The Accidental Oto Keeper

[DaveO]

On 9/13/2022 at 5:17 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@DaveO amazing! Gosh I hope of the 2 of us one of us can get them to spawn. I keep hoping the babies I find are baby Cocama but no luck so far I think. 

That would be super fun. Thanks for the inspiration.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

I mentioned a few entries ago that I had seen 3 new baby Otos and had caught 2. Well that 3rd one was just a swift little chap but finally tonight I got them. Clearly coloring up and getting to the point that I may never catch them (as evidenced by the fact that a few escaped into the main tank with the other current batch and I've never seen them again). 

My observations with each batch is this-  most of the new babies are hanging out along the top 2-4 inches of the tank in their transluscent stage up to their start to coloring at about 5-8 days old. Then as they get older and bigger they are more comfortable moving down the walls of the tank. Today this baby was caught about halfway down the 20 gallon tall Parent Tank. They seem rather dependent on the glass until maybe a bit around 2-3 weeks - THEN good freakin luck catching them. It's all a guess. Otos are fast though- anyone who has had to catch them knows this. Anyhow, this is the 3rd one. No evidence of anyone else lately....

Edited September 14, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX
Typos are lame

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

(for anyone counting this means I have 9 Otos currently in floating breeders)

Edited September 14, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[redfish]

I really like the couple otos we have.  They clean all day long.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank 

Been a bit since I've updated- but there hasn't been a whole lot to report. I have 8 baby Otos still in floating breeder boxes- 5 larger in one and 3 smaller in another. TODAY, did a morning inspection and caught a small baby- semi-translucent so probably 5 days or under old it was trailing a poop 4 times its size! I'm going to let it stay in the main tank for another day or so and see if anyone else pops up.

It's time for me to set up a divider in the Accidental Oto tank where my koi Betta Koianu is so that I can set the larger babies free there to grow up. This should happen in the next few days I hope!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

Well I maybe caught the baby that's in the last post but since I caught it I've seen 2 others that elude me now. So I'm waiting patiently until they are close enough to an area I can catch them and add them to a floating breeder. 

I caught this little one on the 15th. 1 of 3. 

I put it in the smaller breeder with the 3 smaller babies that are a decent sum older but so far the newbie hasn't been pushed around too much. Hoping this weekend I get my tank divider set up for the 5 in the larger floater to grow out with Koianu the Betta in the 10 gallon grow out/Accidental Oto Tank.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

I was able to catch baby #2 last night and saw baby #3 on an Anubias leaf- tried to encourage them to attach to the glass elsewhere but they disappeared somewhere into the tank. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch them today. Once they get past a certain size it's been my experience I may never be able to catch them again. So time is a tickin'!

Edited October 18, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX
attached wrong pic!

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/18/2022 at 5:09 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

I was able to catch baby #2 last night and saw baby #3 on an Anubias leaf- tried to encourage them to attach to the glass elsewhere but they disappeared somewhere into the tank. Hopefully I'll get a chance to catch them today. Once they get past a certain size it's been my experience I may never be able to catch them again. So time is a tickin'!

Good Luck catching them!

I’m still traumatized after catching Hillstream Loaches out of a heavily planted 63 gal(there were just too many!) which took me about 45 min to catch 13😰

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@TheSwissAquarist anything that sticks along the side of a tank or can easily hide like Otos or Hillstreams are hard to catch. I do however find it easiest to catch them when they are on the side of the tank with the net up against the glass at an angle, herd them up towards the rim of the tank and anticipate direction (leading from their head with the longest length of the net)- the hope is they will dislike getting herded and come off the glass into the net- if you make it to the rim often they'll just plop right in but you have to go very slow- especially when you catch fry like I am- they are very fragile. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/18/2022 at 5:28 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@TheSwissAquarist anything that sticks along the side of a tank or can easily hide like Otos or Hillstreams are hard to catch. I do however find it easiest to catch them when they are on the side of the tank with the net up against the glass at an angle, herd them up towards the rim of the tank and anticipate direction (leading from their head with the longest length of the net)- the hope is they will dislike getting herded and come off the glass into the net- if you make it to the rim often they'll just plop right in but you have to go very slow- especially when you catch fry like I am- they are very fragile. 

I usually wait until the evening or the wee hours and gently lift up a piece on decor that they’re on and lift it up while putting my largest net underneath. Works OK.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

Well I told you I had spotted 3 and had caught 2. Well I thought I spotted 3 tonight, so I caught 3. Then I saw 4 and 5. So there may be more incoming little ones shortly here- we shall see! Here is just one of the ones I caught tonight (I just put the other 2 directly into the floating breeder from the net): 

So this weekend I need to work on getting the divider in the Accidental Oto tank and hope that it's going to be good enough for the biggest of the Otos to go in and stay. I had a plastics place cut me a piece that's similar to my manufactured one with holes and had someone else cut some notches in it for the suction cups. This will make it a near self contained tank within a tank just not with seal around it. I just don't want the babies to get to the other side through the holes. It may not work and I might have to wait until they're a bit bigger to transfer. It's just an experiment. Don't worry there's going to be active filtration on either side of the wall if it does work. More on that later!

Edited October 19, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/19/2022 at 4:31 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

Well I told you I had spotted 3 and had caught 2. Well I thought I spotted 3 tonight, so I caught 3. Then I saw 4 and 5. So there may be more incoming little ones shortly here- we shall see! Here is just one of the ones I caught tonight (I just put the other 2 directly into the floating breeder from the net): 

So this weekend I need to work on getting the divider in the Accidental Oto tank and hope that it's going to be good enough for the biggest of the Otos to go in and stay. I had a plastics place cut me a piece that's similar to my manufactured one with holes and had someone else cut some notches in it for the suction cups. This will make it a near self contained tank within a tank just not with seal around it. I just don't want the babies to get to the other side through the holes. It may not work and I might have to wait until they're a bit bigger to transfer. It's just an experiment. Don't worry there's going to be active filtration on either side of the wall if it does work. More on that later!

Are the parents continually laying eggs or are these all just from 1 batch?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

 OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank

This morning I caught another one. Didn't see any others (yet). I think that takes me upt to 9 in the floater (that includes 3 that were already in there for some time). 

@TheSwissAquarist to answer your question, I haven't a clue. There are 60 plus Otos in this tank, they do what they want. I haven't figured out the breeding patterns and I'm not really trying to. 🙂 Nobody else here seems to try and breed Otos, or have so far reported their Otos successfully spawning so, since mine do I just document for future forum members who might want to crack the code. I don't purposefully breed anything.

Edited October 19, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/19/2022 at 3:55 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

There are 60 plus Otos in this tank,

How many did you start with?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@TheSwissAquarist I started with 6, 5 of them died. Then I got another 6 they all made it through QT so 7 in that tank are my orignials- Mama Oto (who I suspect has most of the spawns) is documented earlier in this journal- likely had most of the 60+ babies I caught early on- now they come in smaller bursts. You'd think maybe I'd have a lot more babies because of the volume of Otos, but no. I've also since added a few other Oto Vittatus from the LFS to make sure the gene pool doesn't get "dirty". Anybody I catch from this point will be traded/sold/given to other fish keepers. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/19/2022 at 4:01 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@TheSwissAquarist I started with 6, 5 of them died. Then I got another 6 they all made it through QT so 7 in that tank are my orignials- Mama Oto (who I suspect has most of the spawns) is documented earlier in this journal- likely had most of the 60+ babies I caught early on- now they come in smaller bursts. You'd think maybe I'd have a lot more babies because of the volume of Otos, but no. I've also since added a few other Oto Vittatus from the LFS to make sure the gene pool doesn't get "dirty". Anybody I catch from this point will be traded/sold/given to other fish keepers. 

Thanks for replying! I can now become the Oto Baron of Switzerland 😂

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@TheSwissAquarist Good luck friend! You never know. Despite Otos not being super popular for their looks in a tank- most fish keepers want them because they are excellent clean up crew. I personally thing they are beautiful and fun. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/19/2022 at 4:04 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I personally thing they are beautiful and fun. 

Ever heard of Galaxy Otos?

From the web

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@TheSwissAquarist I have heard of them. There are many species of Otos just like Cory. Most of them look very similar though some are bigger or smaller than each other. There are some you really can't tell apart. The most interesting one I've heard of lately is the Orange Otocinclus- they look much different than what I've kept. For now I'm at capacity with fish so I'd have to wait to try anything else.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Accidental Oto Tank

So today was project day. I'd bought a divider for the 10 gallon grow out known as the Accidental Oto- where my now resident koi Betta, Koianu lives. I don't believe he'd hurt the baby Otos but I wanted to divide the tank so that they'll be easier to catch when it's time to sell them. Giving them the run of a 10 gallon is a bit much. Plus I can't imagine catching them with Koianu ALSO in the way. 

The divider I got on Amazon looks like this (ad photo):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HYRTZ46/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

The divider is a good one and the holes in it aren't big but the corners are rounded and the longer vents on the divider- well I was concerned the Otos would get themselves stuck in. Stranger things have happened with these little guys. So I took the divider (as I mentioned in another post) to the local plastics shop, they cut me a piece the same size but could not cut the notches for the suction cup holders- no worries- someone close to me was able to do the work which I appreciated. That in hand for the last month I came to today when it was time I decided to put the 5 oldest babies into the Accidental. The non-rounded corners worked really well. I'm very pleased with how the tank got divided. I put an ACO medium sponge in the baby Oto side and left the Aqueon 10 HOB for Koianu. I made sure all his Nerite friends were on Koianu's side. The coconut hut got put on the divider wall for the Betta, gave the Otos a plant and a feeding dish and now we have a place for everyone until it's time to go. Koianu isn't too pleased about the wall but he'll get over it sooner or later. Tank looks great: 

This is the Oto's side of the 10 gallon: 

So I emptied the largest floating breeder of the 5 older baby Otos and I've seen zero adjustment issues (only difference between this tank and the Parent Tank will more be temperature than anything else). They will be pretty content with so much more space than a floating breeder: 

I think it's just in time because I caught yet another baby oto while cleaning tanks this morning. I've lost track now of how many I have but there may be 10 or so in the breeder- I switched them out of the smaller one they were in and put them in the big one so they have more space and less chance of mosh pitting themselves to death. I won't be surprised if I find a few more in the coming days. 

 

Edited October 20, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX
Typos are lame

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:45 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Accidental Oto Tank

So today was project day. I'd bought a divider for the 10 gallon grow out known as the Accidental Oto- where my now resident koi Betta, Koianu lives. I don't believe he'd hurt the baby Otos but I wanted to divide the tank so that they'll be easier to catch when it's time to sell them. Giving them the run of a 10 gallon is a bit much. Plus I can't imagine catching them with Koianu ALSO in the way. 

The divider I got on Amazon looks like this (ad photo):

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HYRTZ46/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

The divider is a good one and the holes in it aren't big but the corners are rounded and the longer vents on the divider- well I was concerned the Otos would get themselves stuck in. Stranger things have happened with these little guys. So I took the divider (as I mentioned in another post) to the local plastics shop, they cut me a piece the same size but could not cut the notches for the suction cup holders- no worries- someone close to me was able to do the work which I appreciated. That in hand for the last month I came to today when it was time I decided to put the 5 oldest babies into the Accidental. The non-rounded corners worked really well. I'm very pleased with how the tank got divided. I put an ACO medium sponge in the baby Oto side and left the Aqueon 10 HOB for Koianu. I made sure all his Nerite friends were on Koianu's side. The coconut hut got put on the divider wall for the Betta, gave the Otos a plant and a feeding dish and now we have a place for everyone until it's time to go. Koianu isn't too pleased about the wall but he'll get over it sooner or later. Tank looks great: 

This is the Oto's side of the 10 gallon: 

So I emptied the largest floating breeder of the 5 older baby Otos and I've seen zero adjustment issues (only difference between this tank and the Parent Tank will more be temperature than anything else). They will be pretty content with so much more space than a floating breeder: 

I think it's just in time because I caught yet another baby oto while cleaning tanks this morning. I've lost track now of how many I have but there may be 10 or so in the breeder- I switched them out of the smaller one they were in and put them in the big one so they have more space and less chance of mosh pitting themselves to death. I won't be surprised if I find a few more in the coming days. 

 

HOW MANY AQUARIUMS DO YOU HAVE ????????????????????????

Is there just a secret fishroom in construction and Inhave no idea?🙃

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:22 PM, TheSwissAquarist said:

HOW MANY AQUARIUMS DO YOU HAVE

😄 Just 5. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 10/21/2022 at 3:42 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

😄 Just 5. 

Hundred?😂

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Accidental Oto Tank

So this morning everyone is doing well. One little ones found the bowl (at least that I witnessed).

The spot where the suction cup was holding the coconut hut on the wall is now scraped clean by the baby Otos. Generally everyone has been very active since being put in the Accidental tank- this is good to see. 

I made an error in my count. This is how hard it is to keep track of these little buggers- especially since my phone died along with the app I used to use to keep track of my tanks/stock. THERE ARE SIX, not five as originally reported- and I remember it was because one had to be separated for a while since they were much smaller and they got big enough I moved them over to add new Otos. 

Speaking of new Otos....

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank:

So yesterday while switching over the 6 I removed the Large ACO Sponge Filter from the Accidental tank (I put it there because as you might remember I had 60 or so Otos in a 10 gallon, now it was just overkill) to the Parent tank and did a bunch of cleaning. Part of that was moving the now smaller/newer batch of babies over to the bigger floating breeder box. Most of these now were caught in the last week or so- but there are a couple that have at least a few week start on them. This is why putting them in the larger box was a neccessary move- the bigger ones tend to (accidentally) smack into the very little ones and cause death. So far, since the move- no deaths. I've counted 11 total (again these buggers are hard to count they move often and quickly). I tend to try and count them every day because at this stage it's not unusual to lose some. So in cleaning up the food every morning is when I discover them (I'm about to clean it after I finish this entry). Anyhow, no deaths today, no way you can see them all, some are very,, very small: 

I did an inspection of the tank walls for more newbies. I have at least 1 other. They are in an unreachable spot for now, and rather transluscent- so I'm ok if they stay in the tank another few days as they are harder to catch this small and rather delicate. Though if they give me the opportunity I will still try: 

Of course that's just one, you also see the reflection. Anyway. Here we go to clean!

Edited October 21, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX
Typos are lame

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

***spoke too soon, just after submitting, see another transluscent baby Oto.