Shrimp and Oto Keeper

Hi All,

My name is Dan, I'm a keeper of Shrimp (chiefly Crystal Reds and Amano/Yamato shrimp). I also keep neon and ember tetras. Been fish-keeping since about 2004, and a brief spell in my childhood (those poor fish - I knew *nothing* back then)!

Been lucky with the Crystal Reds lately. I started with 5 a few months ago (I'd always loved them, but had done my homework and thought them to be very delicate: but recently took the plunge to see if I could keep 5 alive for any length of time...), and at last count had 112 of the little blighters! I absolutely adore them, and they are such lively little characters.

I'd also love to try to breed Oto's, too. I have 5 at the moment, all have been with me for several months and are doing well so far, but I can't find much info on how to breed them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Have a good day!

Welcome

Welcome along...do you freshen up the shrimp stock every so often with outside shrimp to keep the bloodlines strong?

Gavin

I havnt cum across any captive Ottos so I'm not sure about the breeding but would love to hear if anyone has more knowledge on this

Welcome!

I have been to the late Mr. Takashi Amano aquarium in Lisbon, the whole thing is gigantic, he used many Ottos and when I say its big, I mean enormous but what I noticed was, there were no juvenile Ottos, not one so I'd guess breeding them isn't easy.

Kev.

I stand corrected!

www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fis...-breeding-again.html

Kev.

Was in a maxi store and they had a species of otto but a much larger size,was amazed to see it .....

Welcome!

I know of one keeper who has breed these but i think it was more an occurance than a planned attempt.funnily enough ive 3 ottos and did a stock check every quarter and haven't seen one of them in nearly 5 months,however the other day i spotted all 3 again...he must of been busy cleaning some plant for 5 months!!!!

If you manage the ottos your next project is SAEs

Welcome along Dan

Hi Gavin,
Thanks for your response and your interest.

I have done this once so far. And just getting a next generation of shrimplets coming through this week, all seem to be doing well, and I'm seeing more berried females. I'm struggling to keep up with them, to be honest!

I'm toying with the notion of introducing a couple of the black bee shrimp (I rather like the black ones too, and kept them for a while when I lived in Glasgow a few years ago). I've read that you generally get around 50/50 red to black offspring, and that it can really help to strengthen the bloodlines for the new red offspring. Ima have to get a new tank though for that, though!

By experience when it comes down to shrimps i wouldnt believe anything you can read on the net

Q Comets:

If you manage the ottos your next project is SAEs

I think that one's a long way off, yet! Wouldn't it be great, though?!

Fishowner:

I know of one keeper who has breed these but i think it was more an occurance than a planned attempt.funnily enough ive 3 ottos and did a stock check every quarter and haven't seen one of them in nearly 5 months,however the other day i spotted all 3 again...he must of been busy cleaning some plant for 5 months!!!!

That happens a lot with mine, too! I take a count every evening, and frequently lose track of one or two, sometimes for days at a time, and then they always seem to magically re-appear! The tank is not huge, so I have no idea how they manage this!

FWIW,
to get ottos breeding, you will need enough food for them (think longer light, lots stones/plants etc,) a lot of them, ideally 10-20, but food becomes problematic then. (Try putting stones in a tank in the window to grow algae, etc, or else put some bright led spots focused on stones in the main tank to keep them green. Spirulana flakes help, if your fish will take them.)
They tend to get friskiest around the equinoxes, given the correct stimulus.
Firstly, soft acid water with a bit of tannin (blackwater extract works).
Lots of plants (but with a central clearing with stones for algae!!). Keep the nutrients up, RO water changes etc (20% weekly, assuming a low load. )
Having a pair of corys in the tank can help with hormones, but they will need removed if the ottos get frisky.
Coming up to the full moon around the equinoxes, reduce water changes to nothing for a month or 2. If your filters/plumbing allow, let the water evaporate to about 2/3s full. Bring the temp up to 26-28. Slowly.
About 5 days after the new moon, add 1/2 tank of cool (18 deg) RO water over 24-48 hours. Ideally in the middle of the afternoon.
Obviously, remove any excess water while doing this........
When the corys shag, remove them. (there should ONLY be ottos in the tank now)
Hopefully, the hormones from the corys will put the ottos in the mood. (They sort of wriggle together and spin around each other in open water, then let eggs fall to substrate/plants)
After this, who knows?
I've never tried too hard with them, (I have gotten them to the mating stage, but in a SA tank with lots of fish that will eat anything. (I was trying to get checkerboards to shag at the time. They did, but are the worst parents in the world.) I'm pretty sure anything produced was eaten.)
They are not paternal, but with food and no predators, some young should survive.

murph wrote:

FWIW,
to get ottos breeding, you will need enough food for them (think longer light, lots stones/plants etc,) a lot of them, ideally 10-20, but food becomes problematic then. (Try putting stones in a tank in the window to grow algae, etc, or else put some bright led spots focused on stones in the main tank to keep them green. Spirulana flakes help, if your fish will take them.)
They tend to get friskiest around the equinoxes, given the correct stimulus.
Firstly, soft acid water with a bit of tannin (blackwater extract works).
Lots of plants (but with a central clearing with stones for algae!!). Keep the nutrients up, RO water changes etc (20% weekly, assuming a low load. )
Having a pair of corys in the tank can help with hormones, but they will need removed if the ottos get frisky.
Coming up to the full moon around the equinoxes, reduce water changes to nothing for a month or 2. If your filters/plumbing allow, let the water evaporate to about 2/3s full. Bring the temp up to 26-28. Slowly.
About 5 days after the new moon, add 1/2 tank of cool (18 deg) RO water over 24-48 hours. Ideally in the middle of the afternoon.
Obviously, remove any excess water while doing this........
When the corys shag, remove them. (there should ONLY be ottos in the tank now)
Hopefully, the hormones from the corys will put the ottos in the mood. (They sort of wriggle together and spin around each other in open water, then let eggs fall to substrate/plants)
After this, who knows?
I've never tried too hard with them, (I have gotten them to the mating stage, but in a SA tank with lots of fish that will eat anything. (I was trying to get checkerboards to shag at the time. They did, but are the worst parents in the world.) I'm pretty sure anything produced was eaten.)
They are not paternal, but with food and no predators, some young should survive.

Jesus, that sounds complicated! I guess a DVD and a takeaway just doesn't cut it for female otos

Big Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome, and especially for the reams of good advice!
I shall certainly be sticking around these forums more often!

Thanks, guys!