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Invisible Otos

D

devo

Member
Joined
22 Feb 2012
Messages
57
Location
Kendal, Cumbria, UK
A couple of weeks ago there was a thread on shy Corydoras. My Cory's are positively boisterous, but my Otos are very shy. When I do see them they look very healthy and fairly tubby, plus one is about 4 times the size it was when I bought it, so I don't think it is a health issue. They seem more active when the lights are off, or immediately after a water change, but other than that they seem to just hang about bt the filter intake on the back wall. It is a 270 l tank with some algae and 2 54 watt T5 tubes.
Anyone any thoughts?
Cheers
David
 
Mine were incredibly secretive for at least the first six months. Spent 90% of their time in the dark under the emergent plants. I see them all the time now, whether that's down to them getting used to their surroundings or feeling more secure now that the plants have grown in I couldn't say.
 
How many do you have in that size tank?
Good to hear they are well fed, otto's are one of my favourite fish, :)
 
Oto's should really be in groups of 4 or more to keep them socialable, but even then they are incredibly stealthy. In both of my large tanks I never see them when the lights are on, and usually only spot them when I come down in the morning, and there's sunrise poking through the curtains and into the tank.
 
Hi all,
LancsRick said:
Oto's should really be in groups of 4 or more to keep them socialable, but even then they are incredibly stealthy. In both of my large tanks I never see them when the lights are on, and usually only spot them when I come down in the morning, and there's sunrise poking through the curtains and into the tank.
Click to expand...
Same with mine,usually fairly stationery during the day, although they do occasionally swim over to the cucumber, pepper etc and have a go at it. I keep vegetables in the tank for them 24/7. At night they are much more active.

I was talking to a fish shop owner about this on Saturday (Old Forge Tropicals in Devizes). It is the only shop I've ever been in with genuinely fat Oto's, and he said that whether they are swimming around, or mainly fairly stationery, is a good way of telling whether they are eating or not.

What he said was that they are swimming around all the time during lights on it is because they are starving, and they are desperately searching for a source of food. If they don't find food eventually they just run out of energy and then they become moribund and sit stationery until they die.

He uses this with a new batch of Oto's, any that are initially stationery he quarantines in a small tank with an algal wafer. Any that are still swimming around wildly after a couple of days again he puts them in the small tank with an algal wafer. Once they are feeding they go back in with the others, but mainly the moribund ones die what ever he does.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi Guys
Thanks for the comments, I feel reassured. I think there are 5 Otos. Originally there were six but one died. Since I hardly ever see them, it is hard to be absolutely sure ! I might buy some more, since I like them and 5 in 270 L isn't a lot.
Thanks to everyone
D
 
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