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I decided I needed an algae eater for my tank of guppies, and an oto seemed perfect. I didn't have enough space for schooling cories and definitely not enough space for how large plecos grow.

So oto it was! He was tinier than my guppies and all worked out, for the first couple days anyway. Then after that, he started latching himself onto my guppies, which was extremely distressing for them. I put him into another tank for now.

Has anybody else had problems housing otos and guppies together?

I've never encountered this problem..... but I'm wondering if by your having only one Oto has something to do with it... Otos appear to like others of their own kind.... I have several in my 55 gal tank along with guppies, angelfish, corys, platys, and glass cats --- and most of the time you see the Otos in groups of three or more.....
Also, Otos do need to eat --- While yes, they do eat the algae produced in the tank, I would definitely be supplementing their diet with algae wafers....
So maybe if you increase the number of Otos and provide additional food, their attention would be diverted from your guppies..... Here's hoping!

To thine own self be true...

What is going on is that the Otocinclus is not getting enough "food". Which will be the proper type of algae to graze on.

I usually leave them sinking algae wafers to suppliment their diet. When your Otocinclus is doing is going after another food source (the slime coat on your Guppies).

This behaviour is called "Killer Otocinclus" (they can kill a fish) Syndrome. They (it) is hungry.

Gary

Thank you for helping. I've been feeding him algae wafers, since there isn't much algae in the tank, but I think the guppies were getting it before him. He's happier now in his new tank.

You should still add a couple more otos for it, they like friends



The Amazon Nut...

I have read in previous threads that the otto gets a nasty habit of eating the slime coat off other fish in the lfs-- this occurs when they are underfed and usually this is a difficult habit to break

mogmog,
try feeding your otos some zucchini too. Mine love it and my guppies don't really care much for it so I know that the otos are getting enough to eat.
Good luck!

..

Last edited by Lindy at 29-Sep-2004 00:13

you can also give him his favourite food i.e. plentiful green algae by putting some smooth pebbles in a jar of tank water on a sunny windowsill till they grow some algae

I'm with Moondog. Show me a slimecoat eating oto and I'll show you a hungry oto.

My tank has lush algae growing and even with that, I ensure they get algae wafers to chew on.

If you have room in your tank, boil a piece of mopani/welaby wood from a fish store (it's heavy and sinkable). [link=Welaby Wood Link]http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=welaby+wood&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D5227a008271a936c%26clickedItemRank%3D10%26userQuery%3Dwelaby%2Bwood%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.reptiledirect.com%252Fbrowseproducts%252FWelaby-Wood.HTML%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPTop%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reptiledirect.com%2Fbrowseproducts%2FWelaby-Wood.HTML" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

Otos will suck on the wood, even in the absence of algae, and will pull in nutrients growing on it. I boiled mine for several hours to pull the tannins out that would color the water and acidify it. After a few weeks it starts to get a little white fungus fuzz on it. Pull it out and brush it off and put it back in. AFter another month you should have a good coat of algae beginning to grow, even if only brown. And otos love brown algae.

Otherwise, zucchini, bok choi, leafy greens hanging from a veggie clip make good fillers. Just don't let them go moldy in there. Pull them out after 12-24 hours.

And, he needs buddies - at least 2 more. They shouldn't impact to much. What is the current stock?

Well it seems that over fertalizing my plants had increased the iron level in the water, creating a huge algae outbreak. But try some fresh vegies like cucumber, lettuce, or broccoli.