# Giant Otocinclus



## flanders (May 3, 2008)

Saw some of these at a LFS the other day. Anyone keep them? I haven't done an extensive search but these are a different genus than Oto., no? 

Thanks.


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## plaakapong (Feb 28, 2008)

Are you talking about parotocinclus jumbo, aka pitbull pleco? I have one of the species, parotocinclus pernambuco, and have seen jumbo at work. They are amazing little algae eaters and only get about 2 inches.


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

hmmm. definitely not as "pretty" as those guys. 

Hypoptopoma gulare....probably/maybe?.

http://books.google.com/books?id=L8...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

Just did a quick search. Couldn't these be pretty useful for algae control? If they really eat as much algae, of course. Wonder why nobody talks about these.


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

plaakapong said:


> Are you talking about parotocinclus jumbo, aka pitbull pleco? I have one of the species, parotocinclus pernambuco, and have seen jumbo at work. They are amazing little algae eaters and only get about 2 inches.


 very cool fish, btw.


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## plaakapong (Feb 28, 2008)

Do a search over at planet catfish and see what you can find/


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## monkeyruler90 (Apr 13, 2008)

thatd be awesome to see a 2 inch oto.

go back to the lfs and get them to breed, then come back here and sell them to us!!!


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

plaakapong said:


> Do a search over at planet catfish and see what you can find/



Well that's a little too easy:icon_redf. 

So I checked them out and there really isn't much information. There seems to be some confusion about genus, but I'm pretty sure it's a Hypoptopoma sp.?, but the species are only numbered.

There were some glowing reviews about their algae eating capabilities, like to be in schools, great in Discus tanks, shyer than Otos. (although the ones in the lfs were out and about), like heavily planted tank, soft bogwood, etc.

These were about $6, on planet catfish I saw anywhere from $7-$12. 

Don't have the room unfortunately :icon_sad:, but pretty cool fish. And yes these were 2"+!


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## Natty (Apr 2, 2008)

flanders said:


> Don't have the room unfortunately :icon_sad:, but pretty cool fish. And yes these were 2"+!


A camera and a pic the next time you go to that store would solve your confusion or at least aid in your search.


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

Natty said:


> A camera and a pic the next time you go to that store would solve your confusion or at least aid in your search.


Yea, I guess I figured someone here would have tried these out before. Everyone always tryin' to "fix" their algae problems with "algae eaters" and all....


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## Natty (Apr 2, 2008)

flanders said:


> Yea, I guess I figured someone here would have tried these out before. Everyone always tryin' to "fix" their algae problems with "algae eaters" and all....


You're going to go back and get some pics right? I'm highly fond of pics :tongue:


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

Yea, I could go take a pic. The ones I saw were a little in between these:

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=8244

and

http://www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/image.php?image_id=1063


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## BTDarters (Dec 30, 2007)

I have some Giant Otocinclus (HYPOPTOPOMA SP.) that I've had for about 2 years. Got them at the LFS. I keep them at 78*F in semi-hard water and they are doing great. As far as their algae-eating capabilities, they seem to do a good job. They eat just as much as you would expect for an Oto of larger size. Now if I can just get them to spawn! 

Brian


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## flanders (May 3, 2008)

BTDarters said:


> I have some Giant Otocinclus (HYPOPTOPOMA SP.) that I've had for about 2 years. Got them at the LFS. I keep them at 78*F in semi-hard water and they are doing great. As far as their algae-eating capabilities, they seem to do a good job. They eat just as much as you would expect for an Oto of larger size. Now if I can just get them to spawn!
> 
> Brian



How large are they?


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## hoochi (Apr 10, 2003)

Just picked up one of these guys over the weekend from my local LFS. It was the first time I've seen them too. I didn't want to get too many because they all had sunken bellies and some weren't looking so hot so I thought I would get one and see how it did in my tank. Its belly has filled up nicely, presumably with algae. I'd say these guys are 2.5x longer than an Otocinclus. No clue what species it is though.

Took some quick shots since the Hypoptopoma was sitting on a crypt leaf.








Closeup









Some Nannostomus beckfordi investigating. You can compare its size with the pencilfish.


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## BTDarters (Dec 30, 2007)

My _Hypoptopoma_ are about 3 inches long and look exactly like the one in hoochi's pictures.

Brian


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## captain_bu (Oct 20, 2007)

I picked up 4 of these last week, they were sold to me as Hypoptopoma gulare, mine are 3'' + in length. They seem like interesting fish. After the first few days they became very active in the tank during the day. The one thing that is concerning me though is that they seem to be munching on the leaves of my sword plant. Anyone else notice them to be plant eaters? Since the tank is new and there was only a small amount of diatoms I tried feeding them algae wafers and blanched zucchini but they didn't eat any of either food. Am going to try again with the algae wafers now that they are settled in and hopefully they will eat the algae wafers instead of the sword plant.


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## DavidZ (Nov 17, 2009)

very nice!
Are they like all others, start with eating algae and then get lazy and eat fish food?


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