How do I quarantine amano shrimp and otocinclus catfish

[Neha]

I have an existing small colony of cherry/pumpkin shrimp, how do I quarantine amano shrimp and do I need to?

 I also have corydoras and guppies and I want to bring 1 otocinclus, how do I quarantine him and do I need to?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @Neha I would highly recommend getting at least 3 Otocinclus as they are shoaling fish and do hang out together, just like Cory. They are low on the bioload so shouldn't effect your parameters. You didn't say if you have a QT, but you can use a plastic tub or buy a small glass box aquarium (I use petco's Imagitarium LARGE temporary holding tanks- they're about 3 gallons are see through and have lids). Put plants or decorations from your established tank into the QT (preferably with algae for them) and hopefully you have a filter you can use from your established tank. In QT start trying to train them to eat commercial foods and veggies if you feed them. Medicating like with the Trio recommended by ACO is up to you as this is a personal choice (unless they are showing signs of illness and need to be treated). 

[BettaHomesAndGardens]

So I just wanted to jump in to offer my mistakes as a learning tool. Otocinclus are very finicky when first brought home and as was stated they are schooling fish. I feel like with them even more than others it’s important to bring home a decent group at one time as it seems to help relax them and give them a better chance of making it. I made that mistake early on of just getting one at a time and it didn’t work out and I hate losing fish so it was a huge bummer when I realized it was likely my lack of understanding that contributed. Just wanted to offer the heads up from personal experience. They are awesome awesome fish tho so I hope you really enjoy yours!

[nabokovfan87]

I will start with.....

I would view this as mandatory viewing for anyone who is considering buying or caring for otos. They are a very misunderstood fish a lot of the time and it's very important to always go back to the "be the fish" mentality.

I have had otos that came in and then had some ich. That being one issue and one situation.

I would make sure you have a tank with some good algae (brush algae) on the surfaces for them. Barring that, I would suggest the sera spirulina tabs or some other forms of good food that they will easily be able to eat when first arriving.

Make sure they don't get too stressed out (red gills and breathing heavy) and then QT them like you normally would with the med trio and  the second version of the internal parasite med the co-op sells from fritz.

For amano shrimp, you really have to treat them very differently than a fish and this is based on a video I saw from Cory when they brought some into the shop in one of their older unboxings. He basically said that there is no good way to QT them and you want to just get them into a tank. There are a lot of meds that are not shrimp safe but the med trio from co-op has been tested with shrimp I believe.

From the co-op QT article:

 

Quote

Should you quarantine shrimp and snails? Dwarf shrimp can sometimes carry diseases, especially if purchased directly from importers, so if you are bringing in a batch to add to an existing colony, consider putting them in quarantine first to observe their condition. In our experience, snails rarely seem to carry illnesses, so we usually skip the quarantine step and add them directly to our aquariums.

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Neha]

So I have a 15 gal tank with 7 guppies and 7 pygmy cories. I was wondering if bringing in 3 otos would be a good idea considering the bioload and availability of enough algae for 3 otos in a 15gal, cz I’ve heard they can starve to death when algae is not available.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:36 PM, Neha said:

So I have a 15 gal tank with 7 guppies and 7 pygmy cories. I was wondering if bringing in 3 otos would be a good idea considering the bioload and availability of enough algae for 3 otos in a 15gal

yes they absolutely can starve. guppies would be handling a lot of the algae load for you as well.  Adding some amano shrimp would be a nice little way to handle it, but if you are set on otos I would suggest a maximum of 2 in that situation. Feed the guppies themselves, then use some other food for the otos.  On mine, I prefer the hikari or the sera spirulina o-nip tabs. Something they otos can latch onto.  They do have "mini" wafers too from hikari that would let the guppies go off with their food and let the otos latch onto their own. 

It's going to be a difficult situation if the otos are always being scared of eating off the wafer, but there is a way to make it work if you wish to have that stocking.

[Neha]

On 4/4/2022 at 1:54 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

yes they absolutely can starve. guppies would be handling a lot of the algae load for you as well.  Adding some amano shrimp would be a nice little way to handle it, but if you are set on otos I would suggest a maximum of 2 in that situation. Feed the guppies themselves, then use some other food for the otos.  On mine, I prefer the hikari or the sera spirulina o-nip tabs. Something they otos can latch onto.  They do have "mini" wafers too from hikari that would let the guppies go off with their food and let the otos latch onto their own. 

It's going to be a difficult situation if the otos are always being scared of eating off the wafer, but there is a way to make it work if you wish to have that stocking.

I def don’t want to bring in fish that probably won’t be happy with the amount of algae I can provide. If I can work with amanos, I would like to do so.

[nabokovfan87]

Amanos should do perfectly, especially with any sort of wood, they will spend the day there and then at night clean the whole tank. Amanos enjoy different surfaces, and the fish get some stuff to swim around. For the tank you have, you probably only *need* 3 or so amanos. In my 29G I have just under 10.

[Neha]

I ended up buying just 3 amanos, they have been working well.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/3/2022 at 5:07 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

For amano shrimp, you really have to treat them very differently than a fish and this is based on a video I saw from Cory when they brought some into the shop in one of their older unboxings. He basically said that there is no good way to QT them and you want to just get them into a tank. There are a lot of meds that are not shrimp safe but the med trio from co-op has been tested with shrimp I believe.

I finally found the video.