Slimecoat eating otocinclus?

[bungalowbetta]

Hi, I don't know where else to ask this question or find an answer, so here I am,
I am relatively new to the hobby with a bunch of small betta tanks, and a 55 gal amazon biotype, doing well.
So in one of my betta tanks, I had a very nice green algae growth problem, I decided to buy some ottos, and they really polished it off, and went from shy little suckers(pardon the pun, arh arh arh ) to very outgoing aggressors! They appeared to be following my betta around and one morning I saw one riding on my beloved betta's tail and sucking away, and have noticed harrasing behavior, as i love my bettas I quickly said damn that algae and moved these two guys to my 55.
After about a week, I have lost about 5 cory's.
Three just disappeared and two I found with swimming difficulties(these corys were laying on the bottom and if you check on them they swam as if they had swimbladder problems)
Now I have a very good regimine, and have become successful at maitaining my tank.
I have noticed besides missing corys, and weak dying cories, all of my aneus(four bronze) are turning very light and almost white along the sides, and washed out.
I am beginning to believe, (as I have heard rummors of plecos, and other cats, liking the slime coating of fish) that these otos have been sneaking up on my sleeping catfish and attacking them and perhaps making them weak. I believe the ones I couldn't fine were finished off buy ghost shrimp, and other corys.
Does this sound feasable? DO OTOS suck slimecoating off other fish, and are they aggressive? And are they schooling cats?

FOr info about my tank, which is cycled and tests read at 0. check out my website at
http://www.hv3.7h.com

there are pics of my amazon tank, under the 55 gal.
Anybody who can help answer my questions , thanks!

[bungalowbetta]

Anybody have any thoughts on this?

[Silurus]

I have never heard of or seen otos suck at slime coats of other fishes. Some of the larger loricariids may do this. The symptoms of your corys sound like something else was responsible, possibly the water.

[Dinyar]

Does this sound feasable? DO OTOS suck slimecoating off other fish, and are they aggressive? And are they schooling cats?

Q1: No.
Q2: No and no.
Q3: Yes.

--D.

[bungalowbetta]

Welll, You guys are the experts, but people who have kept these(a few anyway) have seen or heard of this behavior as well,
Here is a discussion I had with some people on another fourum, http://pub36.ezboard.com/faquariumbbsfr ... =1&stop=20
In the long run perhaps it was a ammonia spike or something, but remeber I did see an oto aggressivly follow my male betta seeking to suck onto his tail, that's what landed them in my 55 anyhow... And only lost fish on the bottom who could be asleep and to slow in waking to get away. someone mentions one otto per ten gallons due to aggression is why i asked are they schooler here.
Perhaps you could be more length in your answers, anyhow there is some great info on this site. I was able to id my trilineatus here, sold as julis

[T]

I had ottos do this but they just stopped doing it for some reason.I had three small clown loaches in my planted 30gal for a few weeks(keeping them for a friend)and whenever they came to the top to feed on bloodworms from the feeder, I would always notice 2 of my three ottos sucking onto them.At this time I also noticed them spending time sitting on my mango pl*co and sometimes sucking onto him(although he would chase them off at the first sign of discomfort).But when I gave away the clowns it stopped.Also the other day when I had my hand in the tank to clean the front glass one of my red fin dwarf pl*cos decided my hand looked quite tasty and stayed on it rasping away until I had finished cleaning the glass

[Caol_ila]

Hi!

The oto/10gal thing sounds rediculous to me as these are one of the most peacefull fish ive ever seen!? Imho a 55 gal if its not too obverstocked could hold as many as 20-25 Otos. 55gal is around 130 litres?

[Rusty]

I once had 21 otos in a 30 gallon with a few cories and small plecos. There were no problems with aggression whatsoever...

Rusty

[Andy]

Caol_ila

Depending on if you're using UK gallons or US gallons you'll get differing volumes when converting to litres.

55 UK gallons equal approx. 250 litres
55 US gallons equal approx. 208 litres

I think most people using these forums use the US measurements if they don't measure in litres.

Andy

[Leipo]

my oto's started doing the same when my tank didn't have enough algae anymore for them to feed on. after i bought them some catfish food which they could eat the behavior stopped completely

so my guess is that they don't have enough food and start eating the slime from other fish

[Jools]

Otos will attach themselves to large fish, more out of the fact they are large objects (and in an otos world, most large objects grow algae) to hang onto rather than a food source. Usually a good shake from the larger fish will halt the free ride. I have not seen the oto start eating (quite a distinctive movement) rather just hang on. I have witnessed this with angelfish and eartheaters - I presume other fish with similar profiles would also suffer. I have also read similar accounts with freshwater stingrays (which, once they get big enough, solve the problem by eating the otos!) Exactly how much harm this does and indeed why this would happen with a small fish like a Betta is unclear. I really cannot see the oto causing material harm in this case.

I am certain this is not aggressive or feeding behaviour on the part of the otos. I am also certain that Otos will not harm other fish like your corys. Like virtually all Plecos though, they are amongst the first to take advantage of a quick feed from a fresh corpse in the aquarium.

What may be the case here is that the Otos were carrying some form of disease that your corys do not have a defence for. Otos are usually wild caught, so this makes some form of sense.

Jools

[Mike_Noren]

By coincidence I just asked a similar question to the in this thread in the loricariid forum, and perhaps you guys would like to have a look:

http://forum.planetcatfish.com/viewtopic.php?t=2520

The fish which died were generally smallish fish, mainly minnows, platies and celebes rainbows. The water quality remained high throughout the episode - the low nutrient levels is why I have no algae.

Something I did not mention in the thread above, is that at the time I also had a problem with fish panicking and jumping out of the tank at night. That, too, stopped as soon as the otos were removed.

The common denominator here seems to be starvation. My otos had a choice between starving or attacking fish, just like the original posters (probably) had. Perhaps most aquaria have enought algal growth (or are fed so heavily that there are enough leftovers) that otos living there never have to make that choice?

Also, some people here talk of aggression. I totally agree that otos aren't aggressive (like my psychotic SAE's are; I guess they've never read their own care-sheet), but attacking a sleeping fish isn't really aggression IMO.

[dreamcat]

I have only one otocinclus (golden) so my experience is limited, but this one has just been removed for bad behavior.
No slime sucking as such (not more than the odd lick anyway) but it has been consistently malicious toward my ancistrus, hogging food, & chasing first the female, and later the male around whenever he dares venture out.
I don't think there were starvation or overcrowding issues contributing here, so i just concluded he was being unnecessarily cranky and put him somewhere else.

[Magnus]

I had an Otto in my 450 liters discustank. He/she ate from the sides of the discus. It behaved very agressive towards the discus so it had to be "taken away". The other 14 ottos didn´t behave in the same way so they could stay. Probably this was an individual behavior.

[Dinyar]

I have only one otocinclus (golden) so my experience is limited

This is NOT an otocinclus at all but a "Chinese algae eater", a fish that's neither Chinese or algae eating, but should be avoided at all costs!

Magnus' fish may also be one of these infamous CAEs.

Dinyar

[thegirlundertherainbow]

I too, have Otos..NOT CAEs..that will and do suck the slime off of other fish.. and even see to really target a large pearl gourami that has a small wound ..
There is algae in the tank..plants..and wood..and they are well fed.. but I have been out of algae tabs for a while. Although they did this from the beginning. I posted a new thread about this called "When Otos Attack"..