Saturday, September 10, 2005

in memoriam - my otocinclus algae eater

I'm offically declaring my Oto algae eater (Otocinclus affinis) to be dead, his body absorbed into the little biosphere I've created in my aquarium, continuing the cycle of life.


This is the only photo I was ever able to get of Oto that wasn't blurred, etc.

Oto has been MIA for about 5 days now, and I have searched the aquarium many times, looking at all of his favorite hiding places. Oto was about 5 years old, extremely elderly for an Otocinclus, although not the oldest the local aquarium shop I like has hear of. The oldest he knows of was 9 when it died, which is a far cry than their usual lifespans of 2 years in an aquarium, 1 year in the wild. Oto lived 2 1/2 times longer than the average aquarium Otocinclus. I don't know what constitutes a full life for a small fish, but he always had plenty of algae of several varieties to eat, live plants to rest on, rocks to grow algae on, and no predators, so I'm guessing life was pretty good.
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Update - Oto is no longer MIA, and the rumors of his demise were apparently greatly exaggerated. When I told my husband that Oto was MIA for 5 days and now presumed dead, he looked into the aquarium. "Hey, Hon, you mean this guy sitting on a rock in the middle of the tank?"

2 comments:

Mira said...

I know these guys can be hard to find, it was hilarious how after 5 days of being unfindable, then composing and posting this post, my husband looks in the tank and immediately finds him, pretty much in the same place he is in the photo.

StevenHWicker said...

Very informative and impressive post you have written, this is quite interesting and i have went through it completely, an upgraded information is shared, keep sharing such valuable information. Algae Eater

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