The Oto Journal

First topic message reminder :

Some of you might know..but for those that don't....here's my little project:

Here's a shot from today:


So far I was able to count (41) eggs however (6) were already non-viable.

Things are looking good in all tanks. Have found no further casulties, fry guys still hangin with me annnnnnnnnd ..... THEY'RE HERE! The lady O. Cocama's have arrived today. They are in the process of being slowly acclimated to the tank. This will take several hours. I placed a freshly blanched slice of zucchini in there for them while they wait.

I bought a new heater for the main Vittatus tank. My plan is to slowly replace the old heaters whether they need it or not. I don't want to have another issue like I just went through. I have the initial temp set to 76 at the moment to see where we stand but that should just about right.

And here are my two latest additions. Ain't they purdy! :o)

Lady Cocama 1


Lady Cocama 2


These shots were taken as they were acclimating to the tank. I'll snap some more once they get settled in.

I'll be working around in the tank a bit more in the coming days and eventually giving it a small overhaul. I'll post up tank specs this weekend when it's all said and done.

Went down to dose the tanks this morning and found a lot of activity in the tanks. Since the lights were out, I couldn't 100% confirm that this is a spawn in the makings but from what I saw, it displayed all the tale-tale signs of one. Hopefully. We'll see this afternoon.

All tanks received a 20% water change yesterday. Will be doing some more plant thining in the coming days. The crypts have really taken off recently and have really overgrown the area again. I will also be swapping out the main C. Wendtii 'green' with bronze again as the green one has now became too big for the tank it is in.

Briggs arrived of Friday and have them in their new homes.

Very sad day today. Came home and made a startling discovery. Mama Oto has passed away. :( I'm at a loss for words actually. I took her out and gave her a quick exam. Her underside between the mouth and belly looked a grayish brown as if it were burnt actually. Temp in the tank is 74.

I'll do some maintenance in the tank today and get things tiddyd up. So sad.

All other tanks look normal. There was no spawn as yet but the Oto's remain active.

what r otos

Otocinclus ( GOOGLE it )

mice&fish1 wrote:

what r otos

Just the best little catfish you can have in an aquarium. ;o)

Not much activity going on of late. Things have kind of settled down. Just regular maintenance items planned.

Working on relocating the Tiger shrimp from the Vittatus tank. For the most part, I have most of them moved out. I'm still finding one or two here and there and remove them when I find them. The plan is to replace them with Red Nose, Caridina gracilirostris.

Tons of rain these past few days which has turned our water brown. Grrrr! Hate when that happens. Water changes will be done with spring water.

The reset of the Vitattus tank is now complete. I didn't change the format or layout of tank though. Just gave the entire substrate a very thorough cleaning, trimmed and replanted. Main crypt switched back to a 'bronze'. Have some small touch up things to do with it still but nothing major. I'll get a water test done this evening to see where we stand.

Just checked the status of the Caridina serratirostris. They should be here today. These will be the new clean up crew for this tank instead of the planned Red Nose at this time.

Now we wait to see how Papa Oto will be without Mama. The question is, will he decide to hook up with the others after the loss.

Well...I've heard the stories....but never believed...until now. I have a missing fish. My female O. Macrospilus has gone AWOL. I have scoured the tank, looked in the filter, around the outside of tank and on the floor. Nothing. There is absolutely no sign of her anywhere. Not even a fragment of a bone. G-O-N-E ... gone. I am completely cornfused. I run a prefilter on the HOB so there is no chance of that. LOST is what I am. Oh...and no critters in the basement that would have taken her. I really don't know what to say actually.

The Vitattus are showing signs of spawning so will keep an eye on that. There have been several false spawns in the past so we'll see.

Cocama's are doing well. I'm actually seeing the guys hanging closer to the ladies. Now granted this means nothing, but hopefully it will be a start.

All I can tell you is ,,, we "emptied" a tank . Transferred all inhabitants , that included 7 Oto's. Should have been eight.? We left a bit of water ,about 4 inches as we trimmed plants ,cleaned gravel , etc. We refilled the tank with half fresh water and half old tank water. two days later , there was the eighth oto , scraping along on the glass !

And the moment we have all been waiting for. Eggs! Woohoo!

Looks like Papa Oto is no longer in mourning. I was affraid with the loss of Mama, he wasn't going to have interest in the other two ladies. Today finally tells a different and much welcomed story.





These were found today. Now I didn't check the tanks yesterday as I didn't get home in time but judging by their appearance, they were laid last night/early this morning. I have counted (78) at the moment. There is (1) that looks like it will be non-viable. I have some other work to do in the other tanks but will try and count again later.

Majority of the eggs are in the Bacopa and Crypt jungle. There were very few found in the Ludwigia this time.

I'm so relieved now.

Eggs looking good today. The one that I thought was going to be non-viable, was. I found two more non-viables as well. Along with that, there were a few more laid yesterday. One on the glass.

Hatching expected tomorrow.

As expected, we have a hatch. Counted 21 fry guys at the moment. Some are in perfect photo op places...but...wife has my fav camera. DOH! I'll try to use her SLR and see how well it goes.

Found Ninja zoea in the tank too. Not sure how I missed that female. They aren't called ninja's for no reason. :)

Counted (20) fry today. Here's a couple shots for ya:



And how hard is it to spot them when they are under a leaf:



I'll start feeding the fry this evening. Now here's a minor problem...I go on holiday Wednesday for a week. Hopefully the sitter will be able to feed according to the directions. Shouldn't be too bad but will cross my fingers while I'm gone that I come back and all will be well.

Last update for a week due to holiday. Counted (12) wigglers actively moving about. Haven't seen them swim in and out of the Subwassertang as yet but then again, they are only a couple days old. ;)

Performed a water change on the tank and added a piece of zucchini. Hopefully all will be well upon my return.

And a parting photo for you:

Starting to color up nicely:


I counted (13) fry guys just now. Fed the fry and lights are out. They are pretty much on their own for a week. I hope they will be able to find plenty of food in the tank. I did place a slice of zuc in there as well. Feeding is a bit complicated for the sitter and spotting fry could be a challenge. I may just have the sitter feed the powder food in a couple of days just in case.

Hope everyone has a safe 4th and we'll see you in a week. I'll probably still be monitoring while on holiday.

Awesome. Hope all goes well with them while you are on vacation. Hope you have a safe 4th as well.

Back from holiday now. :( They are always soooo short. But this one was especially short but time well taken. Anyway, got home very late last night so really couldn't check on the tanks. I did go downstairs to turn off the tanks with the manual lights. Too tired to really examine them. I was very curious in the Vittatus tank and almost turned the light on to look.

Right as I was reaching for the switch on the timer, I saw a fry guy swim to the front of the tank. Using just the lighting in the room, I was able to scan around and found (3) wee ones on the glass. Very good sign. Will get a better look later this afternoon.

Another tank I noticed...Duckweed! This will tell you how fast it will grow. Before I left, I removed almost all of it from a 20long tank. When I checked last night, the entire tank was again covered from side to side. This in just a matter of a weeks time. Wowsers! Duckweed anyone? :)

I'm going to stop by to get some spring water for water changes today in the breeding tanks.

Check of the tanks after holiday. All looks well. No casulties to report. Whew! Always nervous when I leave for an extended period of time.

Best part of all....I counted at least (15) fry swimming around. All looking nice and healthy. This is a very good sign as the fry didn't get their special food.

Now the tank on the other hand, it needs some help. I need to scrape the front glass and .... I found Hydra in the tank. Very odd I must say. Not sure how these guys wound up showing up. I won't be scrapping the tank anytime soon though with the fry in there so I'll just deal with it for now.

Water changes are going on as I type.

Here's a couple shots to get you by for now:

Sweet !!

Babes continue to do well and growing up nicely. Count is nearing (20) as the activity increasing. They are zipping all over the tank. Prepping new zucchini to put in for them. This group is more visible than those of past. They don't run in an out of the Subwassertang as much. I'll refresh the CO2 as well and do a water change tomorrow.

Here's a couple of shots from today:


I like this one. Shows a good shot of the belly developing and ... well ... the path of poo. ;o)

They look great James.

Ben wrote:

They look great James.

Thank you sir.

Sad news...I watched a little one pass away. :o( Poor thing. I tried to catch it to see if I can possibly isolate but it disappeared. I'm sure it's gone by now. All others that I can see are doing well, very active and grazing on things. Some of them look like they are really going on a growth spurt. There are all different sizes in here.

Did a water test today after yesterday's water change. Here are the results:

pH: 7.4
gh: 6
kh: 5
no3: 10 (no fert dosing until wee ones hit three weeks)
tds: 144
temp: 76

Room parms: temp: 68 / humidity: 44% / barometric: 25.75

Plants already need a good trimming since the rescape. They grew really fast. I'm going to transfer a couple Downoi crowns over to the Cocama tank.

Vittatus fry continue to develop and are doing very well. Some are getting really dark as well. Piglets I must say.

Now...on to the interesting. The Macros are finally in spawn mode. However, unless the boys get thier act together, this is going to be a dead spawn and the lady will loose her eggs. Here's why. There are three boys in here. As of right now...I'm calling them the three stooges. The gal is trying her darnedest to get the boys to .. well .. you know. She leads them to a spot and then they swim away in their little pack crazily. Quite funny actually. Then she will track them down again and it repeats. She's so big, she's about ready to explode. I'm sure if she was able she would smack each of them upside the head. :)

I think I may be partly to blame as well. I'm in the middle of a big water change and maintenance in the tank. The only thing she has to work with are C. pontederiifolia. I pulled all the stems to rescape. DOH! She is trying to work the Ponts though which is good.

Now if the guys will just get thier act together.