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How long should my otos remain HUGE in the belly? I can see the eggs on two of them but they look like they're going to burst They're quite oval in the belly at the moment. Doing lots of wiggling together but still no eggs (maybe) or no reduction in size anyway.

Thanks

Sometime the eggs couldnt go out and grow in the fish. Bad for the fish, it will die . Gobys have this nearly every time when there is no male, so unfortunately Im an expert in this . But this is rare for catfish. Are there males in the tank? Do you have pictures of the females with the oval belly?

fischkringli:

Sometime the eggs couldnt go out and grow in the fish. Bad for the fish, it will die . Gobys have this nearly every time when there is no male, so unfortunately Im an expert in this . But this is rare for catfish. Are there males in the tank? Do you have pictures of the females with the oval belly?

I can get pics tomorrow 'night lights' are on now. I didn't even know I had females until they got so big. I don't know how to tell them apart but some of the newer young ones seem to be doing that thing where they kind of wrap themselves over top of the female's head so I guess I have males?? I'll keep an eye out to see if there's any difference I can tell and try to get pics in the morning before work.

Worse comes to worse, I'll buy some more tomorrow night if I can find the same species, the biggest is vitattus, so I should be able to find some of them somewhere. There has to be a male at some point

L number Banana wrote:some of the newer young ones seem to be doing that thing where they kind of wrap themselves over top of the female's head

Otocinclus use a variant of the "T-position" seen in Corydoras, and it sounds like what you're seeing. Take a flashlight and see if there aren't little spheres glued to the glass or plants in secluded spots.
If there's no eggs you could try triggering spawning by doing a large water change with cool water.

Mike_Noren wrote:

Take a flashlight and see if there aren't little spheres glued to the glass or plants in secluded spots.
If there's no eggs you could try triggering spawning by doing a large water change with cool water.

Couldn't find any eggs but there's an awful lot of leaves that I can't see the underside or backside of. I'll try the water change and see what that may bring

fischkringli:

Do you have pictures of the females with the oval belly?

Here's some pics, they're on the glass alot but not when I bring out the camera to show their bellies The one one the sand is the one that had some yellow eggs (?) showing on the lower belly. I'll keep trying for a shot of that against the glass.

holy preggers female! hope they breed for ya!

holy preggers female! hope they breed for ya!

Those are 3 different fish and I have two o.mareie/hoppei (?) in the other tank the same way

You also could simulate a rain. More O² less ph and less temperature.

Wow those look like fat Otos!

I have a bunch of them in a tank by themselves, they've spawned a few times, but it has been very intermittent & I've never been able to put my finger on anyrhing and say "that sets them off".

They do seem to be much more active after the big water change with cooler softer watter trick.

I've also experimented by using water taken from one of my Cory tanks after seeing it suggested somewhere (here on PC probably) that hormones in the water might be a trigger. The results were inconclusive. It makes sense I guess given that some species are Cory mimics, so they might synchronize their breeding also.

This last few weeks they seem to have been more active after six months of zip, so there may be a seasonal factor, but I don't know.

I've yet to have much success raising the fry.. I suspect the tank I have them in is just too small & the other inhabitants out-compete the fry for food.


http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... =5&t=23169

That's about all (i.e. not much!) I know about Otos.. But hope it helps

Martin

torbanite,
The fish-nostril picture in that thread link is brilliant!! It should be in the cat-elog
I've always wondered what those looked like close up, they're actually kind of pretty

Still no real luck and many giant-bellied fish.
The mystery oto in the other tank is smaller now so must have put the eggs somewhere but no luck finding them. Hoplos may have found them first....No water change there but in a natural tank that's still settling. Softer water with beech leaves. Don't know if that makes any difference at all but just an observation. Several 'fluffy' plants in there so maybe there might be a survivor or two.

O.vittatus in the big tank are showing spawning behavior and just getting larger by the minute. Still eating, active.
Has anyone noticed that snuggling otos look a bit like very tiny hammerhead sharks?

Big storm coming on Wednesday, will hope for a big pressure change and will do another big soft water change.