish die out of the blue like that.

 

I think this may have been unrelated to the number of otos, Dave. I only have 2 in a tank, and they're quite happy.

But they're really sensitive to changes in pH, heat, water chemistry. I wonder how you acclimidated them? Am really paranoid now in how I acclimate them. How long had you had them?

how long did you have the Oto? They tend to be not-so-hearty fish unfortunately. He'll want a buddy or 2 - if you have a quarantine tank for the new otos, you can acclimate your current oto to it and let them enjoy the company while they're in quarantine.

For us, we feel otos tend to die when alone.. we had 2 tanks that had 2 otos each (all we could get from the LFS) and the day after 1 died, the other did - in both tanks.. no sign of disease & perfect water temp and chemistry.

 

1 month

 

Oh that's odd. You'd expect an acclimation problem to strike way sooner. Not that, then. I can only think of a mini-nitrite or ammonia wave. I use SEachem Prime as water conditionner for extra security.

 

I think this may have been unrelated to the number of otos, Dave. I only have 2 in a tank, and they're quite happy.

yea, 2 is fine - it's what we had in each tank. I was talking about just 1 being alone.

 

Oh sorry. Misunderstood.

 

Sorry about the death, but I agree they're not very hearty fish, I have one left out of 3. He survives on own but doesn't do much; I should go pick up buddy for him.

 

Hmmm 1 month.... Everyone says that if they last about a month than you're good.... you had him for a month... maybe just wasn't that strong of a little guy??

I'm sorry for you loss. I bought two otos... one died within the first week. Then I mysteriously came home with two more!! lol All three are doing well.... but I agree that you should get a friend or two for him.