Breeding Ottos

Without a separate tank it is virtually impossible, I'm afraid. You can put lots of fine leaved plants and moss in the tank and hope they can hide until they get big enough but that's about all.


My previous betta, which passed away a month ago of old age, was very lethargic for the last few months of his life. I wanted to keep some floating plants in his tank, but they did not do well, so I had to keep replacing them with plants from my main tank. Whenever I did this, a few days later I would find tiny rice fish fry in the betta's tank, obviously from eggs in the plants I had moved. I'm not sure if the betta couldn't see them or just couldn't be bothered chasing them, but they grew well in his tank till they were big enough to put in the main tank.
But I have never seen tiny fry or juveniles in the main tank other than those that hatched in the betta's tank. Like your oto fry, there must be eggs but the fry are eaten almost as soon as they hatch.

Since they seem to 'nest' under the driftwood all day I could try swapping it out for another piece. I just don't have the space for another tank, or where I have space I have no power outlets. If it's only a small tank maybe I could find a place for it upstairs - I don't like the idea of it being in my kitchen. At least now I know I have male and female Otto's I have 4 but I've not really been able to sex them, I have a feeling the female is the one I call big daddy haha. Thanks for the advice as always