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Types of Aquarium worms


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Yeah, that is a good one to look at for sure.

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I know I have seen a few of those in my tanks

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I have kept large leeches by accident that came in driftwood take from canals in an unheated 10 gallon tank.  They were interesting in their own right and lived for years eating dead earthworms and a dead fish here and there taken from my pond .

 

They hid if lights were on in the driftwood but came out at night and were active .

 

I never had any young but had the 4 leeches a few yrs , imagine 4 inches long about 1/2 inch wide .

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  • 1 month later...

What's the use of having ottos, with your shrimp, if they don't eat the worms, the non harmful worms?

You would think the ottos would rid the tank of the d. worms. They are the only fish that is supposed

to be 100% safe with shrimp, but you would think they would eat the worms like a cory cat would.

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I think people keep Otos often for the algae control. But some keep them just *because* they are the only shrimp safe fish option, or because they are cool little fish. As far as I know, mine have no interest in worms, or anything animate at all. They're really just grazers, not predators. They may incidentally Hoover up some worms, but I've never seen them change course for anything that moves in front of them, except to get away from it.

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What's the use of having ottos, with your shrimp, if they don't eat the worms, the non harmful worms?

You would think the ottos would rid the tank of the d. worms. They are the only fish that is supposed

to be 100% safe with shrimp, but you would think they would eat the worms like a cory cat would.

 

FYI, Oto loves to eat the white worm. I often see Otos vacuum them off the tank glass.

 

Once in awhile, it may eat planaria too, I only witness it twice that it swim from the substrate straight to the middle of the tank and eat it. All my tanks have Otos. Usually when starting a new tank, the planaria hitchhike from the plants and I do see some crawling around the tank glass but after awhile, I don't have any. I'm not sure is it all consume by the Otos.

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I have a hard time believing that they eat planaria or white worms unless there is an algae spot, or not enough protein in there diet. Remember they're digestive systems aren't as complex to eat plant matter and fully digest it. There going for micro organisms that live on the matter of plant or algae.

Take example, if you feed solely a pellet based in plant material, how much waste is produced, compared to a good with probiotics that are still active and not killed by heating the food, and 90% protein in it, they give off much less waste. So I could see how if there diet isn't supplemented correctly how they might possibly go for worms, but I doubt it.

Soothing the link doesn't work @.@

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That's what I thought too.

 

But apparently they love to eat it. My Otos are all fat and juicy LOL!!!, thus I doubt they are lack of protein. My shrimp wafers have 10 to 30% protein, depending on the type. Thus, this is already enough for their diet.

 

There is another possibility. Otos are extremely mischievous (if they are not, then they are not happy with the environment), they may eat them accidentally while trying to play it it, pretty similar to cat.

 

Nevertheless, no scientific studies conduct on Oto yet. Thus, our understanding of them are pretty little. So far are all observations from hobbyists. Thus, I won't be surprise there are things we do not know about them or mistook about them. ;)

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"Soothing the link doesn't work @.@"

 

Yeah, they took it down since I posted.  Weird, eh?

 

"Nevertheless, no scientific studies conduct on Oto yet. Thus, our understanding of them are pretty little. So far are all observations from hobbyists. Thus, I won't be surprise there are things we do not know about them or mistook about them. ;)"

 

Hobbyists are often the first line of understanding.  Then scientists come along.  Very true statement.  Observations can be misunderstood even by the most experienced hobbyists- and yet, it is all we can go on.

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Nope,

This one http://www.aquaticquotient.com/gallery/files/3/3/8/6/zebra_oto1.jpg

They sell at my Lfs. The one at there store is easily 3.5" in length but he has some at home he showed me a photo next to his hongsloi, and it was the same size if not longer. Zebra Otto

Personally, my favorite is the bmble bee oto, half the size of a normal oto

http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv208/zerojoe0917/Pleco_Alligator_Dwarf_Pleco.jpg

These are supposed to be very rare

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Actually, both of them are the same. ;)

 

When they are young, they have zebra strips (your picture) and as they get older, it become leopard-like (my picture, which is 3 years old Oto). You are right on they are bigger, they are 1cm longer than normal type. The female can grow up to 5cm and the male are stays at only 3cm. Your LFS 3.5" long type, I am suspecting maybe another breed.

 

Not sure they are 100% shrimp safe. However, out of my 70 to 80 Otos, 50% are this type and they are all in my shrimp tanks. I love them because they are hardworking, playful and very interactive with human.

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The one at my lfa was a zebra. With the exact stripes as the one in the photo I just posted. As I am aware there are three sp right now you said yourself not much is known about them. This I tell you and everyone because I seen it was double and triple the size of an adult oto. Thwre was a tank with them specific and a tank of oto next to it. The fish store is also a reputable store.

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  • 3 weeks later...

There are the giant otos (Hypoptopoma gulare)? They get far larger. There are also the Nannoptopoma sp. Peru orange which are similar in size to the Zebra and common otocinclus.

 
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I have a small oto in every shrimp tank, and I also have a new small yoyo loach, but not in a shrimp tank.

I want to be able to use him to eat up the small snails when I don't have any shrimp in a section. I have no

idea if the the yoyo loach is okay with shrimp or not. He is pretty small, and so is his mouth.

 

I have not seen an oto eat a detritus worm.

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