# Ottos are quite impressive



## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

And they are cute too!

I hadn't ever seen that gunk that grows on new submerged wood before but I didn't need to put my fish back into the newly scaped tank for a few days this time and got to see it. Day after the 5 otos were in the tank it was completely gone.


----------



## scape (Nov 27, 2010)

Ooo Ottos!


----------



## kokomon (May 23, 2011)

I love Ottos!!! I feel like theyre more active at night


----------



## ianizaguirre (Jan 25, 2011)

i see mine eating algea wafers i just split a wafer in half and drop it in the tank every 4 days


----------



## Joe.1 (Nov 23, 2009)

Ottos, SAE, Shrimps. I will never have a tank without them.


----------



## dusted (May 1, 2011)

WOW! I will have to pick a few of those up soon. I clean my tank and about a week later its back on all the glass and I only have my light on only 6 hours a day. Does a petco or petsmart carry them? If not ill just ask my LFS.


----------



## 10galfornow (May 13, 2011)

So I already have 7-9 amanos and 3 nerites in my 10 gal, but was thinking of adding some more algae eaters, ottos specifically. Think they would work?


----------



## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

I like ottos, but mine have never eaten BBA, Staghorn, or GDA. They cleaned out the diatoms overnight when the tank was new though. Mine don't eat vegetables either, which they supposedly love.

I honestly don't know what they eat. I'm assuming they're living off biofilm. they've been in the tank well over a year, and sure don't appear unhealthy.


----------



## Stevenicoloconnor (Feb 21, 2011)

*Zen fishes*



Sharkfood said:


> I like ottos, but mine have never eaten BBA, Staghorn, or GDA. They cleaned out the diatoms overnight when the tank was new though. Mine don't eat vegetables either, which they supposedly love.
> 
> I honestly don't know what they eat. I'm assuming they're living off biofilm. they've been in the tank well over a year, and sure don't appear unhealthy.


We feed new ottos blanched lettuce if they don't have a "poochy" gut. I leave the lettuce in the tank for at least 2 days, and they graze it, and suck it clean of green. The key is their bellies: if they are sucked-in, a supplement of blanched green-leaf lettuce seems to get them well with swollen bellies quickly.

If you have a lot of bio film in your tank, this should be plenty for them to eat and thrive. Regarding algae wafers, the ottos never seem to be interested in those.


----------



## scape (Nov 27, 2010)

Got a couple ottos this week :icon_mrgr


----------



## tremendotron (May 21, 2008)

There's a reason I chose my avatar carefully


----------



## GreenEmber (Aug 23, 2008)

Otto's are so awesomely cool! I love them! They one of the best algae cleaners and they don't get enormous! :icon_smil


----------



## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Yeah, Otos & SAE's are great - I love them !
Just don't keep them with discus, especially when they get a little bigger, older & lazier - which is when they MAY think about adding the discus', or angels', slime coats to their diet.l


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Ottos are great at eating GDA but other then that they dont eat algae. They will also eat dead/dying BBA but you would have to have killed it with some excel or something for it to be palatable to them.


----------



## Wwh2694 (Dec 14, 2010)

Those ottos are awsome. Dont forget the bristlenose they are awsome too.


----------



## The Dude (Feb 8, 2011)

I picked up 4 about a week ago. They are so small they are hard to find in my 75g. I have seen 3 together today, but rarely all 4 at once. I also added some ghost shrimp as expendable scavengers and considering some Amanos. How many more Oto's could I get? The tanks only other inhabitants are 5 Pinoy Angels that seem content to keep to their own bickering.


----------



## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

I've never had any success with otos. I know that my LFS quarantines their fish. But how do you guys let them get past the first few weeks?


----------



## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I bought 12 a few years ago and could only find 6 at a time and thought the rest were gone. A YEAR after they went into the tank one day they decided to have a conference and they were all present!

No idea how many is a good number. Currently I have 14 in a 180 gallon tank and I had 12 max in the 100 gallon tank. One per 10 gallons maybe for the larger tanks?

I tried to quarantine otos but they refused algae wafers, cucumber and par boiled leaves so I just put them into the tank. I suspect putting them into a nice slimy biofilm covered quarantine tank could work or move algae covered rocks into the QT daily. Or put diatom covered plants in the tank?


----------



## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Way to help Oto's survive, lots of plants in tank, no aggressive fish, one Oto per 10 gallons of water, a tank with a diatom problem, get them in the water quickly with no acclimation so they can hide and calm their nerves, they are very nervous fish and I beleive if they are exposed by floating the bag and drip acclimation it can stress them to the point of death, IMO.


----------



## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

What will they eat other than diatoms? GDA? GSA?


----------



## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

They are good cleaners in general or at least seem to be albe to eat almost any type of flat algea, meaning nothing raised like BBA, thread, etc. I've heard they love raw and blanched zuccinni, cucumber, etc. but mostly mine eat diatoms because it's available in my tank. I only have 5 in a 150 gallon and I could probably double that number but I don't want to have so many that I need to have a special feeding of veggies, etc.


----------



## gene4christ (Oct 25, 2008)

jkan0228 said:


> I've never had any success with otos. I know that my LFS quarantines their fish. But how do you guys let them get past the first few weeks?


I find that they stress very easy the first few days but can live for several weeks in a very stressed condition until they succumb . I have had thirty or so over the past couple of years and the longest I managed to get one to live was about a month but I think I have got a trooper this time he has been in the tank for three or four months now and is really active all day and very fat :biggrin: I have thought about adding two or three more but not done it yet .


----------



## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

I think I'll have to give them another try when I get back from my vacation,(when theres a ton of algae) 

Do they feed off of newly grown algae? or will old algae also be good?


----------

