Tips & Tricks for "Peru White Otocinclus"

[dxlxn]

Hiya guys, so I recently got some Peru white otocinclus. Been doing some research / asking around but there's barely any info on these fish + some opinions I got were pretty split. Anyone had experience with these and could give some tips?

Eg of some opinions I had:
1) pretty similar carewise to normal otos, just a prettier & expensive version
2) super sensitive fish that dies 9 of 10 times
3) coldwater species that is supposedly picky and hard to keep

[Jools]

I saw the first import of

LDA109

in 2014, the location in Peru was secret back then - but they came into Norway via aquarists out in Peru.

1) Closer to

Parotocinclus

than

Otocinclus

in terms of care but it's splitting hairs - but they are smaller and eat 24/7. Generally, keeping these fishes in larger established tanks with food always available seems to be more successful.

2) Not super sensitive. They are often malnourished on arrival and have gut flora wiped out. Best going into a dirty Q tank lots of algae, biofilm, micro-organisms etc. 9 out of 10 seems high.

3) It's not a coldwater species, but it does need higher DO than common Otos. Below neutral water, 77F is about right.

HTH,

Jools

[dxlxn]

Thanks for the tips! This batch of them came with severe white spot issues and wiped out a lot of fishes in my temporary tank along with the otos themselves. Thankfully I got a further 3 more and currently have 2 nursed back to health in a QT tank.

Some observations so far:
- doesn't seem to really like any form of pellet food I feed it with
- seems to enjoy baby brine shrimp a lot
- added some almond leaves and wood pieces so they might be feeding on whatever is on there instead

Currently being treated with white spot medication in a bare tank but will try to see what else I can do to get them feeding more as they are too skinny for my taste.

Cheers