The Oto Journal

You should. Journal's are a great way to share information with fellow hobbysts.

As for survivors....luckily the flooding had no impact on the fish area. Just a piece of carpet that I use in the front part of the room as soaked. The insurance agent measured it and gave me the impression that it was replaceable. Would be kewl if it were but not necessary. But I could always use remnants in other areas. ;o)

The home search will begin next week at the earliest. I have some more work to do to get things back situated where I can move around down there again.

 

Update 08-Aug-2010

Removed the last of the juvies from the Vittatus breeder. It's strictly an adults only party now. Holding tank is full once again. Weather permitting, will start looking for homes next week.

Part 2 of the tank rebuild is underway. The crypt jungle is once again being thinned. These things are growing like crazy! Pulled out (6) more plants. These ones are pretty big. Still leaving the mother crypt in there. Thinned the Subwassertang wall just a bit more. Major gravel under the jungle since they have been uprooted. Jugs were black from the goodies under there.

Shrimp are definately loving the stuff that was stirred up. Will get the crypts replanted and then work on the left side of the tank. This will take a few days to complete. Think I should have it back together by Tuesday.

 

Tried to do a little late scaping...didn't bode very well. Command decesion was made to remove the mother crypt. Just decided that she has outgrown this tank and really needs a larger tank to thrive at this size.

Replanted the smaller ones around and will again rescape in the coming days. Will probably go with (6) smaller to medium size plants and go from there.

 

Update: 07-Sep-2010

Activity levels are on the rise again. That's great news. Did water changes in all the breeders. For some reason, I just can't seem to come across a happy medium in the Cocama tank. Not sure what it is but I still can't get the asthetics where I want them in this tank. Still making progress though albeit very slowly. Think it is finally coming together.

Any of you Oto lovers out here, just so you know, the females run the show. My goodness it was just so fun to watch. I removed everything floating in this tank, did a little rescaping as well as the 20% wc. Started working on another tank and looked over there. They were all doing their customary laps around the tank. So I took a break and pulled up a seat not too far from them so I could observe better. There are three nice plump females in here and they were driving the boys crazy! One would have about 4-5 followers with here. Another female would swim by doing her "bump and run" thing and all the guys would then give chase. This went on for quite some time.

Back in the main breeder, mom and pop Oto are finally hangin out together again. They have been taking a break for a spell. We'll see where this goes.

 

Update 11-Sep-2010

Egg watch officially over ...... Mama's laying.

Heading out to the race today so did my checks early. Nice discovery. Very quick count yields (28) with (1) non viable. Unfortunately no time to get water parms. Temp is a nice 78 in the tank. I did catch that one. Everyone remaining active in the tank.

Activity levels in all the other tanks are up as well. On egg watch in the second breeder.

 

Update 12-Sep-2010

I was obviously incorrect on the day of which mama laid the eggs. Must have been Thursday some time. Went down to check on things just a while ago and found fry. Best I could find was (14) at the moment. I'll check again later to see if I can get a better count.

Here's the best shot out of the group I just took.



And a shot of the current home front. I still need to trim more off the Subwassertang wall as you can see and move the Downoi forward a bit. Some trimming needs to be done as well.



Today was supposed to be a water change day but with the newly hatched fry, will just do a top off via slow drip as usual. Prepping zucchini and algae powder for feeding.

 

Thanks, I'm thinking that they have become comfortable with it again after the recent rescape. I'm trying to keep it pretty consistant which is why everything is staying in their place. I did make the addition of the Ranunculus Inundatus which mama has promptly put to use. ;o)

 

Update 13-Sep-2010

Routine check looks good. Was able to physically count (21) wigglers. Mama, Pop and one of his mistresses are hanging out together. Looks like egg watch again.

Annnnnnnnnnd....over in the holding tank....wigglers! Found (4) in there. Most excellent. Never saw any eggs in this tank. They must have laid them all in the Java Fern this time.

Fed one tube of prepared powdered food to each tank. When it clears up a bit, I'll see if there may be any photo ops.

 

Update 16-Sep-2010

Eggs found in the holding tank. (5) non viable at the moment. Will try to get somewhat a head count to know how many may be there. With that big Java Fern there's no telling. The other thing is, I have no idear who the parents could be.

Back in the main, wigglers coloring up nicely and remain active. They continue to move throughout the tank making a count difficult. I did manage to count (8). Hatching of this next batch of eggs expected tomorrow. With anticipated hatching window open, I fed the tank the powdered food. Will be running the air stone for a few minutes tonight to break up the surface.

Zucchini prepping for all tanks.

 

Latest round of hatching has begun. Still a few eggs to go. Fry guys continuing to be active and really work things over. Powdered down the tank again. Between the baby Oto's and baby shrimp, they are keeping things all cleaned up. May have to start uping the food amount but not just yet.

These last two batches have been different. In the past, I would notice the hatching with all the new fry on the glass. Now they are staying on the leaves. I still find a couple on the glass but not as many. Hard to find them that's for sure.

Here's some shots from today. We'll start with a newbie. Did you find him? He's in camo mode.



And here's some of the others at 5 days now:



Lady Tiger watching over things:


Bet I can clean this leaf before you!


These guys are zipping all over the place. Glad to see that.

Til next time.

 

Update 19-Sep-2010

Water changes on tap for today. 10% in all tanks except the holding tank. 20% in progress over there. As usual, dripping the new water back in.

Fry activity remains very high. Even over in the holding tank. I even found more wigglers in there. Still no way to get a count in this tank.

In the main breeder, I was able to count (22) wigglers between both batches. From just a couple days old to a week. The Subwassertang again has turned into a great spot with them. Diving in and out of it.

 

Update 22-Sep-2010

Things remain good. Still have over (20) wigglers in the main and (4) in the holding. All four adults are hanging out together. Tons of baby tiger shrimp too. And...it's ready for another trim.

Water tests pending. Will post results.

How bout some shots from today:



No diffuser leaves until it's inspected


What are you looking at?

 

And water parms from today:

 

Update 24-Sep-2010

More eggs found in the holding tank today. Only found (4) at the moment. All around the Java Fern. One is (was) on the glass. I was doing a 20% water change and somehow knocked it off the glass. Crud! Hopefully it's on the sand and will still do ok. The others I found on a single leaf. And here I was about ready to pull this thing out and get rid of it. lol Found all (4) fry in here. Getting pretty big for their age. Dripping in new water now.

The main tank has turned into a jungle again. Everything is just growing like weeds. The Subwasertang wall has overtaken the Downoi in front severely hampering it, Ludwigia has stretched to the front of the tank, Bacopa stretching to the back, RI throwing runners. Wow. This on top of all the fry and baby tigers still doing very, very well. Percentage wise, this is best group to make it this long. They are all over the place.

I'm thinking my new feeding routine may be playing a part in this.

On egg watch in the main. I think this is a bit early but they are starting to show signs. Mom and pop are bumping against each other while on the glass.

Charging the battery in the camera so will have to wait a bit to see what pics may have turned out.

 

Update 26-Sep-2010

Water changes on tap for today in all tanks except the holding tank. What little eggs I saw in there have hatched out. All (4) babies in the tank still accounted for and growing very fast.

Over in the main tank, activity is increasing with the adults again. Will be interesting to see how the ladies handle all the fry in the tank. The little ones continue to work over the tank very well....to include the parents. I went to pull the CO2 bottle and saw a baby working over mom. As usual..no camera available when the best shots present themselves.

Recharging CO2 bottles today.

 

Update 28-Sep-2010

Breeding activity increasing. Found more eggs in the holding tank. Counted (11) that I could quickly see. I turned the light on only briefly to check on the Sunkist shrimp when I noticed them. Was going to do a water change in this tank but wound up working late. Will do one tomorrow prior to the hatching. Four wigglers still accounted in here and getting fat.

In the main, it is safe to say that there are over 30 fry guys in here. Everywhere you look, you see them. All have colored up very nicely. I do need to thin out some of those small snails though. Noticing quite a few of them in there as well.

Over in the Cocama tank, I found another berried Sunkist. That's two now within two days. Gotta get the hatchery set up pretty quickly.

Running through some shots I took so we'll see what turns out.

 

Here's the best shot I could get today. Turns out it was the toughest though. Here are a few eggs under a cypt leaf.