Could they live together?

[janma]

Could you keep Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki with Gastromyzons & Sewellias? Water temp about 24-25degrees Celsius. Plants, rocks, hideouts and some water flow. Do they eat shrimp and fish fry/egg?

[Emma Turner]

Hi Janne,

I think I'd be a little bit wary because of occasional reports I've heard about Y. sidthimunki picking on slow placid fish such as Corydoras in the past. I've never seen such behaviour myself (we have Sids and C. trilineatus together in a planted display tank at work with no problems) but there have been cases where this has supposedly been the case. Although they are generally quite a peaceful species, I wonder if they would perhaps show a little too much curiosity towards the hillies? Someone like Mad Duff would probably be able to offer more solid advice on this.

24-25 deg C is at the lower end of their preferred range too, so you'd have to ensure that the tank goes through no significant temperature drops overnight/during water changes etc. I'm also sure that adult specimens would prey on eggs & tiny fry.

Emma

[Mark in Vancouver]

I would add that while sids benefit from current, the ideal conditions for Sewellias and other flat-bodied hillstream loaches is more of a torrent kind of setting, to allow for extreme oxygenation. I also believe that the balitorid hillstream loaches require shallower water than cobitid species such as Y. sidthimunki.

[janma]

I noticed something with my hillstream last week regarding current. One of the pumps with 3500l/h broke down and with only one left and a outer filter all the hillstream were alot more active and on display. So I was wondering when my new setup is done that there would only be one circulation pump pointed towards some rocks. And actually when thinking about it, It isnt that often they use the spots with most current.

And as far as oxygenation there is no problem, with plants and a Eheim 400 with output of 2x200l/h there should allmost be enough oxygen for me to live in there too, but I eat shrimp and fish too....

The temp shouldnt drop alot with the heater.

I'll wait for the Duff Man for the info on feeding habits.

[Mad Duff]

Its certainly not a mix that I would recommend, Sid's although small and cute can match any of the more more feisty loaches in my opinion. I have in the past had three 2.5" Sid's in a tank with three 6" tiger Botias and the Sid's terrorised them, I don't think it is purely malicious but they are very inquisitive.

I wouldn't personally recommend Sid's in a group of less than 10 with smaller fish like Danio choprae or Puntius gelius because the Sid's are to full on, its like they want to know what they are and they constantly harass but do no damage and smaller fish just don't seem to be able to tolerate them. As for the Hillies they stay still to much and the Sid's could do damage, I have had 14 Corie's stripped of dorsal fins in the space of a couple of days by a group of 10 Sid's.

I have some kluhli's in with my Sid's as well as a group of Mesonoemacheilus guentheri and they are fine, although until I made the group of Sid's up to the current 36 the kuhli's would stay hidden a lot more whereas now they are out and about and quite active because the Sid's are to busy squabbling among themselves.

[janma]

So no real experience combining these. Hillies that i currently have are not staying still that much and compared to Cories they are territorial and may fight back, Sewellia more than a little. I'm still seriously thinking about getting a school of 9 or 11. The biggest thing that bothers me at the moment is that they are endangered in the wild.

Funny thing with Sewellia is that even as small ~1cm they bicker amongst each other when most fish fry just hang around hoping no one will eat them.

[Emma Turner]

All Y. sidthimunki offered for sale in the trade these days are captive bred via some form of hormone treatment, so no more are being removed from the wild. However, combining the 2 types is going to be risky.

I used to keep Sinibotia pulchra in my river tank and they never showed any aggression towards the Sewellia lineolata (which were the only hillies in there at the time). However, given their size, they would eat eggs & fry.

Emma

[Mad Duff]

Sid's will almost certainly eat any eggs or tiny fry, I have had barbs laying eggs in their tank and I don't think a single eggs reaches the gravel.

When I had to temporarily house my cories in the Sid tank the C. sterbai laid eggs and the Sid's ate every one as it was laid. I would say if you want to raise Hillie fry I wouldn't bother with the Sid's but obviously its still up to you.

[janma]

Ok I found a guy who had Beaufortia kweichowensis with Sid's and he said that there were no problems. But still as you mentioned there would probably be no more Sewellia fry around, so thats a big reason not to combine them (dammit). Well it seems I have to keep crushing and picking the snails.