sumo loaches

[mrsleny]

I have a 30 gallon planted tank with:
- 1 fancy guppy
- 1 pangio oblonga
- 4 pangio kuhli
- 3 botia histronica
- 9 harlequin rasboras
- 4 yasuhikotakia sidthimunki
- 2 flower shrimp
- various ghost shrimp

I just picked up 3 schistura balteata (sumo loach) at my LFS. They were labelled as a community fish. I had never seen them before and wanted to grab them before they were sold. Of course after I got home and looked them up on Loaches Online, I discovered they were territorial. There seems to be one aggressor who is chasing all my sids around and sometimes even the rasboras. I thought they were only territorial toward their own species. They seem to leave the zebras alone.

I wonder if I need to re-home 2 of the sumos and keep only one? Or will they settle down eventually? I have 2 little ceramic hidey "caves" and am prepping a hunk of mopani driftwood to proved more hiding places. It's been soaking for a couple of weeks but still leeching tannins.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[starsplitter7]

If the driftwood is clean, I would add it. You fish will appreciate the tannins. If you don't like them they will reduce as you do water changes. The driftwood will cut the line of sight in your tank. Sids look a bit like Sumos in general shape, so that may be why your Sumo is being a bit of a pest. Don't let them bother your injured Sid.

My fish love driftwood, tannins and almond leaves. All make the wate rmessy, but the fish like it.

I can't help you because I haven't owned Sumos.

[mrsleny]

Thanks again starsplitter7! Your help is always appreciated.

My injured sid is happily recovering. His "eye" looks healed over. He's a feisty fellow. Actually they all have lots of spunk. Same with the sumos. Come to think of it I haven't seen the other two sumos lately. I suspect they may be hiding.

I wasn't sure if all the tannins would lower the pH too much. Am also a bit concerned the kuhlis would hurt themselves on it. It has some rough edges but mr leny said it will soften in the water.

[starsplitter7]

I have driftwood in all my tanks. I boil it when I bring it home, and it goes straight in the tank after boiling. sometimes it floats a week or two. My pH is low, but all my fish like low pH and they love the tannins, since it is similar to their home waters. I have catfish that eat wood and the stuff that grows on wood, so it is in every tank, including with my kuhlies. And I do water changes every week or two, so it reduces the tannins over time.

Sids are feisty little guys, and I imagine will take care of themselves, unless there's just too much aggression.

[mrsleny]

Thanks starsplitter7. We'll put in the driftwood later today and see how it goes. If the sumo is still really aggressive we may have to re-home him. He is still chasing everyone except the zebras and kuhlis. The sids don't seem to mind too much as they l happily go about their business as soon as they get away. However most of the rasboras are hiding in a corner behind some plants. I still have no idea where the other two sumos are.

[starsplitter7]

It does seem that you can get a bad apple in fish like people. Maybe he will settle down. I added some rainbows to some Giant Danios. I haven't had any major problems with the Giant Danios and they are really giving the rainbows a problem. They are about the same size and I had hoped they would school. If this isn't the case, the Rainbows will be relocated to a calmer tank.

[mrsleny]

Unfortunately I don't have another tank to relocate him to. My spare tank has one assassin snail and 4 amano shrimp and maybe some baby ghost shrimp if they have not been eaten. It is also "open concept" which isn't recommended for loaches. I lost one rainbow loach who jumped out and we didn't find him until it was too late.

We'll see if the driftwood makes a difference. If not we definitely have people who will take him.