Otocinclii not eating/over eating

[aquariumhobbyist]

I am having a weird issue with my common otocats and that is some of them have immensely protruding stomachs (over eating) whereas others have lean stomachs (under eating). None of the under eating ones seem emaciated beyond help at this point but efforts to get them to eat have not resulted well.

All effected fish appear lethargic (over and under eaters) while only a few exhibit health foraging behavior. Have found 2 dead the past 2 weeks, both had lean/shrunken stomachs and I found another laying on its back today breathing heavily (also lean stomach bordering on shrunken). Fish have been with me for about 1.5 months now. Only recent change is a growth in cyanobacteria between the floating riccia and ceratopteris cornuta at the water surface.

The previous owner kept them in a planted tank (plant only) and did not feed them at all (his statement). Is it possible that the fish have not become accustomed to the new feeding method (my tank has almost no algae except for some cladophora moss balls): I feed flake spiruline and flake vegetable foods to my bottom feeding catfish (2 albino bristlenose catfish) and otocats, with the occasional cucumber slices. What kind of algae would these fish eat and how would I go about growing/raising this/these algae species?

I have a light green colored dense growing very thin algae type that attaches to plants in a Walstad setup shrimp tank I have had going for a couple months now, would this be eaten by the otocats? Quite sure it is not cyanobacteria (lack of that distanct foul smell) but I could be wrong...

[Bas Pels]

Oto's need algae, and are only relaxed when resting on plants.

Putting them in a plant free tank, would be like requesting you to sleep in a tent in a tiger infested swamp.

sufficient geen algae can be raised by putting stones from a tank in aquariumwater in the full sun. I see you are from Turkey, I would assume the sun is powerfull enough.

In a week, perhaps a fortnight the stones will become green, and usable.

Furhter it would be a good idea to put plants in their tank, with sufficient light. These will help adding algae.

I myself have Hisonotus, a related genus of fishes. They are in a heavily planted tank (Sagittaria) and I never feed them. They do seem to thrive

[aquariumhobbyist]

Oto's need algae, and are only relaxed when resting on plants.

Putting them in a plant free tank, would be like requesting you to sleep in a tent in a tiger infested swamp.

sufficient geen algae can be raised by putting stones from a tank in aquariumwater in the full sun. I see you are from Turkey, I would assume the sun is powerfull enough.

In a week, perhaps a fortnight the stones will become green, and usable.

Furhter it would be a good idea to put plants in their tank, with sufficient light. These will help adding algae.

I myself have Hisonotus, a related genus of fishes. They are in a heavily planted tank (Sagittaria) and I never feed them. They do seem to thrive

Some clarification is required it would seem (apologies for the confusion). They are not currently in a non-planted tank. I only mentioned the floaters because of the cyanobacteria. Plants are tiger lotus, anubias species (lencelota, afzeli, barteri, barteri var. nana), Eichhornia Azurea, Cryptocoryne wnedtii, Staurogyne repens, Marsilea crenata, baby tears, and dwarf hair grass.

With regards to the sun, although the weather is probably warmer in Turkey than that in the Netherlands, the winter is cold and cloudy. Doubt I can grow any algae with what I am getting lol I can use a compact florescent lamp though it it would work.

[Bas Pels]

@ Temperature, I think if you are in the mauntains, you have more cold then I do. As far as I know, skieing is possible in Turkey. We don't have any snow, I'm happy to report.

But more seriously, you are close to 35 degrees north, whil I am atr 53 degrees. That is, the sun has some 150 to 200 % more power in your country than in mine - but clouds are a shame. Otherwise, you could put the water with rocks in front of a window

Wit regards to the 'over eating' - I have seen dead Otocinclus with huge bellies, due to lack of food. The intestines were inflammed by their emptiness which inflammation caused the swelling

[dpm1]

I have both Otocinclus and Hisonotus and there is significant differences between males and females of both families as the fish are, and this is not always visible with shop fish. With luck this is the case as opposed to diet problems which accounts for a good number of newly bought fish that have been wild caught and transported for days without any food.

The females appear to be overfed compared to what is thought of as being the 'average' oto size, whilst the males are much leaner in appearance. This has been the case for many months so diet is not issue merely the differences between the sexes which as noted often cannot be seen in the fish when seen in shop.

I've never had much success with added foods. Even when they seem to eat it once the next time it gets ignored. I do however see the eating excess flake off the substrate on a regular basis, and having a 'dirty' substrate can help too as the Hisonotus in particular seem to spend much time on the leaf litter.

I've been hoping for some egg laying but have seen nothing yet, although the otos are in a community of egg eaters and the hisonotus eggs would be all but invisible anyway.

[aquariumhobbyist]

Just noticed that some of the more lethargic ones have green stomachs... Is this something good (they ate algae) or bad (some kind of infection)?

[Jools]

I've moved this topic to the loricariidae forum...

Jools

[dpm1]

Just noticed that some of the more lethargic ones have green stomachs... Is this something good (they ate algae) or bad (some kind of infection)?

I suspect its just the light shining through their small bodies making it easy to see.

Many plant eaters spend long times with little or slow movement as they rely a lot on stomach bacteria to break down the plant cells and so don't have the quick energy release that protein loving creatures have.

[aquariumhobbyist]

Just noticed that some of the more lethargic ones have green stomachs... Is this something good (they ate algae) or bad (some kind of infection)?

I suspect its just the light shining through their small bodies making it easy to see.

Many plant eaters spend long times with little or slow movement as they rely a lot on stomach bacteria to break down the plant cells and so don't have the quick energy release that protein loving creatures have.

could be... still no idea as to why the fish are dying off though (3 so far).