Loaches Online Forum

A little bit late but here they are:





Sorry about the bad quality. I'm still trying to figure out how to get good pictures in an aquarium.

Most of you probably remember that they were sold as queen botia, but they obviously aren't darios. Am I right saying they are rostrata?

They are less than 2" long right now. Anyone know their mature size? Reading this on LOL makes me think they won't get much bigger, unless this person is wrong:
"In my opinion, this highly recommended fish is a much better species to keep in a 5 gallon tank, as opposed to a corydoras catfish."

EDIT: Just in case someone gets worried, the substrate, although not round, is very very light. Its not gravel, its, soilmaster, which is clay based. It is light enough that when they loaches make a fast move it puffs up around them a little bit, like sand but not so much so. They can push it aside so easily with their noses I am doubtful they will injure themselves on it, but I am keeping an eye out for any damage to their mouths.

Very nice pictures and very nice loaches. Hope you manage to find a couple more.

MaxSize: 20 cm (which translates to about 8"), see fishbase or the Wolf's list.

hth.

Btw, one common name for these guys is "Gangetic Loach" ... somehow makes me think of some awful disease instead of the river.

Coconut husk ?

I never thought of it....
Is it good? Is it messy? Does it break down or turn the water red?
It looks great in the snapps.

Will the clay-based substrate break down into sludge, or are the bits quite hard?

Andyroo

8 inches? I wonder why anyone would suggest to put an 8 inch fish in a 5 gallon tank. They must be insane. JK I guess somebody is wrong here. I saw another site that said they would grow to 3" but it could be a case of misidentification. Yes, I hope I can find more, and I'll be keeping an eye out. Do you know how important it is for them to be the same size? Just in case I'm somewhere and have a chance to grab some I don't want to be coming home to ask how much of a difference is too much.

Coconut shell is fine. I am not sure if it leaches tannins or not, its so small in my tank I don't think I would notice it. I cut it with a hacksaw, boil it to make sure there aren't any chemicals or anything, and peel off the stringy pieces on the outside so they won't rot in the tank. The rest is good to go and I've heard of people keeping them in their aquarium for "ages", whatever that means. If you want, you could take sandpaper to the outside of it to make sure all the softer parts are gone, but I didn't worry about that. If it does rot off, my bio filter will take care of it. This one has only been in my tank for about a week. The loaches love it and instantly decided it is their home.

The substrate has also only been in my tank for a short amount of time-about two months. It is smaller grained and lighter than flourite which I find to be irritating as far as keeping the plants rooted. I don't have problems with my wisteria but the red ludwigia tends to come up and the sword, well, you can just forget it. It has been floating at the top of my tank for weeks because I had to replant it literally every few hours. Terrible. If you're looking for a cheap substrate for a planted tank this might be it, though. I paid $15 at Lesco for a 50 lb. bag and since it's so light I didn't even use the whole bag on the tank. The loaches don't seem to mind it, either, but I'm still watching to make sure.

Rostratas are generally smaller than most other botinae except for Y. sidthimunki. They are reported to get about 4" but are often smaller than that. I have two that I have had for at least two years and they are about 3".
Its not unusual to find various sources that list conflicting sizes of loaches. Hopefully that new loach book that will be coming out will clarify this sort of thing.

I bought some b. rostrata/geto in 0ct. 04. The largest one currently is approximately 3" maybe a tad smaller than that. They looked like yours when I bought them and they were all about and inch or so. Now they have a spotted, blotchy pattern; the bigger the spottier if thats a word. The smallest still has the paired stripe pattern with minimal spottiness. They are one of my favorites to watch as they are very active during the later afternoon and early evening usually about 3pm they start their ventures. I guess thats all I have right now.

Good, well then I'll be expecting them to get to 3 or 4 inches. Thanks. I bet those people who said they get to 8" had lochata or something like that.
I found the pictures you had put in another thread, Desi, and see that yours are exactly like mine. Its unbelievable the difference in the markings as they get older! I didn't find any pictures of yours, Jim, but I didn't take the time to check the old forum.
The way you say it sounds like I should already know so I guess I'm out of the loop, but what new loach book are you talking about? I'm going to have to get a copy of that.

Tammy, back in 2004 a bunch of us here got together via E-mail and wrote the book. So it's a combination of all our practical experience, plus the accumulated knowledge of this site. Add to that a lot of research that we carried out elsewhere and what you've got is the first book truly dedicated to this subject and based on actual experience rather than theory.
The book covers a broad spectrum of loach husbandry, looks at natural habitat and the ecological status of loaches, physiology, etc, etc. There's lot's of information in there that has never been published in aquarium literature on this subject. We confidently expect it to become the Loach bible.
There's around 60 species descriptions all beautifully illustrated with the best photos taken by LOL contributors, plus many other gorgeous pictures and illustrations may be used throughout the book (editing allowing).
It will be published by TFH, probably by Fall this year based on the latest vibes from them, so expect a beautiful book because you know TFH do nice publications. Christmas wish list stuff!

Martin.

Interesting series of pics by cybermeez:

(I hope you don't mind...)

http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives ... read=86992

Tammyliz, they are adorable....Now I want some

Hey, you guys are talking about "The Book". Has it been printed/published? I'd REALLY like to take a peek at it, is that possible??? Or any idea when it will be?

Martin, I look forward to seeing the book!

Shari, were you meaning that you think my loaches are not rostrata? If I go by the pics on LOL I am pretty sure they are:
http://loaches.com/species_pages/botia_rostrata.html

That was still a good thread to point out. And I ended up looking up the kubotai page and seeing the link to the sp. affin. rostrata, which is interesting. Thanks.

Tammy

I think what Shari was saying is that young loaches of this type may change their patterns, so you cannot be 100% sure.

I can testify to this too: one of my five yoyos looked like a histrionica initially (1"), and became a "classic" yoyo at about 1.5". And I'm still unsure what are the other two are...maybe yoyo's, maybe not.

Not really. Just remembered the debate from a while back and thought you might be interested. Something to think about...

Thanks. It was interesting.

Here are the pics of my rostratas when I bought them as darios. The pic is at the bottom of the page.
The pattern has morphed into the typical mature rostrata pattern. They still have their yellow color, although it has toned down a bit.
http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/bo ... enile.html