My experiments and experience with Otocinclus

[Rick Bunn]

Otocinclus or as I usually call them Otos, are one of those fish that many people have so many questions about. They are a species that have many issues in the hobby, most are nearly starved to death by the time they reach our tanks, and many are very picky eaters when we first get them, making the problem even worse. A lot of the time the best advice you will get is to not add them unless your tank is well seasoned and has plenty of biofilm to get them through transition. Some people have luck with feeding cucumber, or canned green beans, others have success with algae wafers and Rapashy, and still more people try all of the above, to just watch all of it go uneaten as their Otos slowly fade away.

I used to be one of those people that had difficulty keeping them alive more than a couple weeks. one of the early tricks I tried to get them through quarantine, was to set up a tote outside in i sunny spot, cover the bottom with 8 inch long pieces of driftwood add a good dose of ferts and let the biofilm start to grow, After a few days of this being set up I would purchase my Otos, put them in quarantine, and rotate the pieces of drift wood daily while offering other foods. This reduced my loses, but was still not optimal. 

Then one day I stumbled across a YouTube video, it was Mark's Aquatics, and he was making shrimp food, from various plant materials he had gathered and dried. I thought to myself that I would have to try that some day for my shrimp. Later that day I stumbled across a research paper, discussing the use of various seeds, as a means to supplement Omega 3 and ^ for farm raised Tilapia, primarily the use of Chia seeds, which were considered highly palatable to Tilapia.

Well having been on a health food kick or two in my life, I knew Chia seeds to be considered a super food, and that when soaked in liquid, they form this gelatinous ball around each seed about 5 times the size of the seed.

That's when the light bulb kicked on.

I had chia seeds. I had a whole garden full of, organic greens and a few other items kicking around the fish room. Over the next few days I gathered and dried a variety of greens. and once they were dried I started by Grinding about a cup of Chia seeds in an electric coffee grinder to make a fine powder. I then used the coffee grinder on  dried Kale, dreid dandelion leaves, dried peas, dried parsley, raspberry leaves , and freeze dried blood worms, and spiralina flakes. I mixed it all together and added a small amount of garlic powder to the mix.

I took about an eighth of a teaspoon of this mix and added about the same amount of water to it in a small container, and mixed it up with my planting tongs to make it into a firm dough like consistency.  I used my planting tongs to smear a small amount of this onto a piece of driftwood in my Otos tank, I also offered small bits of this to my shrimp, and guppies. The shrimp and guppies devoured it immediately, the Otos took a about and hour or so to try it, but after the first bite, the devoured it.  After a few days, they all had fat little bellies, within two weeks they spawned for me the first time, and the fry could be seen feeding on this mix and they flourished. This is in a species only tank, as I was focusing on finding a way to feed the Otos primarily. So the fry stayed with the parents until they were big enough to move to community tanks. As they were growing I would offer other foods in addition to this home made Oto Fuel as I call it, and being introduced to variety at a younger age, all my tank raised Otos will eat almost anything I offer now.

My original wild caught trio Spawned at least four times in the first three months I had them, until I added other fish to their tank because I was completely over run with Otos. I have them in every tank like Malaysian Trumpet snails, they were everywhere! I Sold most of them fairly easily as they got to the half inch size that i deemed adequate, to sell.  

I have made several batches of this food since varying amounts of the same ingredients, and have found that the otos seem to enjoy a slightly higher amount of Kale over the other greens, other than this I haven't really noticed much difference in performance or palatability. I have discovered that all my fish that enjoy some plant material in their diet, enjoy this food, and I believe the higher amounts of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids help condition fish for breeding quicker.

I just wanted to share my experience, and experiments with the community, and I hope if anyone tries a variation of this and has success they will let me know. I think this would work well with plecos as well and the formula can be tweaked to add more protein, or less depending on the specific requirements of the species targeted. I do believe the Chia seeds as a base rather than a gelatin or agar is definitely, beneficial to the overall results,

I also have started adding a calcium powder to the mix when I feed shrimp, and snails.

Anyway sorry for the long rambling format, hopefully you pick up an idea or two before succumbing to boredom.

Until next time Happy fishkeeping.   

[CT_]

WOW GREAT POST!!  I'm a bit dense, can you write it out as a recipe with measurements (preferably weights).  I want to try and replicate what you have exactly.  I'm dieing to get otos and am almost ready to buy them.

[OceanTruth]

That is pretty epic, coming up with your own recipe to feed Otos! Not only getting picky eaters to eat it, but having them thrive on it. I’m always amazed  at what people can come up with and accomplish in fish keeping.

[Brandy]

Holy Cow. This is the best post ever!! I LOOOVE my otos, and I can't wait to try this. I want to spawn them too, and I think I know where I should do that...now that you have solved the feeding problem. Chia seed is freaking BRILLIANT. I am in awe, and soo grateful! 🙌

[AdamTill]

Neat, always like seeing oto spawning reports.

What’s your water management like?

[Odd Duck]

Definitely need this recipe!  Pretty, pretty, please?

[Socqua]

Awesome post. I may have missed it but I'm curious, have you tried this recipe multiple times with different store-bought otos since the first batch? Would be great to see this reproducible on different shipments of a variety of otos!

[AdamTill]

13 minutes ago, Socqua said:

Awesome post. I may have missed it but I'm curious, have you tried this recipe multiple times with different store-bought otos since the first batch? Would be great to see this reproducible on different shipments of a variety of otos!

Species make a big diff too. The only one I can personally predictably reproduce are true vittatus. That’s maddening because basically all stores call “common” otos either vittatus or affinis. Some are true vittatus, basically none are affinis. They seem to be able to handle cocama.

[Rick Bunn]

My basic recipe varies a bit as i am still experimenting with ingredients but the most well liked so far is as follows.

3/4 cup finely powdered Chia seeds

1/2 cup of dried powdered Kale

!/2 cup of Spirulina Powder

1/4 cup of each of the following dried and powdered,

Split peas, Raspberry leaves, Dandelion Leaves, Parsley, Dried Bloodworms. 

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.

mix well and I keep it in the freezer to maintain freshness and just mix what I plan to feed immediately.

I have used this basic recipe on two groups of Otos purchased from Petsmart with great success.

*Disclaimer. This is my experience and result, I am sharing here in hopes that others can get the same or better results but I can not guarantee any thing. Please if you try this share your results.  but try at your own risk.  If you find this works for you share for the benefit of the hobby, or if you find a better recipe please share your modifications. 

[Rick Bunn]

2 hours ago, AdamTill said:

Neat, always like seeing oto spawning reports.

What’s your water management like?

I test weekly and do water changes only when Nitrates exceed 20 ppm.

My normal testing is with the Tetra 6 in 1 No3 <20ppm. No2 0ppm GH 300 ppm KH 180, pH 8

They are in a lightly planted tank and usually spawn on an Amazon Sword growing in the tank,

[AdamTill]

3 minutes ago, Rick Bunn said:

I test weekly and do water changes only when Nitrates exceed 20 ppm.

My normal testing is with the Tetra 6 in 1 No3 <20ppm. No2 0ppm GH 300 ppm KH 180, pH 8

They are in a lightly planted tank and usually spawn on an Amazon Sword growing in the tank,

Thanks for that! Can you post a picture of some of your otos? We can probably determine species if you don’t already know.

[Rick Bunn]

2 hours ago, Socqua said:

Awesome post. I may have missed it but I'm curious, have you tried this recipe multiple times with different store-bought otos since the first batch? Would be great to see this reproducible on different shipments of a variety of otos!

So far it has only been with 2 separate groups of 3 Otos purchased from Petsmart. Since they started spawning I haven't bought any more as I have limited room for anymore and have added Sparkling Gourami to the Oto tank to discourage spawning for awhile. 

I am hoping that by sharing this I can get more feedback from others to verify the results.

[Rick Bunn]

1 minute ago, AdamTill said:

Thanks for that! Can you post a picture of some of your otos? We can probably determine species if you don’t already know.

I will try to get some clear photos of the adults and post them. I do have some shots of the fry somewhere on my phone I will post as well

 

[Rick Bunn]

Here are a couple of photos of one of my sub adults, and some week old fry feeding on the recipe above.

[Odd Duck]

1 hour ago, Rick Bunn said:

My basic recipe varies a bit as i am still experimenting with ingredients but the most well liked so far is as follows.

3/4 cup finely powdered Chia seeds

1/2 cup of dried powdered Kale

!/2 cup of Spirulina Powder

1/4 cup of each of the following dried and powdered,

Split peas, Raspberry leaves, Dandelion Leaves, Parsley, Dried Bloodworms. 

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.

mix well and I keep it in the freezer to maintain freshness and just mix what I plan to feed immediately.

I have used this basic recipe on two groups of Otos purchased from Petsmart with great success.

*Disclaimer. This is my experience and result, I am sharing here in hopes that others can get the same or better results but I can not guarantee any thing. Please if you try this share your results.  but try at your own risk.  If you find this works for you share for the benefit of the hobby, or if you find a better recipe please share your modifications. 

Thank you for sharing your recipe and your experience!

 

Edited to ask, “How much calcium powder you add for snails or shrimp?”

Edited February 12, 2021 by Odd Duck

[Rick Bunn]

More blurry fry photos from one of the spawns.

[Rick Bunn]

10 minutes ago, Odd Duck said:

Thank you for sharing your recipe and your experience!

 

Edited to ask, “How much calcium powder you add for snails or shrimp?”

I use a calcium powder designed for reptiles that contains no added vitamins or anything and I just add a little pinch of it before mixing in the water when I am preparing for shrimp, It really depends on how much calcium you need to supplement. I have a decent amount of calcium in my water as it is so I don't add much.

 

[Odd Duck]

Thanks!

[Brandy]

On 2/11/2021 at 6:07 PM, Rick Bunn said:

My basic recipe varies a bit as i am still experimenting with ingredients but the most well liked so far is as follows.

3/4 cup finely powdered Chia seeds

1/2 cup of dried powdered Kale

!/2 cup of Spirulina Powder

1/4 cup of each of the following dried and powdered,

Split peas, Raspberry leaves, Dandelion Leaves, Parsley, Dried Bloodworms. 

 

Are you using a food dehydrator, or just time, like hang drying herbs?

[CT_]

I mixed up a small batch of this over the weekend.  I mixed the water 1:1 (1/8th tsp) using boiling water, though in that small a volume I'm sure it hit room temp in 2 seconds.  After mixing I smeared it on a river rock and let it sit for 5-10min.  It didn't hold together as well as repashy but it was only slightly worse and frankly repashy doesn't hold up that well for me either. 

 

I will say my guppies were much more interested vs repashy soilent green.  And the otos found it faster, they usually find repashy once its starting to break down a bit.  Their interest is about the same as repashy I'd say, but I don't think they were super hungry either.  Mine got really fat and I don't feed them that much because I'm lazy and stopped worrying after they looked okay.

 

In anycase, I took a time lapse so you all can judge for yourself as well.

 

 

[Rick Bunn]

On 2/25/2021 at 6:58 PM, Brandy said:

Are you using a food dehydrator, or just time, like hang drying herbs?

I have been hang drying most of my plant material though I have just dug my dehydrator out of storage and will probably be using it in the future.

[Rick Bunn]

2 hours ago, CT_ said:

I mixed up a small batch of this over the weekend.  I mixed the water 1:1 (1/8th tsp) using boiling water, though in that small a volume I'm sure it hit room temp in 2 seconds.  After mixing I smeared it on a river rock and let it sit for 5-10min.  It didn't hold together as well as repashy but it was only slightly worse and frankly repashy doesn't hold up that well for me either. 

 

I will say my guppies were much more interested vs repashy soilent green.  And the otos found it faster, they usually find repashy once its starting to break down a bit.  Their interest is about the same as repashy I'd say, but I don't think they were super hungry either.  Mine got really fat and I don't feed them that much because I'm lazy and stopped worrying after they looked okay.

 

In anycase, I took a time lapse so you all can judge for yourself as well.

 

 

Thank you so much for sharing this,

 

[BenA]

Are Otos and Siamese Algae Eaters compatible and can be kept in the same tank or am I looking for troubles?

Thanks 

[Streetwise]

I keep them together in two tanks. They each like some different stuff and some of the same. I love them both!

[BenA]

Thanks for that. My wife wants to add them to the mix.