ID my Oto's ?

[Kialya]

I did a search and looked at all the Otos that had pictures under the Cat-eLog but although a few were close, none matched my Otos I purchased from my LFS. Can anyone ID these? There are 2 different Otos in my tank - 3 are the all dark with white under belly and 1 the lighter guy. Thanks in advance. Also, if anyone has any tips for feeding these guys, I am all eyes/ears. I already use blanched zuccini and I put in an order for the Ken's veggie flake food (has not arrived yet). I tried the algae wafers but none of the Oto's even nibbled on them.

[pleconut]

Hi, im not good on ID but the third looks like ones i have which i think are otocinclus hoppei. In terms of feeding, they usually only go for fresh algae, in a new tank there's usually not as much of it. (For your information, if your tank is a recently set up one) . I have found they don't usually eat algae wafers and such. I feed mine courgettes (mainly) and other veggies. You can grow algae. On rocks, pebbles and even wood by placing it in tank water in a clear container put it in a very bright spot and alternate the rocks ect, to provide them with a continuous supply of fresh algae.

[Kialya]

Thanks pleconut. I have started an algae tank but as cold as everything is around here lately, even in partial sunlight, I cannot get anything growing green yet. Its been about 3 or 4 weeks but all I am getting is white fuzz on my rocks in the algae growing tank. I will have to look up courgettes. Can you elaborate on 'other veggies' ?

[Kialya]

Ahh just looked it up: for others who did not know, courgettes are zuccini

[pleconut]

Other veg you could also try, sweet potato, red bell peppers, you could experiment with some others and see if they show interest. I noticed you are growing amazon sword plants i read somewhere they will eat these you may have to replace them every so often but if it provides food in the meantime they are better off staying in the tank. In terms of the algae you are trying to grow you could position a powerful spotlight above containers where you are growing it, if not much sunlight this time of year

[Kialya]

Good idea on the spotlight. Now just to get one ... lol. I have not seen any damage on the Amazon swords, but they are welcome to munch on em if they want.

[AdamTill]

With the slightly separated tail dots on the third, I'd be more inclined towards huaorani. The first two are possibly the same (just a really nice solid healthy colour against a dark substrate) where the third is more washed out and maybe more of a stress colouration, or it might be vittatus with the solid lateral stripe though.

My group of 50 otos have happily munched on yellow/orange/red peppers, cucumber, zucchini, basil, spinach (and sadly, though it recovered) most of my cardamine lyrata when first planted lol.

[pleconut]

Thanks for the input i will check out the clog page. I find when you buy otos here in the uk i tend to find that all the labelling for them says "otocinclus" and finding out the exact ID is upto you. Unless its a rare one and worth more!

[AdamTill]

Same here, or at best they say "otocinclus affinis" (and are most often not) or "otocinlus vittaus" (which is at least slightly possible).

Mine are a mix of huaorani, vittatus, and mariae. What I used to think of as an actual affinis I'm not sure of anymore, think he was just a stressed out vittatus.

[Kialya]

Thank you AdamTill and pleconut for your help