How long can otocinclus survive without food?

[asd09]

I'll be out of town for 5 days. Can otocinclus survive without food for 5 days? Thanks!

[Urban Aquaria]

If your tank has a coating of algae on the glass and hardscape, and the otocinclus are healthy, they should be able to survive grazing on it for a few days. Algae and bio-film are actually their main diet.

A good food supplement is to put 1-2 slices of blanched zuchinni or cucumber into the tank just before you leave for your trip... the slices will last for 2-3 days and breakdown slowly (it will not rot as fast as pellet or wafer food), that will allow the oto to get access to some additional food source. If you have shrimps in the tank, they will help to eat it up too.

[Dylan Chin]

If your tank has a coating of algae on the glass and hardscape, and the otocinclus are healthy, they should be able to survive grazing on it for a few days. Algae and bio-film are actually their main diet.

A good food supplement is to put 1-2 slices of blanched zuchinni or cucumber into the tank just before you leave for your trip... the slices will last for 2-3 days and breakdown slowly (it will not rot as fast as pellet or wafer food), that will allow the oto to get access to some additional food source. If you have shrimps in the tank, they will help to eat it up too.

Hey UA, I got a qn. I had 2 oto in my shrimp set-up but both of them died after one week. My shrimps are still fine tho, any idea why my oto died?
P.s my oto were from OTF and they had been there for more than a week

[Urban Aquaria]

Hey UA, I got a qn. I had 2 oto in my shrimp set-up but both of them died after one week. My shrimps are still fine tho, any idea why my oto died?
P.s my oto were from OTF and they had been there for more than a week

Otos tend to be more sensitive than other fishes when it comes to transition to new or different tank environments... but the ones that survive the transition and adapt well will usually become very hardy.

I do find that if i perform a slow 1-2 hour drip acclimation on them before introduction to a tank, their survival rate is much higher.

Sometimes your tank conditions may be okay, but the otos still die so there isn't much else you can do.

Choosing healthy otos from LFS tanks with good water conditions makes a hige difference... quite often they are kept crowded in tanks and not fed well, so end up already ill or weak during purchase, hence their chances of survival are low.

[Dylan Chin]

Otos tend to be more sensitive than other fishes when it comes to transition to new or different tank environments... but the ones that survive the transition and adapt well will usually become very hardy.

I do find that if i perform a slow 1-2 hour drip acclimation on them before introduction to a tank, their survival rate is much higher.

Sometimes your tank conditions may be okay, but the otos still die so there isn't much else you can do.

Choosing healthy otos from LFS tanks with good water conditions makes a hige difference... quite often they are kept crowded in tanks and not fed well, so end up already ill or weak during purchase, hence their chances of survival are low.

Alright, I'll try the 1-2hr drip acclimise