oto fry...here we go again!!

haven't been on in a LONG time, but just wanted to share the news that my otos have, once again, had babies!!!! yeah!! this will be the fourth time now. I still have the ones that were born 4 1/2 years ago! these new ones (there are 10 of them) were just born on monday, so they are only 5 days old now, but doing quite well. during the past 4 1/2 years we have moved and I have to say,sadly, that I have lost 5 of my otos, but the others are still thriving. I have set up a new 15 gallon planted tank and that is where these new ones were born. right now they are in a breeder net so my frogs don't eat them, but once they are big enough, they will join the others in their new home. I was happy to see others have had success in having baby otos and raising them. I was wondering if anyone knew how long these little guys can live? like I said, the ones I have that were born in aug '07 are still doing quite well. I was also wondering if anyone knew anything about inbreeding amongst fish. this is the one topic for which I cannot find any answers. congratulations to those of you that have new oto babies....they are, by far, my favorites. I keep reading that it is hard to breed these fish, but they seem to do alright all by themselves!

 

More oto babies! YAY! I am so fascinated by watching mine.

 

congratulations on your oto babies!!...you're right, they are so much fun to watch!! I especially love watching them dart around (quick little buggers) I saw that you were worried whether or not the parents might eat the babies...they won't. I did, however, have a betta in my 75 gallon tank and he would not only eat the babies, but he would follow my female oto around and eat the eggs as soon as she would lay them. anyway, congratulations again..I love your pictures...it's fun watching mine grow, but it's also fun watching others' grow as well.

 

Just curious, do your otos hide much? My adults and older "babies" hide in my caves alot. I'm wondering if I need to add more plants to make them feel more secure? My itty bitty babies are all over the place, but it seems the bigger they get the less they move and the more they hide.

 

my adult otos tend to stay "hidden" .....I think since my tank is so heavily planted and I have a huge piece of driftwood in there that they have lots of places that are shaded and they think they are hiding, but I can still see them!! the babies, however, like you said, swim all over the place. I just noticed this morning that there are a couple more babies that may have just been born. they are extremely tiny and haven't really moved from the place on the glass where they were when I saw them last. they also don't really have their "wings" yet (if you know what I mean) they don't yet look like little airplanes!! if you want to see pics of my tank I posted a couple in my other thread about the albino fry. now, at night, the tank comes alive...the adults, babies, everyone is swimming around everywhere...I imagine the same thing happens in your tank.

 

I sometimes have had to get out my tiny flashlight to do a quick head count at night to make sure they're all there. Part of my problem may be my kids. I put the tank on a low sturdy table so they could see the fish easily, but my one year old has a tendency to run up to the tank and that scares everyone, I think. I just put up the extension on the table to keep her a bit further away and help the fish to feel more secure.