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hey in my mates 8ft tank he had 2 large flying foxes. The tank is nicely planted but the many of his sword varieties have been damaged by the flying foxes.. How do i know it was them, well we watched them. Now the swords have holes in them and are damaged.
The reason for the flying foxes in the tank was to clean algae off the tank and plants.
The foxes have been removed after much difficulty and i was thinking of replacing them with 6 ottos.. do ottos damage plants.. what do you think?
the tanks is stocked with many rainbows, discus, tetras, cories.

r0b3y

Oto's will do a great job, Just get a big school & they'll eat all the Algae & don't damage any plants.


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r0b3y

The Otos should do well providing there is always a good supply of algae.

Keith

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r0b3y,

I think the Oto’s will fit nicely into the mix of other fish that are in this tank.

As much as I know, be prepared to loose a few when you (or your friend) buy them. In case you don’t know this, they are not the best travelers (food during transport not provided etc.). Make sure they look healthy and full in the LFS.

Ingo

---

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will probly put in 8.. and see how they go.. is it good to feed them with spirlina pallets as well as algae wafers, zucchini etc.
does anyone know the estimated life span in their experience?

r0b3y

the ones that survive the aclimation (somehow, i've never lost ottos in that manner) will survive for many months (iirc, they can live for 2 years or so).

throwing them spirulina won't hurt, i guess, because if they don't eat it, the cories will love to clean the ottos plate for them.

also, to your original question, ottos don't hurt any plant i know of. they're exceptionally gentle. they also don't remove the more hardy algea.
and they love taking long naps in peculiar angles (upside down on the thermometer, for example). don't get alarmed by it.

Last edited by fry at 30-Jun-2005 07:43

ive been reading that they also enjoy slime coats.. is this true?? would this be a problem for the discus??

r0b3y

r0b,

I have discus and otocinclus catfish. I have never had a problem with the dwarf sucker mouth catfish attaching themselves to the discus. I have had problems with the common plecostomus (hypostomus or L-whatever) that are sold in the trade.

However, I have had problems with the discus going after the otocinclus. Generally, they are somewhat protected in larger numbers say 5 or 7.

The fish will do a very good job on soft, green algae and brown algae but you will need to provide supplemental food. They will not touch beard algae, red algae or filamentatious algae, all of which the "flying foxes" do well with in their diet.

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u may wana read this.

http://www.fishprofiles.com/articles/freshwater/oto.asp

a very detailed and informative article by Calilasseia..
answerd all questions
thanks

You're planning on putting Otocinclus in an 8 foot tank?

Wow, they'll love you.

Quick question. Are you near to the stocking limit of the aquarium, or is this aquarium deliberately understocked to allow the fish to grow huge?

Only if your aquarium is nicely understocked, you could put 16 Otocinclus in that aquarium no trouble, and still leave a healthy bioload margin on your filter system. And I can't think of a better way of making Otocinclus happy than putting 16 of them in an 8 foot tank with a healthy crop of algae for them to dine upon. Well, there are ways of making them even happier, but I doubt you have room in your house to simulate a complete river tributary!

Plus, you've just removed two Flying Foxes, which are fairly substantial fish body mass wise. 16 Otocinclus would probably be the bioload equivalent of your two ex-occupant Flying Foxes if the Flying Foxes were close to full adult size.

Go for it ... who knows, you could end up with some Otocinclus fry turning up in that setup! Especially if you have decent (and fairly intricate) bogwood bits for them to explore, nice caves, shaded areas of the aquarium covered by floating plants etc, which is the ideal Otocinclus setup.

Oh, and good luck finding some nice well cared for specimens as opposed to some of the sadly abused ones that have a habit of turning up in some dealers just begging to be rescued ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

nah the stocking limit is fine.. we got 6 of them and they are all doing well!! he is planning to get more..
we put them in on friday and today they were schooling about and doin wat they do

love em