Proud OTO keeper!

Dear List,

just to share something with you...

on 2002-10-10 I bought 7 otocinclus: O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, O6 and O7;
today, more than 5 yeas after, O4, the last one, died!
I wonder how many buckets of algae he's eater for me!!!

[]s,

--
Otavio Exel /\oo/\

On Apr 9, 3:29*pm, Otavio Exel wrote:
Dear List,

just to share something with you...

on 2002-10-10 I bought 7 otocinclus: O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, O6 and O7;
today, more than 5 yeas after, O4, the last one, died!
I wonder how many buckets of algae he's eater for me!!!

[]s,

--
Otavio Exel /\oo/\

Cool.......Lots of folks say Oto's are not easy to keep fish, or that
they are not hardy, buy IMNSHO they are a very very easy and hardy
fish to keep, no harder to keep than another if they are given what
they eat and thats algae.......Give em algae and good water and they
are as hardy as any other fish out there.

On Apr 10, 8:39Â*am, Tynk wrote:
On Apr 10, 8:22�am, ExPat wrote:





On Apr 9, 3:29�pm, Otavio Exel wrote:

Dear List,

just to share something with you...

on 2002-10-10 I bought 7 otocinclus: O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, O6 and O7;
today, more than 5 yeas after, O4, the last one, died!
I wonder how many buckets of algae he's eater for me!!!

[]s,

--
Otavio Exel /\oo/\

Cool.......Lots of folks say Oto's are not easy to keep fish, or that
they are not hardy, buy IMNSHO they are a very very easy and hardy
fish to keep, no harder to keep than another if they are given what
they eat and thats algae.......Give em algae and good water and they
are as hardy as any other fish out there.

The problems with Oto's is when the water chemistry is very different
than what they were used to.
That's not to say what the text books say their water specs should be,
but the store they were in, warehouse, etc.
I always ask if it's not a town that I'm familiar with. That way if
there's any extremes going on, than I can acclimate them very slowly.
Some folks always acclimate Oto's via the drip method for this very
reason.
Neon Tetras are the same way.
They told be very delicate fish, however are actually hardy little
fish.
I've had many schools of Neons thriving in very hard water, so it's
all about acclimating.
You do it slowly and most of the problems go poof, not your fish. = )- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I always drip acclimate everything. None of the float bag methods,
just drip it for X amount of time and then if necessary will float
container they were in to drip acclimate to equalize temp., but most
times temp is just fine after the drip is done. I use IV drip sets my
daughter inlaw (RN) gets for me, and they are great with the thumb
wheel adjuster etc, and the drip counter vial........they are just a
natural thing to use for drip acclimation. You can also use airline
tube with a knot tied in the end to adjust flow, (barbaric and
primitive but it does work and its cheap enought to have, or use an
inline air valve in the air line tube and use that to adjust drip
rate.......... Arbitrarily dumping newly aquired fish into a tank
with only temp adjustment (bag floating)or as most LFS tell you add a
cup of the tanks water to bag and allow it to temp acclimate (float
for 20-30 minutes). may work for some but the drip method is so much
better overall for all fish and critters it only makes sence to use it
for them all and its not any harder or more work involed either.

"ExPat" wrote in message
...
On Apr 9, 3:29 pm, Otavio Exel wrote:
Dear List,

just to share something with you...

on 2002-10-10 I bought 7 otocinclus: O1, O2, O3, O4, O5, O6 and O7;
today, more than 5 yeas after, O4, the last one, died!
I wonder how many buckets of algae he's eater for me!!!

[]s,

--
Otavio Exel /\oo/\

Cool.......Lots of folks say Oto's are not easy to keep fish, or that
they are not hardy, buy IMNSHO they are a very very easy and hardy
fish to keep, no harder to keep than another if they are given what
they eat and thats algae.......Give em algae and good water and they
are as hardy as any other fish out there.
===============================
I've got mine over 2 years now. This is the longest they've ever lasted for
me. :-)