sawcat
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 237
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Post by sawcat on Feb 1, 2006 0:05:23 GMT -5
I've had several ottos deny any sort of tablet food, they are very picky. I had this problem with ALL my bottom feeders and solid tablets...they HATE them...now I only feed wafers and sinking stuff that can be broken up...as a whole tablet, they won't touch it, but when I break it up...they ALL go after them, otos included. Interesting. My cories and platy love the sinking pellets. The Platy tries to eat them right after dropping even, especially the algae wafers. Will save some of them for the oto I plan to get to try it on. What veggies do they like besides zuccini? |
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Post by Minaku on Feb 3, 2006 9:43:43 GMT -5
Got the otos yesterday late afternoon. Before leaving for the store I removed Boris from his tank and left him in a dark, warm place so chill out while I did a bit of tank redecorating.
I got to the store, was led to the oto tank, and asked for the two fattest ones. I looked at one on the glass, and saw that the belly has a little circle that looks like a button on it. Is that the button belly? Anyhow, the pair I got are about an inch in length. I brought 'em back home, popped them into a Gladware container, and began the acclimation process.
An hour and change later - the Gladware container holds about two cups of water, so the acclimation process when quickly - I let them free in the tank. About three hours after that, I began the acclimation process for Boris, and set him loose. At first he was confused, because he knew something was different, and couldn't figure it out. Eventually he saw an oto and tried to take a peck at it. After a few tries the oto must have fought back, because as Boris was swimming away from a chase I saw that his dorsal fin had been tagged, and was bleeding. Poor guy, but he's learned not to mess with this particular oto. Because he's in good condition I'm leaving him alone, and not giving him any meds, but I'll keep an eye on that spot.
The otos have found the brown algae and are working on it slowly. Boris likes to be mean and play with them - he'll swim up to one, stare at it to freak it out, then move very slowly and touch his mouth to a fin, causing the oto to freak out and swim away. Then he'll very nonchalantly occupy the spot where that oto was, and pretend to sleep for a few seconds. He does this every now and again, but for the most part the otos remain undisturbed.
Starting tonight or tomorrow I'm going to be adding some algae discs in. Hopefully the otos will have de-stressed enough to want to eat them.
ETA: My God, the otos poop a lot. I've realized I'm going to have to siphon a lot of their poop out every couple of days.
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Post by Minaku on Feb 9, 2006 12:52:21 GMT -5
It's been a week, and Boris and the otos are getting along pretty well. They'll mutually chase each other, and sometimes the otos team up to trick Boris - one will swim away to lure him while the other brushes up against his fins. And then he'll turn and chase down both of them until they come to a rest.
I don't know if it's the smell of the spirulina or the fact that he's getting old, but Boris is spending quite a lot of time at the bottom of the tank, in the company of the otos. It almost looks as it they're schooling together.
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sawcat
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 237
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Post by sawcat on Feb 14, 2006 1:53:18 GMT -5
Have you tried them on spinach? We had some frozen chopped kind that I broke off a bit and tried my otos on since they're in quarantine. They ate all that had sunk so I made little spianch cubes (hoping they'll be easier to tie and ancor to the bottom.
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Post by Minaku on Mar 9, 2006 10:49:56 GMT -5
Update!
I'm going through quite a lot of filter pads now just keeping up with the otos and the brown algae that is invading the filter mechanisms and sticking in the filter media. (The otos like to much on the old media when I drop it into the tank to help seed the new media.) They are incredibly fat and cute now - they look like they have beer guts. I've cut their food down to 1/4 or 1/2 an algae disc every couple of days so that they don't explode with overeating.
I am very happy that you guys gave me such good advice here. The otos and the betta are getting along wonderfully!
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sawcat
Junior Bubble Nester
Posts: 237
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Post by sawcat on Mar 9, 2006 12:51:56 GMT -5
wanted to share something I found out. Do you have any of those little basket pots that the aquarium plants come in? I found that those work good to keeping the veggies down for the otos. I put one of my spinach cubes in and then flipped it over and stuck it into the rocks to anchor it. Works well.
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