Oto eating slime coat of discus

[soundtweakers]

I've read about it, but never witnessed it until today. The otos has been my algae eating team for a year, and they've been doing a fantastic job.

Today I saw the one oto(I have 12 in my 55 gallon) trying to attach itself to one of my discus, the discus swam away but obviously it concerns me.

anybody experience this before please give me some recommendation.

thanks

[ShinShin]

Remove them. They will constantly harrass your discus now that they developed an affinity for discus slime.

Mat

[Ed13]

I've read about it, but never witnessed it until today. The otos has been my algae eating team for a year, and they've been doing a fantastic job.

Today I saw the one oto(I have 12 in my 55 gallon) trying to attach itself to one of my discus, the discus swam away but obviously it concerns me.

anybody experience this before please give me some recommendation.

thanks

Otos are loricarids after all meaning that they are somewhat territorial and in this case the males like to protect their harem and territory.
Are you noticing this behavior when the Discus approaches the oto or is the oto going after the discus, just curios because Mat is correct you should remove at least him. If this was a larger tank(125g+) you'd probably be ok. Maybe you could set up a tank for a male and some females!

[soundtweakers]

should I move that particular oto or all of them?

It didn't succeed at attaching to the discus, it just follow the discus around and finally gave up.

[Ed13]

I’m guessing is a planted tank so you’ll need them to eat algae, see if you can take the nuisance one out and watch the others. On the other hand can you be sure to pick the problematic one?

Maybe you should just watch them day and night! Later you may have to decide to take one or all of them out. Having a cycled tank nearby is not bad idea in case you have to take them out and/or quarantine a BN to replace them!

Good luck!

[crazie.eddie]

I'm not sure if otos are the smartest fish in the world. They seem to swim haphazardly randomly attaching to different spots in the tank. I would often find an oto try to attach itself to a heater, which is on, but soon realize it wasn't the best idea, so it swims away. Then a few minutes later, it would try to attach itself to the heater again.

[White Worm]

I have literally seen certain cleaners actually chase for the purpose of attachment (purposely and constantly harass). Lose the little sucker!

[D4veh]

My Oto's were like yours fine until a pair of Discus laid eggs in the tank, then I caught one of them attached on to the Male..............

I chased it off but it kept coming back......

Needless to say I don't keep Oto's anymore with my Discus...........

[traco]

I had 3 and found one always attaching itself to the discus. Caught him and returned to the LFS. Now there is another who is doing the same thing. There are plenty of plants for them. So it looks like I'll be catching this one also. Probably better if I caught these last two and then have none.

[soundtweakers]

I guess I'll be swapping them out with some other algae eaters(probably Albino BN). I'll have about 14 Otos to catch, that's gonna be a mission...

I also have three one year old adult SAEs(4+ inches), they never bother the discus.

[jeep]

During the day is one thing, but they are also very active at night and will spook a sleeping discus into the side of the tank. Tell otto to take a hike!!!

[swinters66]

I'd add some more algae discs...maybe they are hungry and need more food....

which I need to do today for mine.

[Apistomaster]

The otocinclus really can't harm your discus. The discus are able to deal with anyone that is truly annoying it and it isn't going to cause your discus to have a nervous breakdown or anything. I'm sure you are far more alarmed than your discus about this.

[tpastrana]

I had an Otto attach itself to my 8 inch discus and it was horrible to see!! I at first thought it was a fluke, he got lucky. But like others have said, I believe once they have a taste it's all down hill from there. He actually attached himself and he just couldnt shake him. My discus looked so stressed, he tried every position to get this thing off of him. He finally laid sideway's as if the otto would fall off. I got so mad I almost smashed that Otto like a pan cake. I removed all the otto's at that very moment. It broke my heart to see it happening in front of my own two eyes. Maybe if I had Juvies in that tank it wouldnt of happened. I have a couple of otto's in my Juvie tank and they seem fine. I think it is because they are much smaller and quicker than the adults. They probably have a hard time getting attached. Just my opinion though.

Teresa

[Cosmo]

I was on the verge of buying some bristlenose since they are supposed to be harmless. Luckily, the guy I had ordered some from forgot to ship them, and a few days later someone posted how theirs had attached itself to the side of one of their Discus. Dropped all plans for BN's then and there.

Only Disucs in my Discus tanks. The UV's do a great job of controlling the algea.

Jim