one of my otos died for no reason? I'm really distressed about its death what do I do?

Question

I've had him for a while and well all the water conditions is well all the tests have 0 for nitrite and ammonia. But this morning I woke up to one of my otos dead and I always thought that was the healthiest one. I didn't find any signs of disease or sickness all my other fish are fine I have a 10g tank with now two other otos and three tiger barbs. The tiger barbs don't bother the otos at all. I'm still depressed over the situation T_T

Answer 1

Maybe he was old and just died I mean they don't live for ever unfortunately. Or maybe he had an internal deformities when he was born.
It could have also have been a type of cancer. All of the ways I can think of are not contagious so I wouldn't worry too much. Just watch your fish carefully for the next few day.

Sorry for your loss.

Answer 2

awe, honey, i'm so sorry,,,, but one of the things that may have been the problem, is that your 10G tank is a bit small for those fish.... really, almost any fish (unless only 1or 2 fish total). while, the size problem is usually because most people dont check their water conditions and care for their fish properly (although, if your conditions were good, then you obviously check your water) you can usually keep those fish in a 10 if you do frequent enough water changes, etc....

the other thing that hurts them when in a 10 gallon tank, is that they may get stunted becuase they don't have enough room to grow. their outsides stop growing when they fit the tank, but their insides continue growing, and it eventually kills them. I learned this when my cory cat and my chinese sucker died.. i had them in a 10 with a few others too, and they just didn't have enough room.

you might try looking on www.craigslist.com in your area, and see if anyone has a fish tank, maybe around a 20 or 30 G that you can get cheap... i just bought a 20 G from a lady and it had everything, filters, bubblers, gravel, FISH... lol and she only charged me 30 bucks. it's beautiful.

Good luck, honey.... maybe you could go get another oto when you get a bigger tank. :) i'm sorry for your loss, i get VERY attached to my babies too....