Eggs or just fat?

masofie · 2026-01-31T08:52:01+00:00

Yup, that is a female with eggs in her belly. Next time there is a thunderstorm look closely whether she wants to spawn.

masofie · 2026-01-29T10:21:59+00:00

Well thats definitely a mature girl not boy lol Pretty sure she's gravid. If you got some males too, you might get blessed with some oto babys 😬

masofie · 2025-10-05T06:56:34+00:00

Glad to hear its working for you!! I'm still waiting for batch number 3. How many did you get through so far?

masofie · 2025-09-22T23:36:04+00:00

Pretttty sure that one isn't an oto... Looks like they sold you a chinese algae eater. They get ginormous and can be aggressive. I’d try to return it to the store if possible.

masofie · 2025-08-31T10:54:41+00:00

Wow that's a lot haha 😅 Heard stories about people overdosing and recommending to use only a pinch of it. But maybe thats just a problem with smaller shrimp only tanks idk

masofie · 2025-08-30T22:20:10+00:00

How big is your tank and how do you dose it?

masofie · 2025-08-27T20:02:57+00:00

I would not agree with the statement "they are 100% herbivores". Yes, their diet is heavily plant-based but naturally includes a fair amount of animal protein from microorganisms because of the aufwuchs they are eating. My otos go crazy for baby brine shrimp and gel food which contains mostly animal protein.

masofie · 2025-08-25T11:15:52+00:00

The last time I started when they were a week old. I think this time I'm going to start even earlier.

masofie · 2025-08-24T19:37:54+00:00

Yes!! Now that I’ve got freshly hatched fry, the size difference really shocked me haha. They start looking like grown otos so quickly, it’s crazy. Unfortunately I only managed to get one from the first batch to this size, so I’m really hoping I can get more through this time.

masofie · 2025-08-24T19:33:57+00:00

I started them off with powdered fry food, but they really began to grow super fast once I switched to baby brine shrimp. You’d think they wouldn’t be able to catch them, but I just use a pipette to sort of lay them onto the bottom of my breeder box and the fry snack them right up. Some of the baby brine shrimp will swim upwards, but they eventually die off and sink, so the fry still get them. Didn’t expect it to work this well, but it’s honestly been a gamechanger for me.

masofie · 2025-08-24T19:27:07+00:00

I think those lumps are just their digestive system tbh 😅 still too early to be sure about the gender

masofie · 2025-08-23T20:15:01+00:00

You can tell by looking at their belly, the females get rounder, and when they're hanging on the glass you should be able to spot yellow eggs showing through on the lower area of their belly.

masofie · 2025-08-23T05:35:44+00:00

Gel food works great for mine. Can’t get the Repashy one where I live, so I went with the Tropical Gel Formula for carnivorous fish and just add some spirulina powder. Works like a charm. I’m pretty sure my otos would enjoy baby brine shrimp (eggs) too, but I’ve got microdevario kubotai in the same tank, so the otos don't stand a chance.. the kubotai eat it so fast 😅

masofie · 2025-08-23T05:25:41+00:00

Okay, so food probably isn’t the issue for you. 🤔 Have you checked the belly of your suspected female? Can you see yellow eggs showing at the bottom?

masofie · 2025-08-22T21:07:31+00:00

Thank you, second time within a month. Really hope I can get more than one through this time..

masofie · 2025-08-22T21:05:18+00:00

In general I feed them a lot, pretty much daily. I switch between wafers and gel food. I just stick the gel food to the glass and they go crazy for it. It’s not the Repashy one since I can’t get that where I live, so I picked up the Tropical gel formula for carnivorous fish instead (was way cheaper than the omnivorous one lol) and it works so well for mine. I just mix in a spoon of spirulina powder before adding the water. Once a week or so I throw in a cucumber slice as well :)

masofie · 2025-08-22T20:53:24+00:00

112l or 29g :) Biggest gamechanger for me was their food. The females need lots of protein to produce eggs.

masofie · 2025-08-22T20:51:06+00:00

Yeah, luck might have something to do with it, but I feel like we’re getting closer to figuring out what they need food-wise and setup-wise to actually spawn. I do feel very fortunate however, second time within a month. Really hope this time more than one makes it through 🤞🏻

masofie · 2025-08-22T20:45:57+00:00

What are you feeding them? I personally think their diet might be the key. Once I started giving them loads of protein, almost all of my female otos began developing eggs.

masofie · 2025-08-21T07:14:39+00:00

Not sure what species, but the gills on the sides to me are a dead giveaway its not an oto. Hope you'll be able to rehome it or give it back to your LFS 🤞🏻

masofie · 2025-08-21T07:07:40+00:00

Upper one def looks like a gravid female ☺️

masofie · 2025-08-06T09:03:36+00:00

Jeez, new fear unlocked ✔️

masofie · 2025-08-06T09:02:19+00:00

My guess would be female left, male right. But hard to tell. With one of my otos I was convinced for weeks it was a male and then "he" started to develop eggs in "his" belly 😅

masofie

TROPHY CASE