OK, my Oto’s have been throwing off lots of eggs and I wasn’t surprised to see a few babies darting around in my community aquarium. What did surprise me was the absolute lack of fear they have. They rest in the most obvious places like the aquarium glass where there is easy algae to access and swim right out in the open like adults!
Now my tank is full of predatory fish like Neon Tetras and I was sure this was suicidal behavior until I watched more carefully. One of the baby Oto’s was perched on the front glass of my aquarium in perfect view. I was sure it was about to be a perfect single meal for a Neon! Sure enough, a Neon spotted it and went for the baby! But, as soon as it got to within striking distance it turned away! I saw three Neons make the same maneuver!
Now I began to think! After the Oto’s began spawning, I lost 4 Neon’s to a strange bloating disease. I was sure that it was some virulent disease that was about to run through my aquarium and wipe it out. It didn’t. In fact my remaining Neon’s are very healthy and I observe them spawn frequently.
OK what do you think? Are Oto’s poisonous? Did eating some of them kill my Neons? My observations say yes. What do you think?
Now my tank is full of predatory fish like Neon Tetras and I was sure this was suicidal behavior until I watched more carefully. One of the baby Oto’s was perched on the front glass of my aquarium in perfect view. I was sure it was about to be a perfect single meal for a Neon! Sure enough, a Neon spotted it and went for the baby! But, as soon as it got to within striking distance it turned away! I saw three Neons make the same maneuver!
Now I began to think! After the Oto’s began spawning, I lost 4 Neon’s to a strange bloating disease. I was sure that it was some virulent disease that was about to run through my aquarium and wipe it out. It didn’t. In fact my remaining Neon’s are very healthy and I observe them spawn frequently.
OK what do you think? Are Oto’s poisonous? Did eating some of them kill my Neons? My observations say yes. What do you think?