# surprise baby: what is it?!



## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

When that wonderful man of mine brought me an offering of brine shrimp, he also brought this adorable little bugger home. The only problem I have with this, the store only told him it's a loach/algae eater of some sort. I need to know WHAT KIND of whichever it is, so that we can properly house it.

If it's the territorial Chinese Algae Eater, it won't be able to live with his pygmy cories as an adult
I hear Siamese AE's are mean and are more partial to fish than algae
And I've heard bad about otos.

If someone could give us an ID, and some REAL information, that'd be awesome. Because the likely chance is this little critter will someday live in my 55 gal sorority, providing it's not too mean or carnivorous. If that's the case, back to the store it goes.

here's a picture of our little Squash, I -think- I might know what he/she is, but want someone else's opinion.


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## Chevko (Nov 15, 2012)

To me it looks like an young oto.

You said you've heard bad about them? Only thing I've heard is that they're sensitive to water parameters. They're really awesome little algae cleaners. We had one and kept the tank totally spotless for the year or year and a half we had it.


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## bethyMT (Nov 24, 2012)

I am leaning towards oto as well, but they tend to be bleached out in the beginning so I'm not positive. Your squash does not have the characteristic marks of CAE or SAE. 

Otos really are cute fish, peaceful, and industrious. They do like friends, though, and you need to supplement thier diet with veggies if there's not enough algae. They are sensitive to water params, I know this from experience. Your little fish should be a good addition to whatever tank you put him/her in.


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## Skyewillow (Dec 28, 2012)

Thanks you guys, that's what I thought he/she was, but wanted to be sure. I also appreciate the little extra info about them, because I'd heard about them at a petstore where they had no clue what they're talking about. lol

I found a website about them earlier, and told the fiance that little Squash is lucky it's an oto, because that means our little cutie gets to stay ^_^

Best possible news there.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

If he does turn out to be an oto, make sure you get him some buddies.


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