Spawning Otocinclus catfish

Back around the first of the year Petsmart was having a sale on Otocinclus for $1 each.  Each spring for the past couple of years I’ve wanted to try spawning these fish so I picked up a couple bags for a later project.

Otos eating Repashy gel
Photo by Dennis Ball

They have been eating lots of Repashy “Soilent Green” and fattened up very nicely.

The spawning set-up is a standard 10 gallon tank with some anubias and crypts.  It has a course black substrate and the water is very soft being almost pure rain water.  I have a small heater set to keep the temperature at 78 °F.

Otocinclus fry
Photo by Dennis Ball

The fish must be happy because today while doing water changes I found the first fry!

If I can get these fry to adult hood it will be interesting to see if tank raised Otos are a bit more hardy than the store bought variety.

 

 

Here are some photos of the fry just a couple of days later…..

Otocinclus fry
Photo by Dennis Ball
Otocinclus fry
Photo by Dennis Ball