Loaches Online Forum

sudden stormy weather shift yesterday and the fish were all hyper and nutty.
the guppies and tetras were heads together behind the java ferns and very excited about something. Presumably eggs or fry or maybe both.
The loaches who have divided the tank into 3rds were on top of each other. it looked as if they were stroking each other and then there would be some lying side by side with tail wiggling.
Is this mating rituals??
Today no-one in the tank is doing anything out of the ordinary despite another storm being threatened.
Any ideas what the loaches were doing?

Schisturas/Nemacheilus are weird fish.
The six Poculi's I have in a large tank cannot stand each other, it is difficult to get a photo with two of them.
The three rescued ones, otoh, stick together:

(they all are same species originally from the same shipment).

They all decided that this corner of the tank is the best and line up here most of the time. Occassionally, on top of each other. Very little bickering. They are not dead -- all will jump out the moment there is food. And they are not short on space: they only other loaches are gastros, the floor is almost empty. But they like each other's company somehow (or they like this spot).

No, I don't think this is mating, but it may be something seasonal: mine started this socializing only a couple of weeks ago too, before that the tank was properly divided.

Of course, social Corica is much more interesting than social Poculi...