Loaches Online Forum

Found 6 botia striata today. 8$ each. Is this reasonable? I told the lady that if they could cut mea bit of a deal I would buy all 6 of them.
ive been wanting some for a while.
Now, heres the question.

I have a 55 gallon now. Recently 4 of my clowns died. I have 4 medium size left around 3.5" is the largest size.

Is adding 6 2" botia striata overstocking?

I do have plans in the future to upgrade.

current stock level
6 cherry barbs
4 emerald cory cats
1 golden algae eater 4"
4 clown loaches-1-3.5", 3-2"
3 upside down cats-1-1.5",2-1"
1 pleco 9"

right now i have one ac70 along with a rena x3. i have an ac70 jethead and an extra air filter stone on the opposite end of the tank. i also have an extra rena x3 unit unopened now for my future tank upgrade plans. upgrade will be a 120 gallon. probably gonna wait a few months. have mostly all the jetheads and materials for the tank besides the tank. also an extra 70 jethead as well. so two 70 jetheads.

Would I be overstocking if I add these fish?

btw, they had them called out as tiger botia! they were definitely striata.


pic isn't the greatest, camera phone.
all are at least two inches but some are a bit skinny but look healthy. skinny bc they are smaller loaches. doens't appear to be skinny disease. they have had these for several months. i wiggled my hand by the tank and they all came up to me in a group. it was so cute!

i wouldn't buy a few, i want the group. they all seemed to get along well.

anyone?

LO,

Since I have never seen Striata in any stores around here, I'd snatch them up in a heartbeat and then find a new home for the 9" pleco. He's a big waste producer anyway.

Just my opinion...

yes im going to find him a new good home soon! yeah i think i agree as well. thanks for replying!

I agree with Loachmom. If you move the pleco out then you should not be overstocked. The Striata will make a very nice addition to your tank.

one more question.

will these smaller botia get rough housed by the larger clowns?

thanks keith. i was already planning on exchanging or giving the pleco away.

Make sure you quarantine these for a few weeks, LO. This will also give you a bit more time to ensure all has settled down with the clown loach tank.

Emma

so far its been a few weeks. the addition of the xp3 has helped keep the water crystal clear. so far, even the weekly water changes are crystal clear. and the loaches are more energetic than ever. the entire tank is covered in bubbles at all times.

how should i go about qt'ing them? in a small 10 gallon tank or should i put them in a separator in the loach tank?

i only have two tanks and one 10 gallon qt tank. this will be much larger than the tank they have now. the tank they are in is about 1'x1'. very small if that large even.

Seems a bit high if you were in the Chicago area. They run about $4-6 here

I've seen small ones (1in) for $1.99.


Kevin

LoachOrgy wrote:how should i go about qt'ing them? in a small 10 gallon tank or should i put them in a separator in the loach tank?

i only have two tanks and one 10 gallon qt tank. this will be much larger than the tank they have now. the tank they are in is about 1'x1'. very small if that large even.

Definitely use a separate tank. As long as it is bigger than the teeny stock tank they are apparently confined to at the moment, it will be fine for a few weeks whilst you observe them. The last thing you would want to do is bring something untoward into the clown tank after what those guys managed to come through.

Good luck!

Emma

thanks emma!

this qt tank hasn't been operated for a while. it has a standard filter with waterfall, nothing spectacular. if i add an airstone and use this filter, should it be ok?
i was thinking of using water out of the 55 gallon loach tank to put in this tank. then allowing it to run for a day or two before i pick these striata up. i don't think they are going anywhere. first time ive seen them anywhere down here.


i know they need 2 months in an established tank before adding botia. this tank has only been run with some loaches for a two week period. then taken down. and run again with some tetras. only a two or three months at most.


i did a 25% water change last night.


i also found a new home for the pleco. the pleco will be in good hands.

nice, just got a call back from the lfs, they said they would give me a 10% discount....not bad bc i was probably going to pay full price anyways. i never see these here ever! so im going to try and do a quick qt setup for tonight. i will use 100% tankwater from my loach tank as well as add an ac70 jethead to the tank for extra water current. also some filter media as well.




can't wait! pickin em up in an hour!

just for kicks I'd throw some prime in there...that way you don't have to have an established tank to keep them from having issues with ammonia and nitrates/nitrites.

Kevin

i got all 6 loaches for 42$! 7 each. not bad, dollar off for a quick question!
temp 79
ph 7.0
ammonia .6-bad. prime was added
gh 100
kh 40
nitrate 0
nitrite 0

im reluctant to add them with this reading. they have had water for around an hour now added to their bags.

i have an ac70 running now. it has a filter over the intake. its a world pool in there. hopefully they will be ok.

FWIW I've only seen them at 1 lfS and the few times I've seen en over the last couple years the price has varied from 5.99 to 7.99, the last group I bought when they were 7.99 (if memory serves) but it was during there 40% off al fish in the store so it was like around $5ea. I wish they had them for 1.99 here, I'd get a couple dozen for my big tank (well I still might).