# Are Otos Delicate?



## rrguymon (Jul 22, 2005)

I am not having alot of luck keeping otos alive. I have 3 of 6 that I have bought over the last 3 weeks still alive. 

The ammonia and nitrite are low. Other fish, neons, guppies, and a beta are doing ok. Just the poor otos have a high death rate?


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## brad (Jul 10, 2005)

The are notoriously hard to acclimate. they don`t take shipping well and usually arrive at the lfs beaten up and starved. Don`t buy them when they first arrive at the store. Give them a week or 2 to let the weak ones die off first. (sounds bad I know) Then baby them when you get them home. Give them plenty to eat and treat them right for about 2 months and you`ll be in the clear. Once established, they`re very hardy and well worth the effort. They take their cleaning duties seriously.


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## blue (Jul 5, 2005)

Ottos have a bacteria in their gut (similar to termites) to digest their food. So starved -> inability to eat etc. Give them a week or too at the store or put them in a tank with established ottos (quarientine is always good).


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

The best luck I have ever had with Otos was buying them directly from the receiving bag at the LFS. I had them give them to me straight with the water they were shipped in. While they were stressed from the trip, they were not additionally stressed by being dumped into the LFS's water and forced to acclimate to yet another set of water parameters. I only lost a couple this way. Every other time I have purchased them I loose at least half. 

They can be hard to acclimate but even more so if they go through several different sets of water parameters...breeder's water, water in shipping bag, LFS water, then your water. I think maybe my luck was keeping one less water variable out of the equation.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

I have never lost any that I have purchased from my LFS. This may be just a quirk though because I have heard lots of stories of troubles with them. I have 7 or 8 in my 75 that I have bought over time and havent found a dead one yet.


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

I guess i'm a bit lucky. Oto's are readily available at my local Petsmart. Out of the 6 i've bought in the last 3 months i've only lost 1. This was due because he was an adventrous one. He'd swim into my internal co2 reactor to find algae. Was great until he swam into the other powerhead (much lower flowrate) following a trail of algae..until he went too far in. My Petsmart also has a great refund/exchange policy too. Maybe you should check Petsmart or Petco for otos? I know LFS's are notorious for their 24 hour garuntee.


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## rrguymon (Jul 22, 2005)

OK thanks for the info. I will pick up a couple more later. So far I the three that made past there first couple of days are still doing ok.


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## turtlehead (Nov 27, 2004)

It is a week guarantee, you have a week to return them dead or alive for replacement or refund.


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

yea, just save the reciept and the corpse =p


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