How many ottos?

[Caper]

I can't find the post here...but I thought it was 1/5 gallons of water, is that right?????

I have 2 in my 10 gallon (with my goldies) and they do an excellent job. In my 2 (29 gallons), I have 2 in each, but that was all I could get at the time. Really hard to get where I live :evil:

[ljtan55]

Woohoo! Another oto lover! Otos are community fishes and the more the better in a tank, the recommended number is about 6, but it really depends on how much algae your tank has to sustain them. If 2 in each tank are keeping your tank free of algae, maybe thats all that you need. If you add any more otos be sure to check that their bellies are round and fat, thin flat bellies mean that they aren't eating enough, and a really healthy oto will be pooping all the time. You can supplement their diet with algae tablets and greens such as prefrozen courgettes or cucumbers (the freezing breaks the plant cell walls and makes it easier to eat), but some otos refuse to eat anything else but algae like mine, and if yours are like that, they might actually slowly starve in the tank if you add too many.

Btw you may have alrady experienced it but they are very sensitive fish and are prone to dying off one they are introduced into a new tank, but the ones that survive live for a long time. Great fish and when you have a group of them they become really active and chase each other. Mine school with the Siamese algae eaters in the tank :roll: I have otos in all my tanks they are awesome fish, although quite expensive here.

[Caper]

You too! I love my ottos

I've had my first 2 (Oscar & Felix) for over a year now, they're the ones in the 10 gallon tank & they do an amazing job! The other 2 tanks (2 each), I have had them for 2 and half months.

Do you still clean the inside of the glass? I do when I do my monthly cleaning. Although I recently read, don't remember where, that when you clean the inside of the tank walls, just do the front, leave the back & sides if you have algae eaters.

In the goldies tank I don't take anything out to clean except for 2 of the ornaments. The rest I leave to make sure they have something to eat.

I tried the algae wafers when I first had Oscar & Felix but they never bothered with them, but of course the goldies did Can't remember if I tried the zucchini with them, hmmm. I haven't tried the wafers with the other guys.

My first 2 I did get here in Sydney, & I don't remember what I paid for them. The newer ottos I bought in New Glasgow (on the mainlaind approximately 3 hour drive from here) I paid $8.99 each for them plus tax. But since I can't remember what I paid before I don't know if I paid less/more :-?

Unfortunately, I can't remember the difference in our money and yours, someone told me & of cource I can't remember. So do you have an idea if that sounds like a reasonable price???

[ljtan55]

Yep I clean the front of the tank, but not the sides and the back, I think I read that article somewhere as well They cost about 15 to 19 dollars NZD, but they end up costing a long more if you include the fatalities that happen, I started with about 8, but they've dwindled to about 4, and I'm thinking about getting some more. They're tricky to get here, cos I make sure they've had them in for more than a month in the tanks, to account for the deaths they have with all the new stock. None of the otos I've ever have ever bred btw, have you had any luck with yours?

Cool 8.99 canadian becomes 12 dollars here so it still ends up being cheaper than NZ, but thats the price you pay for living close to the south pole 8)

[Caper]

think I read that article somewhere as well

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Bred them nope, can you sex ottos???? It's been awhile since I read up on them. I recently bought a book (& have a couple of others) but nothing about ottos in them :evil: I try not to have baby fishies, platies, mollies, guppies all males

I'd like to have at least 2 more in my 29 gallon tanks. But, I'll probably have to go to New Glasgow or Halifax to get them.

When I watch them in the 10 gallon, it seems they're always just on the glass, artificial plants, or ornament so the first time I saw them in the 29 gallon just "zipping" along it was like, wow look at him/her go :lol: :lol:

[ljtan55]

:bounce: Have you tried catching them????!!??? Oh man.. I tore up my tanks trying to catch two of them. They're more active at night, but if you have a small school of em they become more active during the day.

Sexing otos is not difficult, but takes a trained eye. Due to their small size, the definitive gill cover spines and pointed genital papilla of males is hard to make out. Instead look to the females; they are decidedly broader and rounder in appearance.

That came down a website I was reading, but I've tried, and I still cant make out the boys from the girls.