The Oto Journal

05/23: Quick spot check prior to walking out the door. Got down there just as the lights came on. Within (5) minutes, (5) wigglers were on the glass. I also saw the bigger baby today. I think due to his size, I am going to reclass him as a juvie.

 

New baby shot. Quick glance today saw (2) new babies and (2) older babies. Didn't spend much time seeking to go find today. Will be doing a top off and maybe a pruning today.

 

05/27 This is a quick update. Due to family issues, I haven't been able to spend any time on the tank(s). This has affected my scheduled wc as well. Only could do a top off today. Prior to topping off, I did a quick scan/count of the wigglers I could find. Tank is swarming with babies. Took a few minutes to count so they could settle on something. I physically counted (12) wigglers. Most of them are coloring up. (3) of them are younger ones as they are still carrying their white color. The juvie was very visible today as well. Was able to get the ruler out and measure him. He is now at 1/2".

Other developments on this tank:

Have a mama yellow shrimp with a ton of eggs as well. Have a crypt that has sprouted up in the crypt jungle. I have to say that this tank is a major jungle now. Plants have almost completely covered the top. Definately got to trim this tank.

 

Little guys doing fine after the top off. Current shots....I still can't seem to get anything really good. Wife just a digital slr...tried that...not even close.

Baby munching in the crypt jungle:


Current pic of juvie:

 

05/29 Had to do the deed today. The dreaded water change. ~ 20%. I really only wanted to do 10 but was too focused watching for little things that could get sucked up the tube.

This tank is now absolutely swarming with activity. Between the baby oto's and the baby shrimp...it is just amazing! No way to get an acurate count. I know I have at least (7) baby oto's as I visibily saw that many on the glass. Juvie still doing just fine. Was working over the the Rotala when I was down there.

The crypt jungle is just popping with activity. Oto's and shrimp alike working them over. Swimming in and out.

One very cool scene noticed today (and maybe a haven). Looking eye level at the patch of fissidens and watching a baby oto swim right at you and then lite on the glass. Way kewl!

Water test to follow later this evening. I have the air stone on to further break up slag on top of the tank. Will have to re-up the Co2 this weekend and a pruning to follow.

Will have to thin the shrimp herd too. Another mama very berried.

 

05/30: Another disaster strikes after a water change. This time though it was not of my doing or bad water. We lost power today. Power line went down out there somewhere. We were out for over three hours. Only visible casulties found were (3) yellow shrimp. Not a whole lot of activity like before, but I did see quite a few baby oto's and baby shrimp lingering about.

One area of interest....seems baby oto's as well like zuccini. They are all over two of the pieces. These pieces have been sitting in the tank for a couple of days. They were blanced extremely well...over (6) mins. Kind of kewl watchin them work it over.

 

Pics from today (05/30). Wanted to get some of the little ones workin over the zuc.

This is one of my favs:

 

Thx. It has been quite enjoyable watching the progress. It is very entertaining watching them grow up. Yesterday I spotted (8) of the smaller ones. All have colored up nicely. Haven't found any new eggs or hatchings lately. Mom and dad have been hanging tight the past two days so we'll see.

 

06/02 Had to shift some plants on the top around. Still haven't haven't found the time to prune. The ricca carpet floating up top has grown considerably. May have to split it. Another smaller one has formed. Hopefully can get in there and prune tomorrow.

On the baby front, quite a bit of activity around today. Swarming all over the place. Still counted (8) little ones (as they were on the glass). Couple of swimmers so it's hard to get an accurate count.

Mama was REALLY busy. Found (16) eggs. This is the largest batch I have seen. I think I may be on to something on their breeding. Their activity has been very tight the past two days. When I checked today (after the discovery) they were at seperate ends. Will continue to monitor this behavior.

Had to turn on the airstone to break up the surface. Co2 needs recharging as well. Water test pending.

 

06/02
Water Test Results:
Temp: 74
PH: ~7.4
NO3: 20
NO2 and NH3 ~ 0
KH: 6
GH: 10

Attribute NitrAte drop due to lack of fert dosing. I stopped dosing dry ferts until I can trim and take back control.

 

06/03: Big storms rolled through last night knocking out power. Was down for another three hour period. When power was restored, I only checked to make sure the filter was running. Will access any damage later today.

 

Photos from today: (06/03)

Some of the eggs found yesterday (06/02):


New eggs found today (06/03). Five total new eggs found.


Baby photo from today:


Bonus found: Flowering Plant

 

Heading out of town shortly for the weekend so there will be no hatching updates. I did a top off and quick spot check. A few of the eggs are beginning to hatch. Hopefully when I get back on Sunday, there will be tons of wiggle waggles around.

 

06/07: Got home a bit ago. Finally decided to go down and check in on them. Only found (6) wigglers. I did find (11) new eggs though. Snails are still acting funny. Not much activity from them guys. Got a water change scheduled for tomorrow. Do some major renovations as well.

 

06/08: Tank cleanup in progress. Flushed out a lot of wee ones when I was clearing out duckweed. I dunked the carpet of ricca a few times to free it from everything else. It is laying up top of alot of different plants. After a couple minutes, I noticed quite a few little ones (freshly hatched) on the side glass where I was working. Progress continues.

 

06/17:

Not much of an update. My father has been in the hospital and all my time has been taken up by work and there. I have done absolutely nothing with the tank unfortunately except dropping some food in there. No plant dosing or even a water change. I did notice two wigglers on the glass last night when I fed. So that is somewhat of a good sign. Looks like Saturday may be my first good chance of working on it.

 

06/18: Thanks all for your well wishes for my father. He is out of the hosp and in a rehab clinic now getting better every day. Word of caution. Hypercalcium is a very nasty thing.

On the Oto front. Got home earlish today and was able to finally to maintenance on it...but alas...too late for some. I had to stop by the store to get some spring water to use for the water change. It has been raining like crazy here and the well water is still brownish. More rain to come too!

Lost all the snails. I will search for replacements later this evening. The little babies loved working their shells over. I did loose several wigglers as well.

On the bright side of things. Mom and dad are still doing well. I found one egg prior to doing the water change. Shortly after wards (within about 15 mins) I found (5) more eggs. Mama still laying them so that is good.

As for babies: I now have (3) that I will classify as juevenilles. The original one and two others that are now just over 1/4". There are also at least (4) wigglers. I believe there are more I think I counted (6) a little while ago but just now I only found (4).

Tons of shrimp still here. Found more itty biddies as well. A good number that are about 1/4".

DIY Co2 is drained...as to be expected. Jell-o in the fridge as I type. Fert dosing to resume in the morning.

Plants are still in disarray after I started to trim and such. The crypt jungle has two new additions forming. As well, I'm not sure of the plant at the moment but it has off shoots sprouting up from the substrate all over too. If you look in the previous pics, it is the long leaved one that looks similar to a Val.

That's it for now. Water test scheduled for tomorrow.