otto care

daisycutter

ive just purchased 3 ottos to be conpanions to my dwarf puffers ive never had any luck with them before are there any really important things i should be doing for them?
my puffers need hard water and a high ph (7.0) is this going to bother the ottos?

NeonJulie

They are sensitive fish, but the pH shouldn't be an issue - mine are in water typically 7.2-7.4.

Acclimate them carefully, give them plenty of "shade" and plants to hide in, and make sure food is available right away. All the Otos I've had have done well with algae wafers, though some people report their's won't touch it, so try that, and grab some cucumbers and zucchini, wash them carefully, peel them, stick them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes and clip in the tank for about a day and a half. (It's really bad if it disintegrates too much to scoop out of the tank - you end up with fungusing little pieces of cucumber every where you can't pick out with your hands.)

You need to be on par with regular water maintenance. A lot of times an Oto will give me the first sign something is off, usually by sticking itself to a wire towards the top of the tank and not eating and moving much.

daisycutter

water quality is not an issue as the puffers demand the same cleanliness the tank is thick with algae which should give them a start ive had them before and they look fine and act ok only to suddenly snuff it i hope this time wont be a repeat

Biarsha

Otos are an awesome fish but they do tend to be quite delicate. I have a friend who has had amazing success with keeping them alive. He said the first thing to check is with the LFS - what they feed them and if they tell you just flakes then don't get them from there. When my friend gets them he always buys 8 (I am not sure exactly why that figure) and he puts them in a separate tank (like quarantine) that has diatom (brown algae) for them to get a good feed. I have also read that they do better in a well planted tank. Hopes this helps.