Oto wants to eat fish?

[BullDog]

I've got 3 otos in my 15g, and most the time I keep a little piece of lettuce in there, just since I'm not sure if there's enough food for all of them.
Anyhow, usually it's only the little guy who munches on the lettuce. Last few days, I didn't put a fresh piece of lettuce in there. Tonight, the little guy was swimming around, and trying to suck him self onto the betta! Then he tried to grab one of the minnows, then back to the betta. Seemed really weird. So there's a fresh piece of lettuce in there now.

But could he possibly hurt the betta by sucking off his slime coat or something?

[plantedinvertz]

I habe never seen an otto harass anything before. They dont hurt any of my guppies or minnows or my betta or my shrimp(even the babies). Definitely weird.

[kelly528]

Not sure if this is the case (actually probably) but otos are the smallest member of the pleco family, a group of fish known to sometimes latch onto unsuspecting fish to suck off their slime coat. Not something I have ever heard of but hey... I don't see what other reason he would have to 'eat' your betta.

[BullDog]

Weird O_O
Hopefully now that I've got the lettuce back in there he won't try eating anyone

[Theratboy_101]

There are many species similar to otocinclus, and are some times sold as otocinclus. It is knowen for some species to suck the slime coat off other fish when there is no other easy to find food around.

So best thing to do is just keep some veggies on hand for them and all should be ok.

[TomC]

Try spinach, zuchini, or some other veggies. Maybe buy some algae pellets. Lettuce has very little nutrition. I once had otos try to suck on to swordtails. They also swam upside down along the surface, looking for food. I now guess they may have been starving. Yours may be, too.

[BullDog]

I'm using romaine or leaf lettuce, which is pretty good for nutrition, but I'll try some other things you suggested next time