Loaches Online Forum

A couple months ago I ran across a beautiful 4"+ yoyo loach all by herself at the lfs- I was charmed. I thought there was something wrong with her right eye, but after I got her home I discovered the poor thing has no right eye, just a gold patch that moves like an eye would.
She's now living with some danios in a 20 long. It's in a quiet area of the house, there's no tank light, and there are a good number of plants. After several tries, I finally built a cave to her liking, and now I only see her about once a week- I leave food for her and she darts out to grab it only after the room lights are off and she thinks no one's watching.
I just bought a 55 and will be moving her into it once it's set up. What else can I do to encourage her to come out more? I've read that yoyos are usually more outgoing than this. Would adding young loaches (yoyos or clowns) help? Do you think she'd school with them?

If you are going to be upgrading to a 55, I would then add 2 or 3 more Yoyos. The existing fish will like the company. All Botia are very social fish and need the company of their own kind for security.

Martin.

Absolutely what Martin said. I have a one-eyed yoyo (it had a huge accident of some sort that crushed and damaged the left-hand gill and eye) and while its is marginally less out and about than the others (doesn't like having the blind side to the front of the tank) it's otherwise fit, healthy and growing well. Yoyos do seem to rely a lot on sight, so it would be logical that one with a visual impairment would need to hhide more. They've got eyes on each side of their head to give them a nearly 360 degree view of teh world and possible danger; take half of that away and I would imagine they are not comfortable out in the open.

Yep, I'd also agree with getting some more Yo-yo's. One of the 7" Clowns that someone bought into our shop for re-homing was blind in one eye, and I took it home to our tank. This fish interacts with all the others just the same as if it had perfect sight. It is not even particularly shy. I think you'll find that adding more Yo-yos will give your fish more confidence.

Emma