Oto's eating wood as food?

[Aquanoob]

After a week of conditioning and cycling
of the planted tank, I finally added 2 type
of fishes to my aquarium over the weekend.

They are 3 Oto, and 10 Zebra fish of
3 varities, the normal 斑马鱼, then the
orange type 银光斑马鱼 and the
purple 紫衣斑马鱼. The zebras are very
lively, and dart around my tank like torpedos.
The Otos however are quite gentle,
and stick to the drift wood all day.
I got a feeling that they don't like their
noisy neighbours?!

I am feeding the fishes GEX flakes which the Zebra
love and really enjoy, they finish all that I put in within
minutes. However, the Otos are not eating
the flakes, should I buy the Algae Wafer for them?
On my observation, I see that the Otos are actually
"eating" the tiny wood pieces on the drift wood,
is that their diet too?

I will be adding Tetra & Rummy Nose about 1 week from
now, after letting the tank mature yet again.
Any advice?

[StanChung]

The otos don't eat wood but 'scrub' surfaces for food. You can feed the algae wafers but that is not necessary IMO.

[pustefix8965]

One week of cycling is usually not enough unless your tank is very heavily planted. Zebra danios are hardy and have a high chance of surviving, however Otos are not. You should use a test kit and test for Ammonia and Nitrite. Put more fish only if both are 0 for at least a week.

[tsunamisurfer]

I keep Ottos with RCS.
My Otto seldom rasp the wood like a BristleNose Catfish would.
It very much prefers the algae wafers.
I give mine Spirulina Wafers and it loves it but they have to fight the RCS for it.

[Aquanoob]

I just bought and feed the Oto algae wafers
but somehow the Oto are not eating them
but the Zebras are certainly enjoying themselves
on it. I even try to distract the Zebras by putting in
some flakes, but right after finishing the flakes, the Zebra
charged to the wafers and happily munching away.

I know that my Otos don't take the flakes that I feed the
Zebra, and has not taken a "decent meal" but only
scrubing the drift wood (as food?) for the last 1 week.
What should I do next? Will they be starving?

[exotic_idiot]

I don't feed mine ottos anything at all.. They are also not very great algae eaters IMHO..
I find that shrimps and snail do better job..!

[mrnyunus]

oto's are algae eaters great for small tanks...just another variety of algae eaters....but sensitive to water parameters...just take note

[exotic_idiot]

oto's are algae eaters great for small tanks...just another variety of algae eaters....but sensitive to water parameters...just take note

If they're really that great, my tanks won't be pack with full of thick green algae? Healthy ottos are very hardy.