Hey there,

So, my albino bushy nose pleco was trying to kill my ADF's, so I had to take her to the LFS. They traded her for some Otto cats. (I have 3).

I floated the bag in the tank and added some of my tank water to help them get used to the change in water params, (for about 40 mins). When I put them into the tank, the immediately swam down to the little rock cave at the front of the tank and stayed there.

I had to go out tonight, and when I came back about 3 1/2 hours later, I couldn't find them in the bottom of the tank anywhere! Well, that's because they are swimming up and down the side of the tank from top to bottom and back again..... is this normal? They are pretty much staying together, but just seem to be darting up and down the tank side. (The water is well ventilated with the filter and the mini corner filter with air stone). My Nitrates are a little high, which is what the mini-filter is for b/c it has Nitra-zorb in it. The LFS ppl. tested the water and said the Ottos should be ok in it..... is this normal behaviour for them when first introduced to a new tank? (I had an otto once before, but only had 1 and he was tiny. He went to the ship and stayed in that general area for the day, then he died... we never found the body. So, this is very different behaviour).

I went up to the tank to feed the ADF's and the Ottos seemed to calm down a little and stick to the bottom of the tank. (Poor things keep getting kicked by the little frogs looking for food, but have so far been very tolerant). I dropped in about 3/4 of an algae wafer close to where I saw them sitting and turned the light out.

Just wondering if the spazziness and them calmness, then spazziness then calmness is normal, or if something is wrong...

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It's normal for new fish to do that, especially oto's.

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Thanks! I couldn't find any info' on their behaviour on the net (other than they are calm, lol). I feel much better!

Hopefully in a few days they will calm themselves and then survive the Nitrates for a month - apparently that's the golden time, (if you can keep them alive for a month you're good to go). :D

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give them a few days and they should calm down.

Since your tank is well overstocked, I hope you are doing more than relying on whatever you say you are using to handle your high nitrate. Even the few plants you have will only help a little. You should probably be doing 30% water changes twice a week to keep things safe. With a tank that size it would take like 5 min.

I have 10 animals in there that add to the bio load. (Isn't the general rule of thumb 1 inch of fish per gallon?) The cherry shrimp and bamboo shrimp don't add very much to the bio load at all (as you can have a couple hundred cherry shrimp in a 10g tank easily). The Assassin snail isn't staying in my tank as he wasn't supposed to be in there in the fist place. The 2 snails next week will be the only other two things adding to the bio load, and they don't add that much either.

For the nitrates I have the live plants and the mini filter with the Nitra-zorb in it that I'm using to keep the Nitrates down. It's already made a bit of a difference. (The LFS people tested the water and said I should be able to keep the Otto's in my tank - which is great, because before, the test was showing the Nitrates were waaay to high). As for water changes, it won't help. The Nitrates are coming from our water source, (we're on a natural well). So, changing the water is still adding nitrates. All the other water sources around us are treated water, and are softer, which would mean putting a bunch of additives in to raise the calcium levels for the shrimp and snails. (Our untreated hard water is great for the shrimp, snails and fish we have, as the store we got them from has very hard water as well).

Every week I vacuum the gravel, do a 25% water change, add 'Cycle', and water conditioner (mostly just used as a stress coat as our well water has no chlorine). Once a month the filter is cleaned and the carbon is changed. Every 3 months the bio-max and sponge are changed. The Nitra-zorb gets re-charged every other day (for the first two weeks - I'm on week 1 right now), then every 5 days (for 2 weeks), then once every 2 weeks to 1 month (as needed). I'm pretty good with the cleaning and up keep of the tank, so having a few extra animals should be fine. (Everyone has said you can have more than "1 inch of animal per gallon" IF you really up keep the tank to keep the toxins in check.... which is what I do).

So far the only problem I'm having is the 2 male guppies having fat bellies (not dropsy, no fins/scales sticking out). I think they had too much protein in their diet, so I've reduced it and am giving them more of a veggie based diet. It has helped a little bit, but they are still fat. (This problem started long before the ADF's and shrimp came along. My RCS aren't breeding either, but I hope that will change the more the Nitrates come down. I brought 2 berried females home and the babies hatched. I've got some females with yellow saddles, but no berried females yet.

Lol, sorry if I sounded "snippy". I'm not intending to be. Just trying to make sure I have my info' straight and also giving as much detail as possible. The Otto's were much more calm today. They explored the tank in as a group as well as individually. They've been very calm and have been finding little places to eat and rest. So far, so good. (I heard if you can keep them for a month, they should be 'good to go'. Well, day 1 down, 29 more to go, lol).

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