Her dad was a Flamepoint and her Mom was a Ragdoll. She definitely has toasted quite a bit as she’s aged. Last picture is of her as a kitten.
She definitely toasted up as she got older. Last picture is her when she was a kitten. Her mom was Ragdoll so she has some added gray. She’s just got a lot going on with her coat. Lol Mittens, tux, tortoise shell, and Flamepoint?
Shrimp newbie here. This picture is a couple weeks old so it’s even more overgrown and I need to do some trimmings. I currently have 15, 4 week old shrimplets in a 5 gallon but was thinking of adding them to my oto only 10 gallon tank once they’re a bit older. I’m hoping the shrimp would act as “dither fish”, although not fish obviously, because my otos are so shy and I can’t really hold anymore fish in the tank due to size. I’d love to go with a bigger tank and add more fish but in my small condo I just can’t at the moment.
My questions are: Would this be an absolute pain to one day have to break down with otos and a bunch of shrimp in a heavily planted tank like this? I already dread it with the otos alone. Do shrimp do okay in very heavily planted tanks? Will they overload the bioload? I have more otos in that ten gallon than I’d like to admit(like 9 adults and 6 juveniles) but I just bred and sold my baby otos and have a few remaining juveniles that I’ve been trying to decide what to do with. They are very difficult to catch in this tank as you can imagine. Water parameters are stable and perfect all the time right now and I don’t want to overwhelm it. Am I asking the right questions or am I missing anything? lol
TIA. Love this group so much and so happy to finally be able to add to it after being a member for a year or so.
Water parameters 0ammonia/nitrite, 1-5 nitrate, 79 degrees, 30-40% water changes once or twice a week while he’s sick. Idk what to do for my little guy. He has diamond eye and keeps getting finrot, popeye and I think a fungal infection. I’ve been doing salt baths and methylene blue baths. I did a round of Maracyn and Maracyn II. I did some Paraguard after that Maracyn round. I have Kanaplex coming in the mail. I use API stress coat sometimes, especially because of aloe being soothing to the fins but I don’t use it much. That dark area on the lower fins is getting a little darker so I know it’s finrot but I see a little white so I was wondering if it’s fungal too? I’m just so lost. It’s like his little body just wants to die. Betta genetics are just awful now. 😔
I just did a round of Maracyn and Maracyn II last week with some occasional salt baths. I’ve always been doing 40% water changes every couple of days. He’s recovering from finrot but is this mold? He has diamond but his eyes are normally cloudy. Do I treat for mold? What is a favorite mold treatment besides salt baths? Do I raise his temperature from 78 to 80?
I did it! I traded some of my captive bred otos for blue dream shrimp. I got 15 shrimp for 6 otos. Hoping that they survive. I drip and temperature acclimated them and they’re already at work cleaning. Are baby shrimp pretty hardy? I’m just so worried since they’re babies that they could die. They’re tiny! Like less than half an inch long.
Someone offered to trade me some Blue Dreams for some of my captive bred otos. I have a cycled 5 gallon nursery tank that I’ve kept my baby otos in until I sell all of them. I also have a 10 gallon tank for my adult otos but I put my docile mostly blind betta in the ten gallons on occasions to give him more rooms from his other 5 gallon but he keeps bring sick in the 10 gallon so I might not put him back. Are shrimp hard to keep? Are there things I need to look for? I see quite a bit of posts about shrimp being parasites and health issues. My otos are super healthy and don’t want to get the babies sick. Do they pretty much eat what otos eat? Will they be okay with some of my one inch long baby otos until I can sell them? Sorry for all the questions, just want to make the right decision.
First picture is what they send me of their shrimp, second is my 5 gallon nursery tank. Third is my 10 gallon tank with my otos adults. TIA
I’ve been selling my 4 month old captive-bred otos and honestly, finding the right buyers has been the hardest part!
I’m based in Utah and pricing them at $13/fish, which is exactly how much they cost at my local LFS and those are wild caught ones with parasites. These are healthy captive-bred but breeding and raising oto fry to a viable size is genuinely difficult. Most people don’t realize how much work goes into breeding, raising or how rare they are.
The biggest issue I run into is buyers who just want a “cleanup crew” and have no idea that otos need supplemental feeding to thrive. At minimum, they need something like Bacter AE and Repashy Soilent Green — naturally occurring biofilm and algae from the tank alone just isn’t enough. I don’t mind educating people, but I’d rather find buyers who already understand or are genuinely willing to learn.
I’ve listed on Facebook Marketplace, local FB fish groups, and KSL Classified but with limited success. I’d rather not go the LFS route since I have no control over who they end up with. Plus my LFS sold me a single oto when they knew I didn’t have others and I had no idea about caring for them but that was also on me.
Does anyone know of where else I could sell or how I could sell online and ship them? I really want these rare babies to go to good homes and would like to sell them sooner rather than later but I understand it might take a little time finding the right buyers. Thank you in advance for all advice or insight. 🙏