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Bumblebee Otocinclus - Rhinotocinclus isabelae
Posted: 23 Nov 2022, 20:33
by beardedbillygoat1975
I would like to get a breeding group of otocinclus. I’ve bred common otos but I’ve seen and heard a lot of hearsay about these beautiful Rhinotocinclus isabelae. I have a mature 60 g breeder, lots of plants with a good build up of green spot algae, and good tank mates - Rhadinocentrus and Scleromystax barbatus. Thanks in advance for any and all information!
Re: Bumblebee Otocinclus - Rhinotocinclus isabelae
Posted: 06 Dec 2022, 17:46
by Procrypsis
Hello,
I recently acquired 4 Rhinotocinclus isabelae and 6 Nannoptopoma sp Peru "Robocop". Received them ~2 weeks ago. I have them in a very mature 20 gallon tank using Amozonia soil, lots of plants and some driftwood. The tank "had" a lot of algae and biofilm buildup due to the previous inhabitants - Pao palustris - which will eat every animal they can bite. Within 2 days, most of the algae was cleaned from the glass, filters and rock. Since then, driftwood has also been cleaned of biofilm and algae.
I notice they do get really active when I feed the "dithers" - neon green rasboras, getting more active and searching out bits of uneaten flake food. Othertimes they are busily cleaning every surface they are on.
I am supplementing with fresh cucumber and squash - after a few days of being submerged both species have been observed feeeding regularly on those items as well. I have added indian almond, oak, dandelion and mulberry leaves - all of which are being fed on.
With the observation of how fast they clean up biofilm and algae, I have started "Seasoning" pieces of wood in tanks that I am cycling in order to be able to rotate out the pieces for fresh sources of food. I added a few twigs to the tank a few days ago that was seasoned for only a couple days - within an hour one of the Robocops was on it!
One thing to note on the tank - ensure you have no string algae, I found one of the little guys tangled in a few strands and thought it was dead. Fortunately it swam free once I removed the entanglement.
Hope this helps you get started.
Tank parameters:
~200-300 um conductivity
pH ~6.5
78.8 degrees F
Re: Bumblebee Otocinclus - Rhinotocinclus isabelae
Posted: 18 Dec 2022, 09:32
by beardedbillygoat1975
Procrypsis wrote: ↑06 Dec 2022, 17:46
Hello,
I recently acquired 4 Rhinotocinclus isabelae and 6 Nannoptopoma sp Peru "Robocop". Received them ~2 weeks ago. I have them in a very mature 20 gallon tank using Amozonia soil, lots of plants and some driftwood. The tank "had" a lot of algae and biofilm buildup due to the previous inhabitants - Pao palustris - which will eat every animal they can bite. Within 2 days, most of the algae was cleaned from the glass, filters and rock. Since then, driftwood has also been cleaned of biofilm and algae.
I notice they do get really active when I feed the "dithers" - neon green rasboras, getting more active and searching out bits of uneaten flake food. Othertimes they are busily cleaning every surface they are on.
I am supplementing with fresh cucumber and squash - after a few days of being submerged both species have been observed feeeding regularly on those items as well. I have added indian almond, oak, dandelion and mulberry leaves - all of which are being fed on.
With the observation of how fast they clean up biofilm and algae, I have started "Seasoning" pieces of wood in tanks that I am cycling in order to be able to rotate out the pieces for fresh sources of food. I added a few twigs to the tank a few days ago that was seasoned for only a couple days - within an hour one of the Robocops was on it!
One thing to note on the tank - ensure you have no string algae, I found one of the little guys tangled in a few strands and thought it was dead. Fortunately it swam free once I removed the entanglement.
Hope this helps you get started.
Tank parameters:
~200-300 um conductivity
pH ~6.5
78.8 degrees F
Thank you so much for your reply!!
Re: Bumblebee Otocinclus - Rhinotocinclus isabelae
Posted: 18 Dec 2022, 12:04
by Procrypsis
~4 weeks in, 2 isabelae haven't been observed for a couple weeks. Was hoping that they were being secretive. Other 2 and the 6 Nannoptopoma are looking great.
They all are very active and grazing surfaces day and night.