otto catfish dead????????????

[axl]

Hi,
i purchased 5 otto catfish on friday and they were in the quartine tank and this morning i found 3 dead. I put some discus waffers in there but i wonder if they went hungry???. Checked ammonia and that was fine so imm not sure whats happened. Im pretty pissed off as they were $8.95 each for about 3cm. Any help would be apprecieted

Cheers Axl

[Robdog]

Otto's from my experience can come from "bad batches". Also your LFS isn't going to keep an algae covered tank to house these guys correctly so there is the possibility that they have been starved of good foods for quite some time. Sometimes beyond recovery.

At 8.95ea I'd say you LFS probably understands their "fragile" state and has priced them to also recover his own losses.

Then again it's been a long time since i've bought an otto so not sure what they go for these days

[axl]

Hey,
thanks for the reply back, thats what i was thinking to and how are we meant to qaurtine these fish without killing them??? any idears

[Robdog]

I guess picking nice fat ones in the first place would help but crossing fingers might also help. :)


Dirty algae covered glass and ornaments mightdo the trick too

[ILLUSN]

ottos NEED algae, without it keeping them alive is near impossible, let the glass your QT tank go nice and green for a couple of weeks then try again.

[TW]

$8.95 is cheap for ottos. Sorry you lost a few. I hope the other 2 fatten up & grow nicely.

I've only ever had them in planted tanks, and then they have been well established. I remember as a newbie being told to add them later in the stocking of a new tank, as there needs to be enough time for algae to grow. Eventually, they do eat cucumber - but it takes them a while to even realise that is food.