My new panda cories and my otos
Posted: 03 May 2008, 22:05
I was out one day a couple of weeks ago and was "just looking" at the fish in a couple of aquarium shops. I kind of had in the back of my mind that I wanted to make one of my tanks a catfish tank. I have a betta in an Eclipse 6 that has been living happily alone for two years now. I had tried putting an oto in with him, but he ate it! At least I think he did. I saw him bump it a couple of times and then one day I didn't see it anymore and when I changed the water the next day, all I found was his head. AACCKKK...
Anyway, since I really like otos, I decided that I'd put some in my other tank. My other betta mysteriously died suddenly. One day he was fine and the next he was gone. I let it run for several weeks while I quarantined my 5 new otos in a 2.5 gallon minibow. I did regular water changes in it, and kept it cycled. There are snails in there, so there was enough stuff in there to do that.
I finally put the otos in that tank, although I was down to 3. One died the day after I bought it, I'm sure because the guy who bagged them at the store injured it. He dropped it in the sink and scooped it up. I should have had him give me a different one, but... I didn't bother going back to get another. The other one *I* accidentally killed.
I was cleaning the tank and in moving the filter, he somehow got caught behind it and ... I felt horrible.
The problem with the otos is that they pretty much hid all the time. Sometimes they would come out and feed on a seaweed strip, but usually they were in the back of the tank somewhere.
I finally decided a few cories would liven up the tank and went out looking. Since it's only a 5 gallon AquaTech (Walmart's version of the Eclipse, which they no longer carry) I wanted pygmy or habrosus cories. Something small. Unfortunately no one had any. Then I stopped by a small aquarium shop near my brother's house. They had a bunch of different cories in a few tanks, but nothing I was interested in, since they were too big and not very pretty (one of their huge albinos had a deformed spine and I felt really bad for it). Until I got down to the end of the row of small holding tanks. That's when I saw them. They were bigger than I wanted, so I walked away from them. But I kept coming back. They were soooo cute. They were in two separate tanks and I knew they should really be together. After a bit of hemming and hawwing, I said "I'll take them."
I'm so happy I did. They're not the typical panda cories, but C121's. They have a black dorsal fin and stripe down their back. I was amazed to see how active they were in the quarantine tank - swimming all over the tank and palling around together. It's so cute to see them follow eachother around. I finally put them in with the otos last night and they're having a blast in the tank and I'm having a blast watching them. The thing I like the best is that they seem to have broken the otos out of their shells. They're swimming around the tank a lot more, and coming to the front a lot more too.
The funniest thing was earlier today one of them seemed to be having a great time swimming around with them. I don't think they were freaking him out, because if he was scared, I think there were plenty of other spots he could have run to and hid in. I took a video of them swimming together. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLAhdWP6DW0
Here's a link to another video where the otos are in the midst of a feeding frenzy, as the pandas swim around:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMAySCUU2-s
Let me know what you think!
Anyway, since I really like otos, I decided that I'd put some in my other tank. My other betta mysteriously died suddenly. One day he was fine and the next he was gone. I let it run for several weeks while I quarantined my 5 new otos in a 2.5 gallon minibow. I did regular water changes in it, and kept it cycled. There are snails in there, so there was enough stuff in there to do that.
I finally put the otos in that tank, although I was down to 3. One died the day after I bought it, I'm sure because the guy who bagged them at the store injured it. He dropped it in the sink and scooped it up. I should have had him give me a different one, but... I didn't bother going back to get another. The other one *I* accidentally killed.
I was cleaning the tank and in moving the filter, he somehow got caught behind it and ... I felt horrible.The problem with the otos is that they pretty much hid all the time. Sometimes they would come out and feed on a seaweed strip, but usually they were in the back of the tank somewhere.
I finally decided a few cories would liven up the tank and went out looking. Since it's only a 5 gallon AquaTech (Walmart's version of the Eclipse, which they no longer carry) I wanted pygmy or habrosus cories. Something small. Unfortunately no one had any. Then I stopped by a small aquarium shop near my brother's house. They had a bunch of different cories in a few tanks, but nothing I was interested in, since they were too big and not very pretty (one of their huge albinos had a deformed spine and I felt really bad for it). Until I got down to the end of the row of small holding tanks. That's when I saw them. They were bigger than I wanted, so I walked away from them. But I kept coming back. They were soooo cute. They were in two separate tanks and I knew they should really be together. After a bit of hemming and hawwing, I said "I'll take them."
I'm so happy I did. They're not the typical panda cories, but C121's. They have a black dorsal fin and stripe down their back. I was amazed to see how active they were in the quarantine tank - swimming all over the tank and palling around together. It's so cute to see them follow eachother around. I finally put them in with the otos last night and they're having a blast in the tank and I'm having a blast watching them. The thing I like the best is that they seem to have broken the otos out of their shells. They're swimming around the tank a lot more, and coming to the front a lot more too.
The funniest thing was earlier today one of them seemed to be having a great time swimming around with them. I don't think they were freaking him out, because if he was scared, I think there were plenty of other spots he could have run to and hid in. I took a video of them swimming together. Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLAhdWP6DW0
Here's a link to another video where the otos are in the midst of a feeding frenzy, as the pandas swim around:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMAySCUU2-s
Let me know what you think!
