Otocinclus - Tricky Beasts

Well I woke up this morning to find a dead Otocinclus 

It had managed to get itself stuck in one of those black plastic plant pot/basket things which I had fixed to the side of the tank to grow some plant cuttings in.

So I basically feel like a right idiot this morning 

Just thought I a) ought to share this so others can avoid this issue, and b) perhaps start a bit of a discuss about people's experiences with these fish.

So, keeping positive, on to part b!

I normally keep 2/3 of these fish in my 64litre. But have always struggled to keep them alive for more than about a year.
I read that they are shoaling fish so I'm not sure if this would be considered sufficient numbers but I worry about them starving when I'm away and cannot add algae wafers.
I find they can become quite reclusive even nocturnal.

What are other experiences?

@Matt I have heard that they can be tricky but haven't had problems myself, probably just luck. They need good water conditions but some 'nice' algae in the tank so they do best in an established tank. I read that they arrive wild caught and starved usually and a lot just never recover. I think I have eight in my tank but it's really hard to see them in one go, not nocturnal it would seem, but little ninja's as they flit between resting places. They have two evil spines that protrude at an angle that they use as props when not feeding. It is possible yours manages to get them caught like barbs in the basket while ferreting for food. So I wouldn't necessarily blame yourself - could easily have been a racing incident.

Hi, I posted before, I lost one that was so weak when I purchased that it literally couldn't swim away from the outlet filter, and I found it stuck against it. I was gutted and didn't know they could be so starved and weak. I had four, then bought four more from another shop that looked slightly bigger, the seven are now thriving and have grown a fair bit and look great. By the way I never spot them all at once, I need to rely on a teenager who will look for ages!

I put it down to one of those things and although not seeking blame, the initial shop shouldn't have sold them yet, as this was a move too far too quickly.  Racing incident, I like that, but it does hurt.

I think the crux of this is that these fish don't travel well. But interesting that you have gone through a long acclamation process by the sounds of things... I personally have switched away from doing this and prefer to pour the fish from the bag into a net and get them straight into the tank. This minimises any exposure to ammonia in the bag and pH swings when the water in the bag is exposed to the air during acclamation (might need someone else to explain the science behind this for me tho...). I have seen fish settling in quicker using this method, which I learnt from the kind of DIYs YouTube channel.

That's basically right  I could go into the chemistry but most of you won't want that so Helen's explanation is fine.
The fish in the bag have been breathing out CO2 and excreting ammonia so both build up in the water. As soon as the bag is opened, the water is exposed to air so the CO2 gasses off leaving the ammonia still in the water. This is why responsible mail order sellers add an "ammonia detoxifier" to the water which will keep the ammonia safe for up to 36 hours. By this time the fish should have been delivered and put in your tank. But we can never be certain they have added the detoxifier so with mail order fish in particular it is important to get them out of the bag as soon as they arrive.

A lot of people now use the 'plop and drop' method where the fish are netted out of the bag as soon as you get them home because it actually takes days to acclimatise to different water conditions. Even drip acclimatisation is not long enough. Leaving the bag sealed and floating in the tank to equilibrate temps is OK but once the bag is opened, the fish may as well go straight into the tank.

I must admit to having often pondered the real value of lengthy acclimation processes too...  Temperature shock I can imagine isn't great for the more delicate species but I can well believe Sue saying about true acclimation taking far longer than just minutes or hours...  With only ever buying fish from a vendor that has the same water supply, then surely we neatly avoid big changes in water chemistry anyway and that it's the buying of fish over the internet and/or from sources where the water is significantly different to our own that problems would be more likely to occur...? 

Well I didn’t know they could do that...
I’ve seen otos suck to the underside of leaves before now but managed to snap this picture of one of my otos earlier who was clinging to the underside of a dwarf sag leaf using its anal fins as well as sucker mouth.

S/he grazes on the green algae that grows on the glass.

Hi Folks,

I'm beginning to wonder if Otocinclus are not so much 'algae eaters' but periphyton/aufwuchs eaters. If that were the case, they would presumably relish Repashy Soilent Green? As I currently don't have any Otos, I can't check this out.

JPC

Fascinating photo of the oto in action. 

One of these days, I'll spend more time trying to learn about aquarium photography. That would be an interesting thread to have, wouldn't it? Any volunteers?

There are a few threads on this, from recollection:
https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/general-fishkeeping-advice/aquarium-photography-tips/msg19277/#msg19277
Other posts by ExtremeOne and EvolutionStu.

All aquatic algae in a healthy natural environment is actually aufwuchs, so there’s really no such thing as an algae eater that doesn’t eat aufwuchs.

The problem with Otos is they don’t get fed between capture from the wild and the end wholesaler or even retailer. By this time their gut bacteria have usually died, so even when they do get access to algae again they can’t digest it. And as wild caught fish they often don’t see other foods as food.
The best way to help them survive is to put them in with other algae eaters. Some gut bacteria are lost in poop, and a herbivore will eat the poop of other algae eaters to replenish its own bacteria.

You can tell when the gut bacteria have died because the poop will be green...