Why are they not eating?

Question

i have two oto cats (im getting more...) which i put into an established and cycled tank that did not have algae growing in it. the otos have been doing great, and have been playing and eating well. i have had them for about three months now. i put veggies in for them regularly.

until recently there was no algae in the tank, but now there is green algae in my tank... and the otos wont eat it... i am confused as to why my otos eat everything else but not the algae. Does anyone have any suggestions???

the tank is filtered and heated, and heavily planted. in is not in direct sun, but i keep the light on several hours a day to keep the plants alive. i know that otos dont eat hair algae of brown algae, but the stuff is green algae.

thanks for the help.

Answer 1

Otocinclus catfish will typically eat diatom algae - they're really tiny and they eat tiny things. to really watch a fish eat algae, you'll want something like an Ancistrus (bristlenose) pleco - any species but the Medusa. They work together as a team, really - Otos getting the little stuff, BN getting the bigger stuff - though so far nothing that I know of gets rid of green spot algae other than scraping it off.

Answer 2

Time for a little tuff love it looks like...

Cut there food source off and see if they activate again, it may take a week but keep an eye on them.

Is the algae on the glass or everywhere. Ottos are better known for there glass and some plant cleaning. Amano shrimp clean plants gravel and wood. Thats why the 2 are used in combination alot.

good luck!!!

Answer 3

Why would they eat algae when you are feeding them foods that they love better. I would stop feeding then the vegetables until they finish eating the algae. Don't worry because they can go for many days or even a few weeks with out eating and not harm them.

Answer 4

Leave them alone for a day without feeding and watch if they eat the algae. Also if there's lots of algae growing it maybe because of nitrates so the fishes get stressed and won't eat.