Otocinclus and shrimp babies - truth or rumour?

[Finley]

I'm keen to hear from anyone who has first hand experience of keeping correctly identified Otocinclus catfish with shrimp. 

There's a widespread belief, often repeated, that Otocinclus leave shrimp alone and are safe to keep in the same tank.

There are also stories of Otocinclus chowing down on shrimplets, and even in one case on adults, so now that belief is also being repeated.

There are many cases of Otocinclus being confused with Siamese Algae Eaters and other similar looking fish.

I want to get to the truth. Can anyone who has ever kept definite Otocinclus with shrimp please tell me your experiences and observations?


BTW, for ID...

These are Otocinclus, with the sucker mouth and spot on the tail root: 



These are not:

[Bostave]

I always had otocinclus in my shrimp tanks and I never seen them eat any shrimp or shrimplet. They eat the shrimp foods and the dried blackworms. I also have l397s with my crs and I still see growth in the crs population. 

[Baccus]

I used to have otocinclus (no idea which exact species but probably a common one since they came from a local petshop) and the shrimp numbers never seemed to decrease. The otos may have snacked on the occasional dead shrimp or even a shed shell but I never saw them ever so much as look at snacking on a shrimp or shrimplet. I also have a whiptail (possibly L06) who doesn't seem to care one bit about eating shrimp. Even more surprising it appears so far that even my Dwarf Chain loaches are shrimp safe, and my Khuli loaches have already proved they are shrimp safe.

[jayc]

Similar experiences with my Otos and shrimp here.

The Otos show no sign of eating shrimplets or the adults.

I have seen shrimplets crawling on the head of one of my Oto, and the fish just sat there without moving.

I moved to get a camera, but my movement spooked the Oto, and the photo opportunity was missed.

[sushant]

Never had problem keeping shrimps and otos together

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