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I recently decided to add a group of three otos to my tank. Recently i have noticed that they have all darkened in color. When I first bought them they where so light that you could not make out their brown stripes that well. Now their stripes are dark and visible I assume this means that they are okay after all they all lived which according to most people is good for them to all survive since they tend to die easily during acclimation. Any ways is it normal for them to darken, I have not noticed anything else wrong and they are very active. They are on a veggie diet at the moment and eat peas, zucchini, lettuce, and celery; which they seem to enjoy... Help I am not sure...

The color change is probably due to the change in substrate color (did you have a darker substrate than the LFS?).

Nope same light brown color...is it normal? I searched the web but have found nothing on it....

The paler color you initially observed was probably due to stress (most fish visibly pale in color when stressed).
If your otos are feeding and behaving normally, then it's nothing to worry about.

Thanks... Oh and I have one more question.. One of my otos is a little weird he likes to chase anything in the tank that moves he doesn't care whether it is another oto, a fish, or an ADF. He doesn't ever catch them even though I know he easily could but I have seen other stories on the web of otos attaching themselves to tank mates which later kills them and hope he does not develop this habit... The oto species is pretty new to me and I am still trying to learn about them but I do not want this to happen... None of the sites I visited before have said why they sometimes do this ..Is it some type of food source they need besided the veggies cause if it is I want to make sure they get it so I don't have this problem

I have been keeping otos for years and they do chase other fish. Sometimes its difficult to see the point because they never catch them! However, they do scrape mucus from other fishes (mine try it on the corys) and often persist even when the target fish shakes them off. They obviously like something in the mucus.

This is the reason why discus keepers do not have any sucking catfish with their stock, and having seen big plecos attack discus, I can see why.

Healthy fish can stand to lose some of their mucus every day, but weak fish who cannot swim away may end up losing all their mucus and succumb to electrolyte loss and disease. As long as your fish are in good health and can shake the otos off, they should not suffer very much- but keep an eye on them.

Farlowellas do not seem to show this behaviour and I have never seen Peckoltias do it.

I have NEVER seen otos doing this, and I have kept a fair number at one time with several other fish, including dwarf cichlids, plecos, corys, etc. Were yours in a planted tank when they started sucking on other fish? I think lack of plants may play a part in this behavior.

Rusty

The tank is planted... Still can't figure it out.

I have always kept otos in planted tanks for the very reason that they prefer to clean algal growth off the leaves. I first noticed this behaviour some weeks after I started keeping them. That was over 20 years ago. I have spent many hours observing fish behaviour, more so when I was studying fish behaviour and taxonomy.

I have also experienced unexplained fish deaths in otos and Farlowellas: alive last thing at night-dead the next morning. With no signs of ill-health, the otos even had full stomachs.

With regard to the colour change, most otos are stressed in dealers' tanks because they are invariably overcrowded and short of proper food. All mine darken when put in planted tanks with lots of space. I use fine 'honey' gravel for my plants; the corys enjoy it and it is the right size for dwatf cichlids, this is a very light amber-coloured gravel.

All I can say is keep the tank scrupulously clean with plenty of water changes, make sure there is enough algae for them to eat, maybe even throw in some lettuce from time to time and hope for the best. We all go thro' bad patches with our fishes.

Thanks for the info.

S-Cat7 wrote: I have also experienced unexplained fish deaths in otos and Farlowellas: alive last thing at night-dead the next morning. With no signs of ill-health, the otos even had full stomachs.


All I can say is keep the tank scrupulously clean with plenty of water changes, make sure there is enough algae for them to eat, maybe even throw in some lettuce from time to time and hope for the best. We all go thro' bad patches with our fishes.

I have not had much luck with the Otocinclus (Dwarf Cat). I have one that is about a year old. The rest last for approximately 3-4 months I have since given up on this fish. I felt that the available Algae for these in my tanks with the Cories must be very small.

Thanks,

Scott