PlanetCatfish.com

I am thinking about keeping oto's for the first time in a small planted tank, because of their size and nature. I looked these fish up on the cat e-log and I see that there is a zebra variety that really looks a lot better than the others IMO. Is this rare or difficult to get, and should I expect to pay a lot of money for these?

I live in northern virginia (in USA), I think that I have only seen the 'normal' oto's in LFS but I can't be 100% sure (never paid much attention to the guys).

Thanks,
Robert

they're quite a bit rarer than the regular otos. you'll probably have to order from someone over the net. Substantially more than otos, but still not bad for plecos

You'll be paying at least $10 each for these guys...

Try Aquarium Center, 410-521-4529

I might have seen them there last week. (I shop around too much!) Randallstown is up near Baltimore, a bit west of the BMore beltway, from NoVa about the same drive time as Camden Yards.

pleco farmer,

quite interesting to finally run into another pleco enthusiast in the metro area!! Thanks for the tip I will give these guys a call. I am wondering if there are any LFS's around here that carry exotic plecos that are reputable and don't charge a fortune? I have failed to find any in virginia so far....

Robert

Check http://www.aquabid.com right now. They're selling zebra otos at $10 each. Shipping, of course, costs $30 or thereabouts, but if you got 5 or so, you'd off-set the price of buying them in the store. They're really tough to find elsewhere

In VA its pretty thin,

Pets Etc
512 E Market St, Leesburg, VA 20176
Phone: (703)771-4347

Andy usually stocks four or five varieties, sometimes surprises

In MD the best bets,

Aquarium Center
Randlstwn Plaza Shop
Randallstown, MD 21133
(410) 521-4529

Jim carries about ten varieties at any given time, mixes it up pretty well, best dry goods prices in the state. (did he have the oto's? I know I saw siamese algae eaters, regular oto's, maybe zebras, but then these guys are putting "zebra" on just about anything these days)

House of Tropicals
7389 Baltimre Annpls Blvd Ste F
Glen Burnie, MD 21061-3228
(410) 761-1113

A bit more basic, but more exotics are showing up this year

I called up Aquarium Center and sure enough they do have zebra oto's there for $10 each, I guess I will have to consider carefully and see if I will make the trek up there.

Its funny and ironic that yesterday my gf and I went looking for newts and ended up at Pets, etc lol. I was floored by their selection of plecos and overall selection of fish. What a neat place indeed!! I saw royal, rubbernose, queen arabesque, king tiger, and others (and one of my favorite things to see, fully grown plecos how beautiful). This place also had a lot of odds and ends, such as shrimp and stingrays and just too much cool stuff to list.

I will have to give house of tropicals a call every here and then. That is a pretty serious drive for me to justify making just to window show, especially since it sounds like they do not stock that much of what I am looking for..

thanks a load, feel free to let me know about any other place you might know about. for instance, I am looking for trumpet snails....

p.s. have you heard about the catfish convention being held in maryland later this year?

Robert

You might say that I am intimately familiar with some of the stock in these shops...

http://www.pvas.com/catfish/welcome.htm
October 14-16 in Laurel, MD

Wouldn't miss it.