Loaches Online Forum

Today Jim and I met at Aquarium World in Lafayette, Indiana and Jim gave me his two very nice rostratas. It was like a very short, mini, loach meet-up. Jim is as nice in person as he is online. I measure them to be about 4.75 inches TL (12 cm). They are the largest loaches in the tank now. These pictures do not do them justice since they have lost their coloring because of the stress of the move. I also picked up one lone small rostrata that Aquarium World had by itself. The small one is in a quarantine tank, but I put the two from Jim directly into my large tank. They seem to be very happy already since they are all over the tank and swimming with all of the other loaches.

Jim also autographed my copy of the Loaches, Natural History and Aquarium Care.

Jim- I forgot to ask. How old are these?

Here are some pictures.

In the bucket.




With the gang.












I'll get more pictures as they color up.

even with the loss of colour you can see how pretty they are, and they look in great condition. i will look forward to seeing more photos when they are settled in

I does my heart good to see my boys so happy in their new home.
I know they are in good hands now.
I looked back through some pics and found some from Sept. of 2002 shortly after I purchased them from Aquarium World. They were about 3/4" TL (2cm) at that time and you can see, their markings have drastically changed. That's an albino cherry barb and two golden white clouds in the shot for comparison. So, I guess that makes them about 6.5 years old. I didn't realize it had been that long.

They are lovely big specimens! Looking forward to seeing more pics once they have settled in, Keith.
Jim, are you making room for something else?

Emma

After having seen pics of Keith's setup, I figured they would be better off with him. Plus, I can possibly use that space form more hillstreams (if I find some species I don't have) or get some Sewellia spawning without danios eating the eggs.

It is really nice to see them when they were young. Thanks for posting the picture Jim, and thanks again for these beautiful loaches.

This morning has been interesting. Two clowns, an SAE, and a kub crossed the water bridge during the night from the 300 gallon to the 75 gallon tank. It makes one wonder if the changing hierarchy because of the added rostratas induced some to leave. The first video shows the rostratas in the 300 gallon.

Jim, they are certainly enjoying exploring their new surroundings. They are literally all over the tank and out in front a good deal of the time. They are beautiful fish to watch. Is the following behavior a rostrata behavior? They sometimes stop on the bottom and wiggle backwards just a little bit (two or three wiggles and they back up about a quarter body length). I have seen my new little rostrata do this in the quarantine tank and also the large rostrata have done it a few times. I have not seen any of my other loaches do this.

This second video shows a battle in the 75 gallon tank that has been going on for at least 4 hours. They are both greyed out. It is between the kub that just joined the aquarium via the water bridge for the first time in about two months and the other loach (the bigger gravid one) which I bought as a kub, but looks more like a rostrata (since it has not developed the horizontal black stripe)? They do not seem happy to see each other.

Thank you, Keith. For giving them such a great home.
Its obvious they will do well in their new home.
As for that behavior you describe. I don't recall seeing that before. They were getting to the point where I would mostly just see them darting accross the tank in pursuit of each other going from hiding place to hiding place.

Superb looking specimens!!

Nice one Keith!

Excellent.

Wonderful looking fish

Wonderful looking fish and tanks

That behavior you describe Keith is quite a common sight with my rostrata, none of the other botia do it just them.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments.

Mad Duff- Thanks for verifying the rostrata behavior.

One of the big rostratas (the more striped and less orange one) went across the water bridge this afternoon sometime and is now in the small tank. That's less than 24 hours to find how to cross. I hope he remembers how to get back. The two clowns and the SAE all went back to the large tank this morning and the two "kubs" are still spinning around for 11 hours now.

I knew my boys were smart.
Have you noticed them feeding yet?

Jim- They are both now in the 75 gallon tank so it is clear that they are both very smart. I have not seen them eat for sure, but it is hard to say. They have been a little secretive when I feed, but are active and I see them in the vicinity of food that has drifted under the wood. I will keep watch and let you know.

They make me proud.
Normally, they would never come out and eat when I first put food in the tank. But, I would usually see them feeding later, if I happened to be home.
I'm sure, with all the exercise they are getting, that they will be eating well.