otocinclus feeding

[Tara.C.]

I purchased some otocinclus about a week ago. They're doing great so far. But they've already gone through the algae and biofilm in my tank. I've tried giving them  Hikari algae wafers and Repashy soilent green. I haven't seen them eat either in the last couple of days, but they're swimming around the tank and acting content. Is there a way to entice them with food? Do they eat at night, and maybe I'm just not seeing them feed? Is there a better food I should be offering? I know they're prone to starvation, and j wouldn't say these guys have particularly round bellies, so I'm a bit concerned. 

[Jeremy B]

5 minutes ago, Tara.C. said:

I purchased some otocinclus about a week ago. They're doing great so far. But they've already gone through the algae and biofilm in my tank. I've tried giving them  Hikari algae wafers and Repashy soilent green. I haven't seen them eat either in the last couple of days, but they're swimming around the tank and acting content. Is there a way to entice them with food? Do they eat at night, and maybe I'm just not seeing them feed? Is there a better food I should be offering? I know they're prone to starvation, and j wouldn't say these guys have particularly round bellies, so I'm a bit concerned. 

What I've started to do is put some rocks into a container filled with water and giving it lots of light to encourage the growth of algae and plan to put these rocks into the aquarium one at a time. I'll just keep swapping as needed to help feed. I wish I could take credit but I read it somewhere here on these forums.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Jeremy B

[Brandy]

Mine seem like cucumber slices and canned green beans. 

[Travis]

I feed blanched Zucchini in a glass petri dish. I have six Otos and unless my Pleco chases them off there is usually always one on the food. I also add Bacter AE to the tank to keep my biofilm up for my shrimp and Otos.

[JerseyBundy]

Cucumbers, Zucchini, and Green beans. I have Repashy soilent green as well but they don't touch it. But I tried the Repashy Super Green and they eat it up. 

[Ben_RF]

If you have bug bites, try mixing that in with the soylent green.  I know it sounds weird, but mine love it that way. Also they wouldn't touch the soylent green without it. 

[Ben_RF]

Also if you have tubifex cubes, they seem to like that too. 

[Ryan W]

I’ve kept oto’s off and on for several years and they have always been the most fragile fish I’ve kept. They either make it or they don’t. I seem to have a 33%-50% survival rate from my local shops (a decent Petsmart and a small shop). During those years I’ve actually never directly fed them instead relying on algae development on spider wood. Offering them a dedicated outside food source, regardless of what it was, never worked for me. For me, it was wood and algae. The ones that made it remained fat and healthy for the entirety of their life. They also came in fat and active so that’s always a plus. The ones that didn’t make it almost always came in more sluggish and not as fat to just plain skinny. Trying to directly feed those ones also resulted in lackluster results. I honestly don’t see how people get their oto’s to eat from being target fed. My experience isn’t from anything remotely considered “scientific” and all of my tanks have been community tanks except for bettas.

I believe algae and wood to be the best foods for them and agree with Jeremy B’s advice to culture algae in a separate vessel and give them some of that. Keep in mind though that a well fed oto can be a poop machine let alone a group of them. So, just keep bioload in check with filtration and water changes and everything should be good once they start eating. I have also always assumed they kind of constantly grazed whenever they were attached to a surface. If you’ve ever had a bunch of green spot algae, you can see their little graze trails even if you don’t “see” them eat. You can even see the tiny individual “teeth” marks. It’s pretty neat. I’m my experience, if they have a fat stomach and are active at least half of the time, I don’t really concern myself with their feeding habits considering I know there’s algae always growing and the wood doesn’t help either. 

 

Having said that!............ I have lost every single oto I’ve purchased in the last 2 months (or whenever my state allowed fish store sales to resume) dealing with the covid stuff. That’s 5 oto’s. 2 separate occasions. Even ones that seem to appear healthy and active. The ones I’ve seen have also been very small. Much smaller than I’ve seen them before. The market may be a little better now granted that that was a few months ago. I’m in Michigan but all of our fish don’t really come from very many sources especially if bought from a chain store. I’m assuming that the last 10 months has had its toll on the supply chain and the global suppliers have been pumping out as much fish as they can the last few months to recuperate sales.

[Streetwise]

+1 for algae, biofilm, and wood!

[tolstoy21]

I’ve had good luck recently with a batch of otos.  Got 12, gave them the med trio for a week and then moved them into the community tank where they joined 6 other existing ones. 

I have lots of large algae covered rocks and some wood, and they grazed on that all and cleaned it in about 2 weeks. Have not had a single oto die on me.

Mine don’t seem to be fussy eaters. Being the algae is getting scarce, I also feed them Hakari algae wafers, and just tried Repashi super green today and they ate that as well.

However, mine are surprisingly not fussy and are also eating the flake food that gathers in an dead spot in my tank.  They eat both Tetra color flakes and Xtreme flakes. Whenever I feed the tank, they all rush to the corner and wait on the substrate for leftovers and sift the sand with the Cory cats for the leftovers. At first I thought they did this cause they were starved, but they’re all about as fat as can be. 

[3vi1p3nguin]

I've found that if I lightly overfeed flake that my otos stay fat and happy. I've got no idea how many I have anymore. I've never seen fry or very small ones, but I do notice a few juveniles pop up from time to time. I also add 1/4 a zucchini in twice a week. They always seem to go for it after the bristlenose are done.

[Sliceofnature]

Putting veggie slices on a suction cup clip has worked well for me. It seems to be a little easier for them to transition to because its a very natural way for them to eat. I do thick peels of zuchini, cucumber, squash, sweet potato, spinach(basically whatever i have around) and microwave the piece in water for 30 seconds. Ill leave it in for a day or 2. Do this and i guarantee youll have fat bellied oto’s.

[Tiffany]

When I got mine I put them in the tank for a day so they could acclimate, I also had a little algae in the tank. The next day or so I added a couple canned green beans and they eventually made their way to it and started munching. Once they realized that the green beans were safe they demolish them. Once I got them eating really good on the green beans I would add a algae wafer on occasion and they would munch on them too. Mine did not eat the cucumber or any of the food missed by the other fish.

[Phill D]

For the folks using the canned green beans, do you do anything do them first or pluck them straight out of the can and drop them in the tank? Also, when trying things like zucchini slices, is it safe to use something like a wooden kabob skewer to hold the vegetable slice down (like pierce the skewer into the gravel while the vegetable is stuck to it) or, are those skewers made of treated wood that would leech chemicals? 

 

For what its worth, mine are constantly grazing on plants and cholla wood, so i'm wondering if i use my planting tweezers to strategically place these algae wafers on spots they frequent, if they'll just derp their way onto it and realize its food

[mouseturd13]

Mine don't seem to be too picky. I break up the regular sized Hikari algae wafers for them. Mine hide a lot and seem to come out more at night than when the light is on. The seem happy, but they graze around on cholla wood and the plants so I assume there is more than enough for them to eat. They like to hangout under my sponge filter mostly. 

[RyanR]

I'm on my second go at Otos in one of my aquariums.  The first time, I only got one to try and it died in about a week.  It was a newly cycled tank, so that very well could be the reason.  About a week ago, I got 2 more for the same aquarium.  There's a decent amount of algae in the tank right now.  I put zuchinni and fluval algae wafers in there, long with the regular food that drops down to the bottom, but I don't see them eating either.  We will see how these fish do.

[Ben_RF]

Hey @Tara.C.,

How are you coming along getting them to eat? Did you find something that works for you yet?

[Tiffany]

Phill D- I just pluck them straight out of the can. I use the regular cut and split them apart. I leave the seed and all. Nothing is ever left. 🙃

[Phill D]

On 10/9/2020 at 5:18 PM, Tiffany said:

Phill D- I just pluck them straight out of the can. I use the regular cut and split them apart. I leave the seed and all. Nothing is ever left. 🙃

I tried that last night, but i didn't see any of them go for it. They could have while i was asleep maybe. How long do you leave the bean in for until you pluck it out? I was thinking maybe a day. Otherwise i have hikari mini algae wafers. Gonna try sticking one of those to the wall and see if they notice it. They forage the plants and wood very actively between their naps but seem oblivious to prepped food. 

 

Oddly enough i did see my black kuhli go after the green bean a few times.