# otoclinus catfish



## Nahid_Siddiqui (Sep 5, 2012)

Hello Folks

If you have a tank of size less than 80 liters roughly and it is a planted one, you can only accommodate certain species of fish to rid the immortal algae problem. Therefore in this situation, as per many peoples view you are more likely to go for the otoclinus catfish. Apparently one of these requires approximately 13 liters of water space, but this fish has a lot of problems circulating around its life in the tank. They are more likely to die in the planted tank because of the ecosystem you need to maintain for a proper planted tank. Some of the problems are as follows: CO2 injection reduces the PH, best substrates in the market reduces the PH, frequent water changes, oxygen concentration in the water, allelochemicals from various plants, CO2 concentration in the tank and probably many other factors like other fish species in the tank. All these apparently can be the cause for the death of these species of fish.

So before you buy this fish for the obvious purpose of riding that obnoxious algae problem keep in mind the above!! 

If you guys out there have any suggestions please free to reply I would like to know more about this fish.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Otos are wild caught, so may bring their own load of internal parasites. Quarantine tank and worm them. 

They are starved before shipping to reduce the ammonia load. Some people seem to feel that Otos have their own compliment of beneficial microorganisms in their gut that digests the food. When the Oto is starved these microorganisms die. Then the Otos starves, even when food is again available. 
Another issue when grazing fish are starved is constipation when food is re-introduced. I have heard of fishkeepers adding a high roughage food like peas as a first meal after shipping. (Daphnia is another high roughage food, but plant eaters won't eat daphnia)

Once an Oto is in the store, make sure they are eating, and have been there at least a week. That way the store takes the losses, not you. Some wild caught fish do not catch on right away that algae wafers are good food. 

Otos come from water that is quite soft, so low GH and KH are just fine. This water tends to be low pH, too. However, during shipping they may have become acclimated to some other water parameters.
When you get them home have the Q-tank ready. If it has been set up long enough to grow some algae, this is very helpful. Make the water in the Q-tank match the water in the bag (GH, KH, TDS). If there is any doubt about how close a match, drip acclimate. Quarantine for a month, but do not start the clock until whatever medications have been removed.
During quarantine do some slow/small water changes until the Q-tank matches the display tank. 

Offer a rotation of foods including all sorts of kitchen products like squash, yams, cucumber, and pretty much all the vegetables we eat. The hardest items (Pumpkin, winter squash, sweet potatoes, carrots) can be cooked almost as soft as we like them. Not too soft or else they will fall apart in the tank. The moderately tender things like broccoli stems and zucchini can be blanched, or microwaved for a minute, just enough to soften it a bit. 

High quality algae wafers are good, too. Avoid fish meal and grains.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Ditto to Diana's post.

Most of the otos die during the first 2 weeks after being purchased based on personal experience. If they survive, they are likely to be alive for a long time in your tank which is well maintained. I find them sensitive to water which are not very clean. I cannot keep them alive in NPT (probably water parameter issue or there are more debris), tank with ADA Malaya soil (could be water parameter issue) and outdoor tanks (maybe lack of filter and not as clean as indoor tanks)


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## aquaman555 (Mar 22, 2011)

The starvation issue Diana mentioned is what I've heard a lot about. I've also read that usually you can only expect 50% of otos to live. I personally find that to be true, I've bought otos twice and always have bought about double what I wanted. The ones that survived did fine. I have two that I've been having for a year +. I do nothing special for water and actually have a higher pH and kH. Another possible issue is their age being unknown since they are wild caught.


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## D9Vin (May 12, 2011)

I agree with aquaman, I just assume a 50% mortality rate within the first week, then the rest generally live quite a while. The oto rumor I have heard is that to make it easier to catch these swift fish, they dump tranquilizers upstream of where they catch them. They are certainly impossible to get out of any planted tank, so I guess it's plausible, but who knows? 

The way I buy otos is to buy however many I need, wait a week, replace the half that died, wait a week, replace those that die, and so on until I get the amount of survivors I want.


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