zebra otocinclus

Has anyone experience with zebra otos? I would very much like to get some
of these in a few of months time.

My water is hard and alkaline (pH=8, GH=19) and at this stage I'm not
intending to attempt to lower that. The tank is 112 litre (about 29 US
gallon I believe) and contains:

2 x Cherry Barb
6 x White Cloud Minnows
5 x Pygmy corys
1 x Ancistrus

The ancistrus does a wonderful job of keeping algae down, but he's not a
permanent resident - he belongs to my father and will be moving to his new
tank once it's set up and matured a bit. I won't be getting the otos until
he's gone, to give them more of a food source. That will also give my tank
more time to mature (it's cycled, no nitrite or ammonia present, but still
new)

So are the zebra otos likely to thrive in this set-up? Or would they be
fussy about the pH, I've read that they prefer neutral to acidic but also
read that many fish will adapt. The fish I have certainly seem to be doing
very well so far. But they have all been purchased locally, I might have to
go further afield for the otos and the possible differences in water over
distance worries me.

I'm thinking that four would be a good number to have. Does that sound OK?
is it right that they are happier in groups?

Any info would be great, I'm very much a beginner and would like to try and
get things right!

Thanks

Lisa

I have a planted 10G with 4 otos and they're doing well. My GH runs 150-300
and pH is between 7.2 & 7.8. I haven't been able to get a more accurate
reading. My other fishes are platies, danios & a marbled hatchet plus some
ghost shrimp. Hope that helps.
Denise
"lisacush" wrote in message
...
Has anyone experience with zebra otos? I would very much like to get some
of these in a few of months time.

My water is hard and alkaline (pH=8, GH=19) and at this stage I'm not
intending to attempt to lower that. The tank is 112 litre (about 29 US
gallon I believe) and contains:

2 x Cherry Barb
6 x White Cloud Minnows
5 x Pygmy corys
1 x Ancistrus

The ancistrus does a wonderful job of keeping algae down, but he's not a
permanent resident - he belongs to my father and will be moving to his new
tank once it's set up and matured a bit. I won't be getting the otos
until
he's gone, to give them more of a food source. That will also give my
tank
more time to mature (it's cycled, no nitrite or ammonia present, but still
new)

So are the zebra otos likely to thrive in this set-up? Or would they be
fussy about the pH, I've read that they prefer neutral to acidic but also
read that many fish will adapt. The fish I have certainly seem to be
doing
very well so far. But they have all been purchased locally, I might have
to
go further afield for the otos and the possible differences in water over
distance worries me.

I'm thinking that four would be a good number to have. Does that sound
OK?
is it right that they are happier in groups?

Any info would be great, I'm very much a beginner and would like to try
and
get things right!

Thanks

Lisa

"Denise" wrote in message
...
I have a planted 10G with 4 otos and they're doing well. My GH runs
150-300
and pH is between 7.2 & 7.8. I haven't been able to get a more accurate
reading. My other fishes are platies, danios & a marbled hatchet plus some
ghost shrimp. Hope that helps.

Thanks Denise,

Are they zebra otos or the more usual kind? I'm not sure how much
difference it makes with requirements of the two types but get the
impression that zebra otos might be more fussy.

-- Lisa

Mine are regular otos. FYI I run a small airstone at night. There's some
good info at: www.otocinclus.com .
Denise
"lisacush" wrote in message
...

"Denise" wrote in message
...
I have a planted 10G with 4 otos and they're doing well. My GH runs
150-300
and pH is between 7.2 & 7.8. I haven't been able to get a more accurate
reading. My other fishes are platies, danios & a marbled hatchet plus
some
ghost shrimp. Hope that helps.

Thanks Denise,

Are they zebra otos or the more usual kind? I'm not sure how much
difference it makes with requirements of the two types but get the
impression that zebra otos might be more fussy.

-- Lisa

Any info would be great, I'm very much a beginner and would like to
try and get things right!

Thanks

Lisa

http://www.otocinclus.com/zebra.html

very cool looking fish... I'd get 3 or more depending on your tank size and
inhabitants...

--
RedForeman ©®
....Red (head hung low) Foreman

http://www.otocinclus.com/zebra.html

very cool looking fish... I'd get 3 or more depending on your tank size
and
inhabitants...


Thanks for the link. That led me to planetcatfish.com which says pH up to
7.5, mine's a little higher. I'll have to talk to the shop too and see what
they think.

I really want these fish!

Maybe one day

-- L

Slow acclimation... When I bring home sensitive fish, I usually float for a
while, 30-45, then open the bag and add some tank water in, little at a
time, then when I think maybe that's enough, I'll try and net them so as to
not get any bag water in the tank, what's on the net is unavoidable...

HTH

--
RedForeman ©®
Thank you, for your support...


"lisacush" wrote in message
...

http://www.otocinclus.com/zebra.html

very cool looking fish... I'd get 3 or more depending on your tank size
and
inhabitants...


Thanks for the link. That led me to planetcatfish.com which says pH up to
7.5, mine's a little higher. I'll have to talk to the shop too and see
what
they think.

I really want these fish!

Maybe one day

-- L

"RedForeman ©®" wrote:

http://www.otocinclus.com/zebra.html


I love the Internet - no matter how seemingly small the subject,
someone, somewhere, has a web site for it


--
www.ericschreiber.com