The Puffer Forum

Today I got 2 small otos for my DP tank. Ever since I added them to the tank they have been non stop frantically swimming up and down the glass. Is this normal behaviour?
I also noticed that the temperature was a bit higher than normal, at around 84, usually at 78-80, so I turned it down. Stupid non submersible heater, its been doing fine keeping the temp constant at 80, all of a sudden it decides to bump it up to 84 and wont give up. I keep turning it down, but the light keeps coming on and it keeps heating it back up. I have already turned it down to half the setting it was previously at. I have read somewhere that non-submersible heaters weren't that reliable anyways, and this was the cheapest one at the LFS.... anyways could the increased temp be causing the otos non stop swimming.. the puffers are looking normal..

I'd get a more reliable heater, before this one cooks your fish. Just a guess but the higher heat will raise a fish's metabolism, hence more activity.

Is this normal night time (the tanks light is off) oto behaviour. The only time I have observed otos is in the LFS and they are always just stuck to something, sitting there.

I wouldn't worry about the movement kass . Replace your heater as PP said and keep an eye on them. Is there algae in the tank?

Yea theres a lot of brown algae, and a bit of green, theres also a nice hydra infestation (hoping theyll clean that up, but dont counting on it). I also plan on throwing in some fresh veggies for them.

If there's lots of food in the tank (all your brown algae), otos can be serious workaholics. The temp can make them more active, too, as PP pointed out.

I think they don't move at the LFS too much because they're overcrowded, don't have tons of brown algae around, and they're stressed. I have 2 otos in a tank right now, and they're pretty active. Granted it's a heavily planted 29 so I don't see them as much as you would in a smaller/less densely planted tank, but there is always one out and about at all times.

Eric

Hydras are usually a sign of overfeeding, so can algae.

They definetly aren't being overfed, as of yet they only eat live white worms, still trying to get them hooked on something else, I only put in a couple at a time and watch them eat them one by one until they are full and remove whats not eaten right away. I also heard hydra is a sign of good water quality... I think ill go with that one.
BTW are puffers the only fish that stop eating when they are full, even when food is still being offered?

Hydra are in fact a sigh of good water quality, as they do not handle pollution well. They are a polyp after all, the FW relative of corals and anemones.

Puffers stop eating only when they are at capacity, which is over-eating in my book. Non-predatory fish just excrete faster, pushing undigested food out as fresh food is taken in. Most predators cannot/will not do that, but eat as much as they can and then vegetate until it is digested. The lurkers are classic cases; the hunters mostly will gorge until they cannot swim.

Gosh, I'm wrong again! Gotta stop posting so much...

Considering you just got the otos I say don't worry. They're probably just a little freaked out.

PP - That particular bit of trivia is a salve for bruised egos when the keeper realizes that hydra just devoured their latest batch of rainbow fry. But is is true that they are almost never seen in poor water quality. They need good, decent, water to survive, but do not really have to have great water quality, just good. For a population explosion they need very fine foods, such as lots of infusoria or BBS, or the smallest of fish fry. It is not rare for mid-sized and larger heavily planted tanks to have a few unseen hydra, as such tanks tend to be infusoria-rich. Where they explode in numbers is in fry tanks with green water feeding or BBS or the finest dry powder foods. I had them once in a QT used for the Ghost Shrimp breeder trials.

I have had them in the circulating range more than once. That is a no-no as I rather casually raise rainbows and barbs and others there. I "borrow" young 3-spot/blue/Opaline/Gold Gouramis (all selected color forms of the same fish) to clear them. PITA.

I dont know why the hydra are so persistant in my tank. I dont have nay live plants and am not feeding fine foods... I also try to wipe them off once and a while, but they keep comming back.

If you really tried to "wipe them off", they likely increased in numbers. They are simple enough that they can reproduce from fragments. That is why I use eaters, which takes weeks to be effective. The eaters have to be kept a bit hungry as well.

What are the different kinds of eater?