Polka Dot Loaches

[Wendie]

I'm getting ready to move my little devils.. now that they are feeling better they are imps and growing.

I bought a pleco with the idea of putting him with the (2) clowns and (3) yo yo's but the (3) polka dots have bonded with him apparently making me think of putting them all with kuhlis instead. How will the polka dot loaches do with the kuhlis? Would it be better to put them with the larger guys rather than with the kuhlis? I can't separate the clowns and yo yo's as the smallest yo yo has bonded with the clowns. I am also getting two or three more clowns.

I worry about the kuhlis as the polka dots are constantly chasing other fish.

I hope this isn't too confusing.

[cybermeez]

Among the many Botias my Kuhls share their tank with is a trio of Kubotais (AKA Polk-a-Dot Loaches). They pretty much ignore each other. The Kubs prefer to spend their time playing tag with each other and the Rostratas.

[mikev]

Hmm... I never had a problem between kuhlis and kubotais. Yoyo's and kuhlis -- yeah -- but mostly because my yoyo's cannot stand seeing a kuhli eating.

I worry about the kuhlis as the polka dots are constantly chasing other fish.

Mostly not the case here. Polka-dots seem to ignore other fish most of the time. The only time I've seen them being nasty was when my original three were very young, and even then they were interested only in chasing long-fail fish.

The only time I've seen them interracting with other loaches was with yoyo's, and it was not much (I don't have Rostratas or Histrionicas which probably would be better playmates.)

How large are yours, how long were they in this tank, and whom are they chasing?

[Wendie]

Well they've teamed up with the pleco now. They seem to be the watch dogs for the plecos.

They were annoying the female juvie bettas. I've got a couple with wounds to their sides. I saw one polka dot grab a mouth full of freeze dried foods from one of the females.

I'm moving them shortly to their own tank with the pleco and perhaps a few kuhlis. It's almost time to move them out to their permanent homes.

[mikev]

They are certainly negative on long-tailed fish. In my case, they were pretty bad to gouramis.

I think I have to revise my opinion of kubotai's being mostly peaceful. I don't think I mentioned this before, but I also got some more of them (it is a kubotai season, right?). The major newcomer is a 3" black kubotai, considerably more attractive than any other I had, and as it turned out over the last few days, pretty mean personality.

He stages a coup a couple of days ago, displacing the alpha yoyo after a few hours of mutual chasing. Interestingly, the yoyo was white, the kubotai's color did not change, but it was obvious who is the winner. For the last two days he slowly increases the territory he thinks he owns, chasing others away. He ignores other fish, including kuhlis. But he cannot stand having other botias (kubotais or yoyo's) around.

First, he took over the best hiding place. For the next day, he sat there with only the head out, looking for anyone approaching -- whoever came close, got chased away. Now, with everyone afraid to come close, he goes out to harass. In fact, he is more interested in harassment than food, even bloodworms are ignored when he is chasing.

I wonder what is his problem. He is at least a year older than other kubotai's I have, maybe they get meaner. Or maybe the black variation is a bit different.

We'll see how it develops.

[Wendie]

LOL makes you wonder. My guys will actually go up and rip the food right out of the mouth of the juvie bettas. I didn't expect anything like that. They also play tag with them and manage to damage a few scales in the process.

[mikev]

When mine were small, they ripped the food (bloodworms particularly) from each other's mouth. So did the yoyo's. This is normal, I think.

What the new guy does goes beyond normal. He also seems to be concentrating his chasing on the smallest of the new kubotais, who is obviously no threat to him (a little larger than 1") and is only trying to join the big one. Maybe he'll relent in a few days....

[Wendie]

Have things calmed down any? I don't see mine much. They seem to run to the various hiding places when I get close to the tank followed immediately by the pleco. It's funny really. The larger one runs over to the pleco hideout and then almost immediately turns around and runs over to the log where he lives.

[mikev]

In terms of behavior, much better. He is still chasing yoyo's and other kubotai's a bit, but it is no longer the main sport.

And he does not like me coming close to the tank either. The smallest kubotai does not care (and hangs around with yoyo's so I see him all the time), but the two larger ones are nervious and hide.

The real problem is that I've noticed some fin shredding on the large kubotai today. Unclear if it is "mechanical" (he is very nervious about running in and out of his cave, and he did some intensive fighting) or an infection. Any suggestions on how I should proceed? (Loach fin damage is new to me) I did a 30% water change just now, this never hurts, but should I go with meds?

[Wendie]

I would keep checking on him. Clean water and time hopefully will heal things unless they are constantly fighting. I wouldn't do any meds unless absolutely necessary. I hope you don't have to move him. I know the ones I have here have taken some of the scales off the juvies and that's been causing problems. I've lost a couple females and I wouldn't be surprised if they were responsible.

I can't picture a black one. I wonder if that is something else.

[mikev]

Thanks, Wendie,

I'll keep checking on him. So far the damage did not look like an infection and hate using meds or moving him (not that I even have a place to move him right now).

As for "black" : he is a kubotai all right, it is just that the black covers most of the body with small white/gold windows on it. All other kubotais here are 70%-80% white. Blacks are not all that rare, but I saw them only once before.

[Wendie]

I'll keep my eyes peeled as I want to get 2 or 3 more to stay with the pleco and a few kuhlis.

[mikev]

I think I should mention that even during his worst arguments with yoyo's and other kubotai's he did not mistreat kuhlis in any way; did not even mind if a kuhli would eat from the same wafer. But if another botia approached within a couple of inches, he would react. (Kind of strange: I wonder how botias identify other botias -- surely not by pattern.)

--

As for you getting more: I've seen very nice large kubotai's in a couple of places recently, they still may be there. There were large whites in Queens for $10, and large blacks in Manhattan for $20. The kubotai season....

[poeticpyro]

i've been wondering that too. would zebra (striatas) go with kubatoias?

[Wendie]

I'll check around here again. I definitely want to get at least two more once the tanks are ready. I would like to add about three either striatas or darios. I can't decide which ones. I'll need at least three more clowns for another tank. The kuhlis have their own kuhli tanks.

On another note I found out that online Drs Smith & Foster web site does Q any incoming fish for at least two weeks at which time they treat those fish that they deem necessary for illness. They use formalin and malachite green. Once the Q period is over and the fish look good, they then offer them up for sale.