Orange Zebra Otocinclus Hypoptopoma sp. Peru “Orange”

[jd_7655]

Can anyone tell me the difficulty level of these fish?

I've been keeping fish for over 25 years but I'm thinking about adding some of these specimens to my 55 gallon tank. The tank isn't planted but it has lots of wood and rocks and is well established. Just wondering what the care level of these fish are, They're kind of pricy and I'm looking for some peaceful fish to go along with my corydoras and ember tetras.

[bekateen]

Hi jd_7655,

I've never kept those, but I had some robocop Nannoptopoma. They arrived with hollow stomachs and a spot of ich. They died within days. Haven't tried again, but maybe someday.

Eric

[Jools]

As Eric says, good idea to buy fishes that have been in the LFS for a long time. You're going to need plenty of algaefied surfaces (fresh wood / bark also good). Corys and Ember tetras a good mix mind you.

Jools

[Acanthicus]

Heho

Orange Zebra Otocinclus and Hypoptopoma sp. "Orange" are actually the same fish as Nannoptopoma sp. "Robocop". The correct genus of the three is Nannoptopoma, the most common trading name for the species is sp. "Peru" or sp. "Orange".

However, they are not an easy species and require lots of food, which needs to be available 24h. They constantly feed on algae, plants are not necessarily a must, but obviously do offer a great surface addition for them to feed on. In this case it is often not good to buy the specimens that the shop has had the longest, most shops can't feed them properly, so you will often get specimens to let them die in your tank. The earlier you get them after import, the better. A treatment against gut parasites will often result in a positive way and once they eat well, they are not too complicated to keep anymore. It's the beginning and the quality of fish you obtain. Personally, I wouldn't even mix them with other species when they eat well, but I know people who do so successfully. The species has also been bred a few times by now, but not in big numbers.

This article might be worth a read since it is concerning the topic too: https://www.ig-bssw.org/otocinclus-nann ... a/?lang=en

[Jools]

By a long time I meant months, in which case we can be sure the shop is looking after them well or they would not be there, sorry I should have been more specific.

That's a nice article on

Nannoptopoma

, we have that species listed here as

Nannoptopoma sp`peru_white`

, first import was a private collection in 2008 I think which is when I took the first photo on the site. I've not seen the "blanco" common name before so will add it.

Cheers,

Jools