# best diet for octocinclus



## wishiwasafish (Apr 13, 2011)

right now i have algae wafers for him, but was wondering if it would be good to mix in zucchini or some kind of veggies? 
i also have live plants in the tank so will he eat those? or will he just eat teh algae off them without damaging them?

i was told by LFS that oto's are fine by themselves, but i've been researching and it seems they prefer a trio or at least pair. any thoughts on this?


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

otos like to be in groups and yes they will eat algae off live plants. They are so small , they add little to the bioload of the tank. They will munch on zuchinni and such, but if you have live plants, they should do just fine without added veggies. Uneaten food will only aid in polluting the tank. Algae wafer every now and then should suppliment them just fine. They do need fresh clean water, so keep up with regular partial water changes.


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## AvocadoPuffDude (Jan 20, 2011)

I agree 100% with what bv77 said, but I would add that you can break up the algae wafers into 3-4 pieces and drop them in at night, that's what I do so the other fish don't shove the ottos out of the way.
Good luck!


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## wishiwasafish (Apr 13, 2011)

AvocadoPuffDude said:


> I agree 100% with what bv77 said, but I would add that you can break up the algae wafers into 3-4 pieces and drop them in at night, that's what I do so the other fish don't shove the ottos out of the way.
> Good luck!


ok........i've had my a group of 4 oto's for around 3 days now, i have tried feeding them algae wafers and blanched zucchini.... and they aren't eating either one of them..... like i said before, i do have java fern and wendti cyrptocoryne plants in with them, and a decent sized piece of african mopani wood, but the tank is fairly new so i wouldn't think there would be a whole lot of algae there, (i'm probably wrong)...

am i just stressing myself over nothing? will oto's suck on the glass if there's nothing to eat there? because they spend most of their time either laying on the mopani or plants or on the glass, and they seem to be healthy to me so i'm probably nervous just because i haven't seen them eat but any reassurance or suggestions would be nice. thanks


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