Otto laying eggs?

[JoeQ]

Is my ott9 bloated, sick, laying eggs? Constipated? 

[JoeQ]

Heres a picture of the other side

[Odd Duck]

@xXInkedPhoenixX is your best bet to have an answer to this question. To me, she looks eggy, but let’s see if anyone with actual oto breeding can chime in. 

[JoeQ]

Im not trying to breed which I know nothing about. All i know is ive see 2 ottos constantly, which seem to be playing grab a...... Today the one was in a perfect light where i think i see an egg sack? (in first pic) 

[Odd Duck]

@xXInkedPhoenixXHasn’t deliberately bred them either and yet has had remarkable success. Still your best bet for someone on here knowing if it looks like eggs or bloat. 

[JoeQ]

Great, thank you for tagging him/her! Hopefully they will respond 

Edited February 13, 2022 by JoeQ

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @JoeQ. As @Odd Duck said I'm an Accidental breeder of sorts. I've not witnessed the "fat egg belly" in my tanks, my Otos are just fat. Now, if the chasing game you are describing is them going up and down the tank walls and "dancing" around the surfaces (I usually see 1-3 doing it) then yeah that's the mating dance as far as I can tell because usually shortly after I witness this I can check the undersides of the leaves of my Amazon Swords and typically find eggs. Your fatty is hanging out near plants, if that's the area she hangs most keep checking (visually) under the leaves- especially if she seems to lose the "weight". They look like: 

I cannot tell from side pics but I can usually tell female and male apart because the girls are longer bodied and usually a decent sum bigger than the boys. I got about 60 babies last year and gave away some but kept most, so I have about 40 in one tank kinda waiting if I can make more. The only batch I've gotten since was a batch of ultimately 8. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by xXInkedPhoenixX

[JoeQ]

Ok, thank you for the insight on what to look out for. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

You have anything else in the tank they will likely eat the babies. they end up usually at the top of my tank along the waterline and look like: 

The really young ones are translucent. Anyway, I document most of how I raise them on my journal. 

[JoeQ]

Thanks, ill check your journal out, I have an angel fish and a school of rummy nose tetras among other algea eaters i  that tank, and in my QT tank I have julie corys plus a small Tidal filter which is a fry death trap!! I guess if i see eggs I will have another project to work on. Can these eggs be safely moved? 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I've not yet tried that because I'm not sure how well they are attached to the plants. There seems to be very little known about Oto breeding. I've seen others here mention they have but I've not seen posts about it or their methods. I seem to be the only one documenting experience. It's not an easy thing- and was supposedly "impossible" or "intermediate" to breed and raise Otos which is why I picked them originally in the first place. So I'm just a casual observer and not a serious breeder.