Meglet Rambles On

After last weekend’s major tank rebuilds, I noticed that the 3 Otocinclus Catfish (Ottos, for short) in the 40 gallon hexagon tank were acting a little oddly. The 2 smaller ones had gotten very pale, and lost their stripe. All 3 of them were much more active than they had been, chasing each other around the tank, hanging out on the front wall instead of hiding behind the heater, and in general just being busy little fish instead of the sloths they had been. After a couple days of watching to make sure they weren’t getting sick, I just figured they were happy to be in a nice clean new tank with new tankmates.

That is, until I got up this morning and found that they were spawning! Now, having fish spawn is nothing really new to me. The Cherry Barbs  rival rabbits in their spawning habits, and the Corydoras Catfish and sometimes even the Celestial Pearl Danios get frisky from time to time. But last time I checked, there were only 2 reports of Ottos spawning in personal tanks. EVER. And those 2 tanks they reportedly spawned in didn’t have anywhere near the same water conditions as my tanks. Needless to say, I ran for the camera. Only to remember that my fancy fantastic camera doesn’t take video. Fortunately, my dad’s little pocket camera does. By the time I borrowed it and got it set up for video, the Ottos had decided to move to the back of the tank, where it was hard to see them, but I did get a couple minutes of video anyway.

So for those of you who like fish porn, here are some badly shot, hand-held videos of my Ottos spawning:

The Ottos spawning on and around the heater at the back of the tank. This is a good example of the behavior leading up to the actual egg-laying. My best guess is that the 2 smaller, lighter-colored Ottos are male, and the larger one is the female:

The Ottos spawning on a small sword plant. This appears to be the actual egg-laying behavior, as after this little ritual is complete, I found 4 eggs on a leaf:

Because of the rarity of Ottos spawning in personal tanks, and because there are snails and other fish in there that might eat the eggs, I’m not sure I’ll actually end up with baby Ottos. But still a cool event, in a fish geek sort of way.