Oto cats

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 06 Nov 2006, 21:59

Well I did it.I took everyones advise. I went to a new LFS & purchased 21 otocinclus vestitus.They are about 3/4 to 1 inch in length,they all looked plump & healthy.I also purchased 6 panda cory's to go with them.The cory's are also young (about the same size as the oto's.I put them in my 35 gal.that is loaded with brown algae.I also have a lot of hornwort floating in the tank.It seems to drop a lot of what I guess you would call needles(leaves).It is making quite a mess of the tank.Should I try to remove the hornwort or do the oto's or cory's eat it? Shoul I add any other foods at this time or just let them munch on the algae for now?
Just 30 hrs. after puting them in the tank I have found 2 dead oto's.I expected some losses because they are small & to my understanding delicate.Still I hope that will be the end of the losses.If anyone has any suggestions as to how to keep them healthy & at about what size or age they will possibly breed at I would really like all the help I can get with these little guys.

Thanks Huk

Carmencatfish · Post by **Carmencatfish** » 07 Nov 2006, 13:40

I found that as long as the tank was well established with algae, they should be fine. I have many things in my tank that are covered in algae (live plants, bog wood and the tank itself). But I do add food for them, such as blanched courgette, cucumber and dandelion leaves (which they absolutely adore). They also eat my Sera catfish chips and catfish pellets. I'm not sure about the hornwort (don't have it in my tank). My oto's were almost fully grown when they spawned. The male was a lot smaller than the females, being shorter and no where near as plump as the girls. As soon as the girls are really plump and you can actually see the eggs, then the males will attempt to breed with them.

The pandas, I'm not sure. We got a group of 5 from different LFS's and it took 4 months before they spawned. They were about 4-5 months old when we got them too. But their fry that I've raise, are already getting involved in the spawning at just 6 months old (I'm not raising those eggs, since the babies are involved, I'll be selling them off soon).

Good luck and I hope it all works out well for your.

One of our breeding females

Carmencatfish

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 07 Nov 2006, 23:09

Thanks for the great food ideas for my cory's & oto's.Can anyone advise as to wether to keep the hornwort or not?
Carmencatfish:
I love the photo of your female oto I hope to see that soon in my own tank.

Post by **Marc van Arc** » 07 Nov 2006, 23:25

huk chun chu wrote:Can anyone advise as to wether to keep the hornwort or not?

I know very few people who keep that plant alive in a tropical tank as it is a cold water species. So if it's dropping its leaves you can bet it's not going to last long. All it does is create extra pollution in your tank, so imo you should get it out.

FuglyDragon · Post by **FuglyDragon** » 08 Nov 2006, 11:29

I also feed mine spirulina algae paste which they seem to like.

Buy some powdered spirulina algae from a health food shop and mix with water till it forms a paste.

huk chun chu · Post by **huk chun chu** » 08 Nov 2006, 22:10

I did not realize hornwort was a cold water plant.It is starting to make a mess,it is so bad it is starting to clog my filters.I am going to get rid of it right away.The oto's are doing fine ,they are all quite plump.My losses are now 5 out of 21.That is over the first 4 days. I wonder if the dying hornwort is a contributor? Mind you my understanding is that oto's are delicate & it is normal to have a lot of losses.

RiC · Post by **RiC** » 09 Nov 2006, 01:26

You can keep hornwort in tropical tanks with no problems at all. I've had mine for years. It's really a question of acclimation time for the plant. It melts, but then it should grow back strongly.
It also depends on the water of the tank. Here, in some of my tanks (I have 10 running), it will NEVER establish. So... no generalization is really possible.