Otocinclus feeding

Question
Hi, I have just bought 4 Otocinclus catfish for my aquarium a week ago. They look very healthy, and like following each other around. They have also cleaned up a lot of my algae! However, I am worried that they are not getting enough food, as the algae gets eaten. Is there and cupplementary food I can feed them?

Answer
Hi Jared,

Your Otocinclus Catfish will eat a variety of vegetables, such as zucchini, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and spinach. You can feed them any of these vegetables, though it depends whether your fish will like it. Sometimes, some otos will love one, and completely ignore another.

Don't worry if they ignore it, the otocinclus take about 12+ hours to recognize it as food. You can leave the vegetable in for 3 or so days, then it should be removed. If you want to speed up the recognition time, you can put the vegetable into a small dish of water, then microwave it for 30 seconds to a minute. Cooking it is another option, it will help the veggie sink.

If they flat-out shun the veggie, it may be because they are already getting enough to eat!

Best wishes to your otocinclus cats, they are awesome fish!