# Feeding Otocinclus?



## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

Or could this odd behavior have something to do with the CO2 levels? I have a DIY CO2 reactor and it started releasing bubbles today around the same time that I saw my otos behaving strangely. However, the co2 bubbles coming out of the diffusing limewood are really very few and I have had it on for only about two hours all in all today. I doubt this could be the problem... but then, I am not sure, otos are really sensitive fish.


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## blesser13 (Dec 6, 2010)

Add your veggies at night before go bed.


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## BriDroid (Oct 7, 2012)

I freeze my zucchini, fresh and sliced, in a vacuum bag. I then put them in a small plastic bowl and cook 1 minute in the microwave. Put them on a bamboo skewer close to the bottom of the tank. I leave them in the tank for 48 hours. Any longer and they turn to mush.

My Otos, SAEs, and shrimp go nuts for these. I've also used frozen green beans prepared the same way. They will eat them, but not as well.


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

blanch zucchini.. put a slice in some water, boil it for about 10-20 seconds (it should be somewhat mushy), let it cool and add it to your tank. My 2 little guys just devour it when it's mushy. I tried apples, peas, lettuce - none worked like zucchini did. 

They are also nocturnal fish really, they will forage at night - so like Blesser13 said, add it when light are off will help. 

If your oto's belly is plump, then they are doing good - that's all you really need to gauge them by. I maybe put in one slice of zucchini every month now (they find enough to forage from an established tank)


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## evilhorde (Feb 3, 2012)

My oto's eat Zuchini. I put in one slice of blanched and one slice of raw once per week.
I have 25+ oto's and 25ish cherry shrimp and it takes them one week to eat the two pieces. I supplement them with algae wafers throughout the week.


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

Thanks for your replies, guys. I think zucchini and courgettes (in the UK) are pretty much the same thing. I blanched the zucchini for a minute or two and put it in the tank today. But as I said, they simply do not recognize this as food at this point.
I will leave the veggies in tonight and will put them only at night as you suggested.

I should've probably titled this thread as a behavior peculiarity in otos rather than feeding otos cause I believe I have found the culprit for their frenzy. I have the lights on for 11.5 hours a day because I have live plants in which I wish to help grow faster. So after failing to get the little guys to eat today, and after doing a 50% WC thinking there must be a change in the water that has made them feel uneasy, I eventually thought it might be the excessive amounts of light that causes this chaos. I turned the lights off and after 10 minutes or so they got a bit calmer and started eating again (still ignoring my veggies, though).

I read quite a bit about otos before and after getting them home and nothing suggested that light would be an issue. But I guess it is in my case.


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

And yeah, their bellies are still plump. That's a good thing


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## Vermino (Jun 14, 2012)

yeah they're probably full - another indicator to know they found the zucchini is if you leave it on a skewer (so it doesn't move around) and the next morning you see little black specks (that would be the oto's poop). That is a good way to know if they are eating from it.


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

i've tried feeding my otos spinach and zuchini. they just dont recognize it as food. =(


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

Vermino said:


> yeah they're probably full - another indicator to know they found the zucchini is if you leave it on a skewer (so it doesn't move around) and the next morning you see little black specks (that would be the oto's poop). That is a good way to know if they are eating from it.


yeah, I left all veggies on skewers. so far I've seen only one platy relishing the spinach. And his poop is actually light green and scattered around the skewer



MiSo said:


> i've tried feeding my otos spinach and zuchini. they just dont recognize it as food. =(


What do you feed them then?


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

caspolina said:


> What do you feed them then?


they graze on algae. i never see them go after flake food at all. i do drop an algae wafer every now and then in the tank hoping they'll get to it, but i've never seen them go for it.


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

MiSo said:


> they graze on algae. i never see them go after flake food at all. i do drop an algae wafer every now and then in the tank hoping they'll get to it, but i've never seen them go for it.


It's good that you have plenty of algae.

My tank is also full of algae - green algae is growing on the walls and hardscape, diatoms are growing on the live plants and on the rocks. I also have that white slimy type of algae (supposedly algae) growing on my driftwood, plants and tank walls that the otos reportedly do eat. They just hardly eat right now.

I have really ran out of options to help them calm down. One thing I think might be the reason is small doses of ammonia present in the water. The tank had just finished cycling when I introduced them and is probably getting used to the bio load (the otos and the two platies have been eating and pooping heavily for the past few days, because there was a lot of algae). It is really hard to tell though, because my test kit shows 0 or 0.25ppm but nothing in between. (API master test kit).

So I did a big water change today, they have slightly calmed down. Their bellies are still a little plump, so I figure they've been eating at least something. They had not touched the veggies this night though.


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

i saw a youtube video of oto's eating spinach in a tank. but when i tried to leave spinach for them... they just ignored it. my tank is recently set up also, maybe two months now. i been trying to supplement their diet but i dunno... maybe they're dumb or i'm not doing something right.


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## ladymm40 (May 22, 2013)

My otto's do the same type of behavior sometimes. It is usually brought on by a big water change. Sometimes when a storm is moving in they do the same thing, something to do with barometric pressure I think. 

I hope your fish continue doing well.....


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## fish_22 (Jun 13, 2013)

mine act the same way sometimes. as for the food, keep putting it in the SAME place each night after you turn off the lights and take it out in the morning and they should eventually notice. mine took a few days to notice it, but now they really like cucumber (which i usually leave raw). I usually feed them cucumber of a algae wafer 1x per week.
also, my tank doesn't really have any noticeable algae, but their bellies stay plump so i think they must be finding some algae on a rock sculpture i have.


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

Eventually, it did take two days for my otos to notice the zucchini (placed at one and the same spot). I saw all three of them eating from it for a while, but not too much. Maybe they are not really that hungry (plenty of algae) but are rather getting used to their new environment.

That frantic behavior stopped in a couple of days. They got a lot calmer and continued grazing on algae. They do however go back to being just crazy chaotic swimmers ala oto style from time to time. They literally freak me out sometimes because they behave as if they are having a panic attack or something. At times I can even hear it when they bump their noses into the tank walls while swimming at high speed.

I have noticed them hide from the light when it gets dark outside. The tank lights are on till 10pm normally, but at dusk (around 8.30) they gather and look for a shady place to stay as if waiting for a threat to go away. 

Strange little creatures. I love them though!


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## PlantedTankRookie (Feb 21, 2013)

Could be they need better hiding from the light. Now that I've moved to a fairly high light setup, I never see my otos when the lights are on. Not even under the leaves of plants. They are hidden under solid objects (wood, rocks, cave, etc) until the light are off. They are out and about during the day when the grow lights are off.
When the lights come on, they swim quickly for cover.


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## CT89 (Jul 3, 2013)

Agreed. My oto in my 6g Edge doesn't like the light. I hardly see it during the day.

As for otos being delicate, I don't know but I seem to have good luck with them. Have yet to lose a single one.


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## caspolina (Jul 14, 2013)

Yes, they definitely like hiding from intense light behind solid objects. Mine hide behind the filter, air stone and rocks. I have a few background plants but unfortunately I had to trim them severely because they started falling apart due to excessive diatoms growth.


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## iLOVEnanos (Jun 6, 2013)

Mine LOVE repashy solient green. They also like zucchini and in a pinch will even eat kens veggie sticks. I put the food in the same place every time and now they sit there and wait for it. I feed them ever other day because they keep the tank so clean.


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## naysay8 (Feb 24, 2014)

I have some rocks and they got covered in this green algae and I was wondering if they would eat this type of algae, it looks just like this picture.


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## teqvet (Feb 6, 2014)

My daughter has 6 otos in her tank. They don't mind intense light and love the zucc. we place for them. You can watch them all day. They poop tremendously if well fed I've noticed. If you have small plecos, is the same sort of feces. 

That's our experience anyways.


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## HuginMunin (Jan 31, 2014)

As far as swimming frantically around the tank at high speed, I've always read that it's typical oto behavior. Mine all do it every once in awhile. On the subject of feeding, when I first set up my tank (after they'd decimated the diatoms) I started putting in a slice of zucchini in a clip once a week. It took them a few weeks to start going for it, but now that they have they'll go for it any time I put it in. I just rinse it under water and put it in raw. I found the light shyness curious too, my otos have no problem with light.


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