Feeding ottos

[VikingMummy2015]

I’ve lost another Otto already and i’m worried they’re not going to get enough to eat now they’ve utterly decimated the diatoms. I’ve got cucumber in there for them, but they’re not hugely interested and tend to stick in a large group and glass surf.

I’ve heard of people smearing repashy on rocks etc for them; which one would be best or is there something else I can do to ensure they keep feeding? They’re such characters and I chose them for that, not as clean up crew. Any tips gratefully received as I don’t like fishing corpses out (although it’s positive that I have found both and that suggests my cories are still alive but just hiding very well; can only ever count 7-8 of the 12 as they dart about so much before lurking).

[Stephen]

Sorry to hear of your losses.

As a supplement I feed algae wafers at night.

All the best

[Redpanda]

I’m struggling to see them eating too!! I haven’t lost any yet and looking healthy, just not sure when and what they eat.
I started leaving cucumber and courgette for couple of days and gets eaten , although initially don’t see them going for it.

My algae wafers get eaten quicker by other fish and haven’t ever seen single oto on them

My Otos also never in the group, there is 6 of them and they all scattered around ..

[Ric]

Try blanched spinach leaves and slices of blanched zucchini.
Longer term, you could have a small bowl with water sat on a sunny windowsill with some stones inside to grow algae on. Place them in the tank when they're ready and put a new lot of stones in the bowl, so you have a constant supply of algae for them.

[Ric]

PS: Don't forget to weigh down things like cucumber or zucchini, like this:





Just used wooden skewers and small suckers; also used the little clay weights from plants to keep the skewers from floating up. Then you can see for sure whether the otos are feeding or not.

[Suse]

Mine liked Hikari Algae Wafers at first. Easily available and cheap on eBay / Amazon etc as well as P@H.

Once they were fed up nicely (a couple of weeks), they no longer bothered with these or the vegetables I offered, and just live off the algae / biofilm these days. But my tank has been going a while so there is plenty of assorted gunk for them to feed on. I never wipe the back wall and rarely the sides, so it's a self sustaining algae farm!

[BigBen]

Most Otto's are wild caught so might take a while to take to available food. Keep persevering with what you're doing, remove any uneaten and keep the water perfect.

[Redpanda]

Try blanched spinach leaves and slices of blanched zucchini.
Longer term, you could have a small bowl with water sat on a sunny windowsill with some stones inside to grow algae on. Place them in the tank when they're ready and put a new lot of stones in the bowl, so you have a constant supply of algae for them.

That’s such a good idea I’m starting today

[plankton]

Repashy Soilent Green.
I've always had oto losses, whatever I've done, they are fragile little things. Sorry you've lost another.
They take a few days to work out that veg is food, so you need to leave courgette in for at least 48 hours.
Also squeeze some fresh garlic juice in - they can't avoid that in the water. I think you still have to leave it 10 mins for it to be any medicinal value as such.

[VikingMummy2015]

Another one gone this morning . I ordered the repashy soilent green last night as it was the only algae food guaranteed to arrive today. . A couple of them have found the cucumber now it’s gone soft and the cories have been chomping on it like crazy. I have it weighed down with my trusty jam spoon (never ever used for anything other than weighing down veg in my previous 240 or measuring out potassium bicarbonate, never been washed in soapy water etc).
I have spinach for my tea tonight so i’ll Set a few leaves aside for them too.