Piggyback - just cute or should I worry?

[Mol_PMB]

I have just been moving some of my fish around between tanks. I have put 3

Otocinclus vestitus

in a tank with my two

Hemiodontichthys acipenserinus

.

The whiptails are very laid-back fish - they seem to be eating OK and they move around from time to time, but they're not very active. Sometimes I even see a snail crawl over the top of them, though they often twitch and try to throw it off.

Within an hour of putting the Otos in the tank I noticed an Oto on top of one of the whiptails. It stayed there for about 15 minutes, as shown in the photo attached.

This looks really cute, like it's having a piggyback. But should I be worried? Is the Oto eating the whiptail's slime coat? Is this a bad combination of fish to keep together?

Any advice very welcome - many thanks

Cheers,
Paul

[Supercorygirl]

No experience with this but did see a thread on here that had similiar question.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2197

[Mol_PMB]

Many thanks unfortunately that link doesn't work
I was going to search but I'm not sure what to search for!

Cheers,
Paul

[Mol_PMB]

Ah, OK, I searched for 'Oto slime' and found a load of stuff.

I'm hoping it was just that the Oto was newly introduced to the tank, and suckered to the first tasty thing it found. All 3 Otos are now on leaves, wood or courgette so I hope they'll settle in and it won't happen again. If I do see them sucking on the Whiptails agin, I'll move the Otos to a different tank without slow-moving fish.

Cheers

[Supercorygirl]

Sorry bout that, still haven't figured out the mobile version

[Mol_PMB]

Thanks anyway, it helped me find the answer


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mol_PMB]

Fortunately they seem to have settled in now, and I've only once again seen an Oto trying to have a nibble at a Whiptail. The whip shook her off immediately.

If I do see it again I will move the Otos.