Otocinclus Catfish

Hubby came home today bearing gifts. There was a glitch in the processing of our marriage license and I was feeling a bit down. Apparently one of the government officials messed up and the certificate was delayed.

He got me an otocinclus catfish, some cat treats, cat toys, and lots of catnip.

Now I am just trying to not kill the fish. I love fishes but I know NOTHING of this fish.

What do I do?

Here is a picture:

It is a algea eater .... make sure to keep its water very clean as they can be sensitive and feed veggies and veggie wafers

Thanks

Is your username Sharky because you like fish?

Sorta
I was in a "club " when I was about 9 .. we got code names and I love sharks so Sharky came about and well 20 years later it stuck...

IMO algea eaters are much better cleaners in the fish tank then the normal catfish. We've had both - I'll take the suckers over the catfish any day!

Well, algae eaters and catfish have two entirely different functions in an aquarium.

Algae eaters are just as their name implies.

Catfish on the other hand are more waste management fish, they use their barbels (whiskers) to find un eaten food and other edible goodies in the gravel.

Octocinclus are one of my favorite algae eaters in small, or heavily planted community aquaria.

As for gravel cleaning catfish, I love Corydoras and Kuli (Khuli) loaches.
Loaches especially because they just burrow right down into the gravel.

Otos are a great algae eater. Unfortunately it is quite common for them to not make it as about 50% have a bacteria that weakens their immune system. I have a few oto's as well but had a few not make it originally even though my tank was fully cycled and had no ammonia, nitrites, low nitrates and many many plants.

Make sure to read up on the nitrogen cycle of a tank.

Otos do best in groups, so if you could get him a buddy or two he'd appreciate it.
If you havne't the algae growth to support them they love shelled peas, zucchini, spinach, as well as prepared spirulina etc.

We found that Ottos are very sensitive to changes in water temperature and are in fact quite delicate fish to take care off.

We have found 2 very good fish forums which may help Plecofanatics and Planet Catfish.

Our algae eaters did a good job at both keeping the sides and bottom clean. We also used marbles on the bottom which is a lot easier to keep clean and food can be found by both fish/AE's, so there was not a lot of "clean up" to do