# Do all Otocinclus have suicidal tendencies?



## Musing.Dog (Sep 17, 2007)

I have a group of nine (used to be 10) that pretty much stick together. They are always found chilling under my co2 reactor/around it, or under the intake of my filter. Occasionally, they will visit the spot under my gravel vac when I'm changing water. I'm assuming they like flow.

So far I have had three incidents of random danger to otos. First one jammed himself up between quilt batting and the bottle of my reactor? It took him a month to try it out though. :/ I found him very quickly and he lived. (Albeit looking a little traumatized and stiff) I screened the reactor afterward.

Next incident occurs when I am not at the house. Three or four days into a trip away from home 45 min away, my grandmother calls me sounding very worried and just blurts out she found a fish on the ground. I deducted it was an otocinclus from her poor description. When I eventually arive back she gives me this.











Then this morning, I'm handing the flakes out, and I see this blob of color behind my reactor (they are fascinated by it). I have a magfloat keeping the bottle from floating up, one peice inside the bottle and the other on the outside panel of glass. One of my ottos has squeezed into the space the magnet made between the bottle and glass. =____=
I moved the bottle carefully out, and he took off like a bat out of hell. I'm pretty sure he was stuck because his fat belly looked squished against the glass.

So, do otos have adrenaline rush issues? Think they are magicians? Emo? Or martyrs?

When I come by some more plant cover will this behavior decrease? Or are they just prone to weird accidents?


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## dooboogoo (Apr 19, 2007)

Maybe they're prone to weird accidents? My last oto death happened when the intake of my filter broke. There was nothing to block any debris for a day or so and an oto was sucked up and clogged the intake part of my XP2. Maybe they do like flow?


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## Musing.Dog (Sep 17, 2007)

That's crazy. Mine try to swim up the gravel vac sometimes. I have started screening it off with panty hose.


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## jphan (Mar 2, 2008)

never seen that from my oto's but my cories do similiar things like ur otos. I had a cory that decided to jam his head into the output flow of my power head and got his skull bashed into the impeller. They also love to swim into the gravel vac.


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## i love planted tanks (Apr 27, 2008)

ya i found mine like that to he jumped out of the water and on top of my glass hood it looked like a dried up beached whale...i was sad tho he died i need all the algae eaters i have in my tank


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

I've had a few jumpers, and I see mine jammed in between thick plants in awkward positions all the time. They do seem attracted to quick flow and tight spaces.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

they are prone to have depression


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I think they are just not very bright...

Mine have always been very hardy, never jumped, but if I could see one, it was always easy to catch. You could nudge it with the net and it would kind of ignore you. Of course, when I started draining the tank, they still decided to stay hidden...


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## bulrush (May 7, 2007)

I think they do not feel comfortable in your aquarium and need more places to hide. It sounds like they are looking for dark hiding spots. Try to provide them small but deep, dark caves to hide in. They like small crevices or pots with small holes to hide in. An upside down pot with a hole on the bottom (now the top) might work for you.


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## MaKosGuppyPond (May 17, 2016)

I found this thread while searching for a solution. My son is on a trip, and I'm taking care of his fish for him. Today, I noticed that one of the Otos had gone missing. After a very thorough search, I found him jammed in a crevice of the piece of wood we got at the pet store - specifically for the Otos. I have **no idea** how I will possibly get him out.

It was comforting to read that we aren't the only ones with crazy Otos.


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