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Thread: Why do Ottos die easily?

  1. #1
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    Why do Ottos die easily?

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    Anyone? And how to minimise their high "turnover" ratio?

    Its strange that they can live for 2 weeks and then just die off so easily.

    Whereas the otos in clementi live nicely in the betta tanks and seem to be healthy.

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    I think they need good water conditions
    I Love Penang

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    are they new to your tank?
    chances are they've been starved during transit and cannot digest food anymore
    once they manage to start feeding in your tanks they can survive nigh anything

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    Strangely, otos dies very fast when intro into a tank. No sure of the reason, but maybe you can minimise by acclaimating them to the tank water slowly.

    But if they survive, they live on and on and on.. They hardly dies of old age...

    Have some in my tank for abt 2 years, still going strong..

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    Its very strange that of a batch of 10, 4 will die off and 6 will live.

    Despite slow & careful aclimatisation, deaths still do occur for the delicate & fragile otos.

    Anyway, Otos are very beautiful creatures.... I think they do best in schools unlike the lone pleco. Of my 6 otos, 4 of them will tend to school together and its very satisfying to see them nibbling on algae on the same plant.

    BTW, how to sex otos?

  6. #6
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    it's a misconception about otos that they're frail and delicate
    the reason why you get so many casualties is that the symbiotic bacteria in their gut which helps them digest food dies off during transit because they have no food
    a good way to minimise losses in YOUR tank is to only buy otos if they've been in the shop for about a week or two
    i haven't gotten any oto losses ever since i did that

  7. #7
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    Another reason why otos die is no algae in the tank. Many hobbyists in their effort to keep off algae have forgotten that otos and yamato shrimps(another high casulty animal) need this food to survive. If your tank is free of algae, please feed the poor creatures with vegetable foods. Otherwise they will die of starvation. I made this silly mistake once and it caused me 3 otos.

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    agree with wks. apart from water condition, the other common reason for death of oto is starvation.

    1) buy only healthy otos. have been buying from all over, but ben/tiongbahru & wetmarket/meilingstreet are my 2 favorite places.

    2) feed supplementary food when supply of algae is down. my worst mistake is a purchase of 4 very healthy otos for my 1.5ft which was badly affected by algae. they cleared the algae within 14 hours, but started dying 2 weeks' later. now apart from sinking tablets for my cories, i also drop "vege" tablets for the otos which the cories also eat.

    otos are happier in a small shoal, but if there're "too many" in your tank, they may start starving if no care is taken.

    i used to take the otos for granted, but after realizing the reason for their death, i learned to take care of them. apart from my other fish, i also check on my otos these days.

    i bought my "prettiest" oto just before CNY, from the wet market in meiling street. it's very healthy and active, and the pattern on its tail is very distinct.

    good oto luck!
    P-L-E-C-O-R-Y=M-A-N-I-A!!! YEAH!
    FLORENCE, capital of the region of Tuscany, has a population of around half a million inhabitants, spreads on the banks of the Arno, between the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian seas, almost in the middle of the Italian peninsula. It is a city which bustles with industry and craft, commerce and culture, art and science.

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    i found my algae eating critters (fish and shrimp) luv those Hikari algae tabs which they were giving out at Aquarama last year.

    Can't seem to find it at Petmart. Anywhere else them seen in anywhere?

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    how does Ottos look like?
    thanks

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    This is an extinct form of Otto. Those hairy whisks on the side of the face are algae-scraping devices. The pointy thing on top is a defensive device topping an armour-plated dumkopf (numbskull).

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    this forum has a gallery of fishes and plants too, you know. It's called a database. []

  13. #13
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    marcus.. wow.. nice fish.. hahaha...
    Let us work together to preserve the world for our children to inherit by being responsible to our surroundings. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, bubbles and memories.

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    Marcus, u mean Hikari algae wafers? I bought myself a big pack from petmart, cost $14. I can recognise this species of oto, it is called otocinclus "Bismarck", a really rare German "fish"! LOL[]

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    hahahaaaa... this must be what ppl call 'whiskernose pleco'

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    ----------------
    On 3/1/2002 9:42:32 AM

    hahahaaaa... this must be what ppl call 'whiskernose pleco'
    ----------------
    simon.. after scrutinizing the pic, it looks more like "golden nugget whiskernose pleco".. but i not too sure of plecos.. need to ask akoh.. hahahaha...
    []
    Let us work together to preserve the world for our children to inherit by being responsible to our surroundings. Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, bubbles and memories.

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