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Oto cats not very active.


TresMiller
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I have 2 Oto Cats in a 29 gallon tank that have found a favorite spot and don't move from there. Both Otos stay behind a java fern I have in the back corner of my tank. When they where new to the tank a they were very active cruising around from plant to plant and hanging out on the drift wood. they have been in the tank for 5-6 month. Both look very health but do not come out from behind the java fern as they did before. When they were active they kept the plant leaves clean and free from any algae. Would adding a couple more coax them out?    

 

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I think that adding more would definitely make them be a little more active, although oto's are usually very inactive in my experience. Maybe trying putting in an algae wafer or a slice of cucumber or zucchini. 

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Like @Colu said, increasing the shoal size tends to help with activity. 

I did have an interesting thing occur in one of my tanks, not sure how common this would be.  When I added six dwarf chain loaches to the tank, they all began immedietly shoaling with my otocinclus.  Because the dwarf chain loaches were active, the otocinclus just tried to keep up with them wherever they land. So instead of having two different shoals of fish they began to move as a unit.  Interesting enough the dwarf chain loaches still try to hug the side of the tank with the otos.   

Edit:  I think that may have happened because they look somewhat similar to each other. I don't know if fish of different species keeping together when they look a like is even a thing.  

Edited by Ben_RF
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My otocats are night owls. I never see them anymore during the day, only early in the morning when their silhouettes appear on the back glass. I don't even know if I have 6 anymore - last count was only 5. Many times I only see 3 or 4. I put out an algae wafer every night and some veggie a few times a week, but I'm not sure if they eat it - the snails sure do! The otos know where the wafers are if they ever want some. 

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@TresMiller Hmm that's odd. I just purchased three otos from my LFS and they were immediately active and outgoing as soon as I added them to my 29 gallon planted community tank. There are a lot of cories and guppies in there too, which might have made them more comfortable. Building your school to around 3-5 should help. And add some dither fish like tetras, livebearers, rasboras, danios, or cories.

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My otos used to be more active as well. There are only two of them right now, but they used to hang out with the pygmy cories before I lost them to some filter accidents. 😕 They still get a bit excited when the other fish are zipping around before dinner, but mostly they just nom a bit, then sit a bit. Their bellies are always round so I assume they’re fairly happy. I’m not sure if it’s age or school size or what. It’s interesting to hear that other people have noticed the same thing. 

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I will say that when I’ve added more otos, the old otos get pretty excited and come out to say hi. Once they got used to each other they seem to settle down again, but variety and new friends do seem to perk them up. Unfortunately in my case, I added two and lost two (one to ich and one spontaneously) so I was back to two otos again. 😛 If I ever see them at my LFS I’ll grab another two and quarantine them this time!!

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14 minutes ago, Hobbit said:

I will say that when I’ve added more otos, the old otos get pretty excited and come out to say hi.

I have guppies and cardinal tetras and I always just sit and watch the otos.  Maybe I'll add 2 more every year 😉

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