Loaches Online Forum

The 12 Botia Striata that I got 17 days ago have finished a levamisol treatment and tomorrow will be done with a Prazipro treatment. They are eating well, gaining weight, and showing themselves more. Here are a few pictures.







One reason that I was taking the pictures was that one of them looked like its stripes were fuzzy. I was only getting glimpses of her and I thought that it could possibly be an ick outbreak. I was very pleased to see in the pictures that not only is it not ick, but that it is an interesting pattern variation.


Here is her other side.


I possibly have a second striata with a pattern variation, but I have not been able to capture it on film yet to verify.

hi keith
great pics of your striata's mate, i have a group of 10 juveniles and one adult.
it's a botia that becomes addictive,
i love the fish with the wierd pattern i could'nt find one like that,
so i'll keep looking.

Keith you have some very nice patterns amongst them - sweet guys - you will enjoy them a lot.

Great fish, I love that different pattern

I've noticed interesting patterns in some of my pictures that I didnt even know about till I saw the pic. They are just small enough, and dont seem to stick around out in the open front-n-center enough for you to really study thier pattern. None of them were major irregularities though, those would probably be more apparent to the eye. Nice Zebras BTW!

Thanks everyone.

Does anyone else put dither fish in their quarantine tank? It sounds like a silly thing to do since it adds more possibilities for acquiring disease. But, last Spring when I quarantined my kubs and sids, they were very skittish and hid a lot, but as soon as I put them into the main tank they pretty much have stayed out in the open. The only differences between the two tanks were size, the amount of cover, and dither fish. This time around, I have added a lot more cover and hideouts in the quarantine tank and it has helped, but the striatas are still pretty skittish. This makes me think that the dither fish really do have a big impact on how relaxed the loaches are and that maybe I should always get a few dither fish for the quarantine tank every time that I get new loaches.

What does everyone else do?

Superb looking specimens!!

I´ve heard before that the presence of smaller fish, makes them feel much safer…

Keith Wolcott wrote:

Really beautiful loaches, Keith. Would you be willing to let me add the above pic of your 'fuzzy' B. striata to the unusual markings section of the species profile on the site? Pretty please.

Emma

Emma- My loach and I would be honored to have the picture added to the species profile. Over time, I hope I can get a better picture and also keep track of how the markings change.

Thanks Graeme and Wolfram.

Voila! http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata

Many thanks Keith, it is much appreciated. We're building up a nice collection of weirdy B. striatas now.

Emma

I should always get a few dither fish for the quarantine tank every time that I get new loaches.

Solid input ,this will mimick the situation upon the eventual final combination in your tank. I have found that some grow to fast compared to the loaches as most of the large Barbs grow much faster and should not be started with small loaches . A loach tank purchase could be supplemented with something like Rosy Barbs and as they end their lifecycle something like the Silver Dollar or Bala will suit nicely . I have Rainbow Sharks and they are getting ahead of my loaches but not enough to seperate but very close for a while as the Rainbows reached 4" or so in a year and the Loaches barely made it all to 2" or up to three. A fish that got much bigger with the small loaches we purchase here could pose a threat in less than 6 months to our prize loaches so pick wisely and remember the loaches will outlive this pick like you a cat......this way you can have large dithers with large loaches later in your loaches life

Thanks Tinman. That's very good thinking concerning a dither's size and life cycle.

wow nice pics....im loving my striata. im about to post some really cool videos of them.