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So the other day my Royal whiptail (as it's called in Aus) or Sturisoma barbatum was getting very fat.
I was worried she was sick & over eating.
Especially when I had a missing Otocinclus!?!?
So today I see a body of another Oto, dead!!!!?????
I start inspecting the tank as I remove the little darling, thinking WTH?? That was when I saw....

The tiniest little black shark looking thing. It is about 4mm long & jet black.
It is stuck on the side of the tank quite firmly with it's little sucker. Only 1
But I guess my Oto's died through fights with the Sturisoma barbatum?? My theory
& the Sturisoma barbatum that was huge is back to normal - amazing what you see when you look.
No mesh on filter or anything, I hope the little doo survives, but it has made it so far.
Managed to get a few pics, will post them in the next few days

Moved to Loricariidae...

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Mats

Ozcattie wrote:But I guess my Oto's died through fights with the Sturisoma barbatum??

More likely a coincidence. Sturisoma don´t care for Otocinclus and if the Oto should be fast enough to escape.
Only one died, right? The one which was misisng before?

Well done with spawning your fish
The hard part is raising the fry as they are not very adept at seeking their food - check Shane's World for breeding articles & there is plenty of information in threads in the forums on this if you do a search.

I do not think the otos would be fighting with these - neither is massively confrontational and there is a huge size difference - were they good stock & always in good health?

No the missing Oto was another one they took out in the breeding wars!?

Well, My mother has given 3 sets of fry so far the last one totaled 10 fry, but I failed to provide the right food obviously....

I can get them to a week old & they are strong little tikes.
This last breed I put netting over the filter intake to make sure that was not how I was loosing them - it wasn't

So now I have one little week old tike from the last breed & mother looks fat again.
Food I have been making available is; brine shrimp, spirulina & a high protein type shrimp meal thingy but they seem to be most interested in cleaning the glass (which does not have much dirt on it).
Any other suggestions would be appreciated

I have several babies at several stages now - YAY
they're ranging from 4 days to 4 months old
I have the secret as to what gets them through the juvenile stage
********************* OXYGENATE YOUR WATER!!! *******************
it was articles here and elsewhere talking about the foam at the meniscus of the water and how little anaerobic organisms live there, that they eat.

I have a 2nd pump that just puts fine bubbles into the water now and I run that a few hours a night when I notice tiny babies