Joe Crowder
February 15th 04, 04:18 AM
I have a 55 gallon planted tank with 12 Brilliant Rasboras, 7 Endlers
Livebearers, 2 Dwarf Gourami's, 4 Oto's, and 2 Whiptail Cat's. It's been
cycled about a month and I am slowly adding fish. I just added 4 more
Brilliant Rasboras to the tank, and my other 8 seem much happier now. They
are forming a nice cohesive school, and don't seem to spook as much when I
walk by or turn the room light on/off.
So, I was sitting there grinning at them, and patting myself on the back for
such a good idea, when I noticed that a couple of the Rasboras looked funny.
They were shaped just a bit different, and were missing the red spot near
there tail. When I looked a little closer, I saw they were not Rasboras at
all. They were 2 of the Oto's swimming perfectly in sync with the school.
Making the turns with the rest of the school almost perfectly. These two
Oto's swam with the school for several minutes straight. As I watched more,
I notice that 3 of the Oto's would occasionally join the school of Rasboras
from time to time. Each time they would swim with the school for a minute
or two, then settle back down to their more typical rampant gnawing on the
algae.
I can understand the Rasboras accepting the Oto's. They are very close to
the same size and body shape, and both have a bold longitudinal black
stripe. So they blend together very well. But, I never would have expected
the Otos to want to school. If I can manage to get a picture of it, I'll
post it.
Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior? Is this typical? The Oto's
never seemed interested in schooling before; should I have more of them so
they can form their own school?
On a different not:
I figure I have about 2/3 of the total fish population I can support in a
tank this size. I'm trying to hold off on adding anybody else to the tank
until it matures a bit more. I've been eyeing a gold nugget pl*co at the
LFS but I'm concerned he might get too big, and I already have 6 algae
eaters in the tank. I would like to get something a little more colorful,
because I already have plenty of black and silver fish. Maybe some Rams, or
swordtails, or one of the more colorful killifish.
Any suggestions for colorful additions?
TIA
Joe
Livebearers, 2 Dwarf Gourami's, 4 Oto's, and 2 Whiptail Cat's. It's been
cycled about a month and I am slowly adding fish. I just added 4 more
Brilliant Rasboras to the tank, and my other 8 seem much happier now. They
are forming a nice cohesive school, and don't seem to spook as much when I
walk by or turn the room light on/off.
So, I was sitting there grinning at them, and patting myself on the back for
such a good idea, when I noticed that a couple of the Rasboras looked funny.
They were shaped just a bit different, and were missing the red spot near
there tail. When I looked a little closer, I saw they were not Rasboras at
all. They were 2 of the Oto's swimming perfectly in sync with the school.
Making the turns with the rest of the school almost perfectly. These two
Oto's swam with the school for several minutes straight. As I watched more,
I notice that 3 of the Oto's would occasionally join the school of Rasboras
from time to time. Each time they would swim with the school for a minute
or two, then settle back down to their more typical rampant gnawing on the
algae.
I can understand the Rasboras accepting the Oto's. They are very close to
the same size and body shape, and both have a bold longitudinal black
stripe. So they blend together very well. But, I never would have expected
the Otos to want to school. If I can manage to get a picture of it, I'll
post it.
Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior? Is this typical? The Oto's
never seemed interested in schooling before; should I have more of them so
they can form their own school?
On a different not:
I figure I have about 2/3 of the total fish population I can support in a
tank this size. I'm trying to hold off on adding anybody else to the tank
until it matures a bit more. I've been eyeing a gold nugget pl*co at the
LFS but I'm concerned he might get too big, and I already have 6 algae
eaters in the tank. I would like to get something a little more colorful,
because I already have plenty of black and silver fish. Maybe some Rams, or
swordtails, or one of the more colorful killifish.
Any suggestions for colorful additions?
TIA
Joe