GGGRRRRRRR.......

[swinters66]

Ok I have HAD it with this little stupid oto in my tank.

I was told they normally dont bother discus, but this little pain in the a$$ is trying to latch onto my discus fins. And right this minute he is allover one of my cory cats...what the heck is going on?!?

Has anyone else had these otos do that to their discus?? I tried catching him last night but couldn't and I didnt want to freak out my discus by whipping the net all over the tank.

I swear if I catch this little guy he is going RIGHT down the toilet!!

[lhforbes12]

Stephanie,
Get some algae wafers, or spirulina, or any number of other vegetable type things to feed your oto. IMO it's simply starving. Otos are vegetarians, if it's trying to do that it is not getting enough to eat. btw I think this is most probably the case whenever a suckermouth type fish tries to latch on. It's simply starving. I have absolutely zero problems like this and even have large common plecos in with discus, oto, and Gold Nuggets, none of them ever try to attach but all are also well fed. Let me put it this way "if you were a fish which would you rather do: catch a fish to eats it's slime coat, or feed on something which is not moving and can't hurt you"? Just feed the oto

[swinters66]

HAH VICTORY IS MINE!!

He's in our 30 gallon tank with our puffer....took a chance and nailed him!!

No fish messes with my discus!! :thumbsup:

I do put algae tabs in there, more so since I got my clown pleco.... I dont see how he could be hungry...unless the clown was eating all the good wafers...

[traco]

Make you feel good about catching him, I bet.:) I had 3 otos in my 90 gallon planted tank. I feed algae wafers, zucchini, etc... and these little guys would still bother the discus. I did the same as you and caught them all.

Are there different types of otos or is an oto an oto?

[D4veh]

Well done Stephanie

I bought some ottos as I was desperate to get rid of Algae until a couple of my Discus paired up and laid eggs in the community tank........Then to my horror the ottos would latch on to and terrorise the female Discus........

Needless to say they didn't last long.........

Never had a problem with a Golden Nugget or BristleNoses.....

Dave

[Kindredspirit]

Post a pic Steph of him...can you? Won't the puffer eat him? Hell post a pic of the puffer too! lol! I love puffers!!!

I was thinking of starting.....oh dear~


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_1_18.gif

[tpastrana]

Im not sure how true this is, but at Absolutely fish, a very reputable fish store by my house. Told me that there is two kinds of Otto's. One is more aggressive and will go for the slime coat on the discus no matter what. And then there is the kind that just couldnt be botherd with the discus.You physically cant tell them apart. I actually had bought a few from the same tank and two constantly went after my discus and the other two minded there own business. At first I tried everything, I fed them everything you could imagine thinking I was starving them to death. But nothing worked. So in my opinion, like the guy at the fish store told me. Just buy a few at one time. What ever ones bother the discus remove, and the ones that dont leave them alone. That's what I have done and I have not had a problem since. My other otto's are in a commuity tank and they cant seem to catch the other fish so they find other means to eat. Again, I am not sure how true it is, but for me removing the ones that bothered them has worked. The other's are constanly cleaning the glass and everything else they attach themselves to. Good Luck!!!

[Cosmo]

I had heard bristlenose were "safe" with Discus so I ordered some along with an order of Wilds a couple years ago. Shortly thereafter several members started posting about bristlenose latching onto their Discus.... thankfully, my shipment contained a few extra Discus but no bristlenose due to an accidental oversight.

I've never kept a sucker mouth fish with my Discus out of fear... that big flat slime covered surface always looked like it would be too tempting a target so I never invited the potential trouble into my tanks. With BB tanks, all you really need is a Kent Pro Scraper and a UV and the need for the janitors is eleviated.

Just MO

Jim

[swinters66]

Well...I havent seen the oto since I moved him into the puffer tank...either he was a snack or he's hiding in the plants.

The clown pleco I had read are good in discus tanks...so far I've seen him three times lol. He must come out at night when the lights are off. Not a bad looking pleco actually.

As always, we all hear different views from different fish stores. I had heard the bristlenose aren't the best in a discus tank, latching on the discus. I was told otos were perfect....and I found out they werent. Personally I love gold nuggets, but I just figured they get to be a larger size, and that might not be good in my tank.

[ShinShin]

I would remove him and never add another one to my tanks. They can develope an affinity for discus slime and cannot be broken of the taste. All the algae tablets in the world will not help.

Otoes will also eat eggs and fry. I placed one in a tank off several day old apistogramma fry some years back, and it immediately herded the school into a bottom corner of the tank and started devouring them. I also witnessed one eating eggs in a planted discus tank where a pair spawned on a piece of driftwood.

Mat