Botia Angelicus vs. Botia Almorae

[CanuckFish]

Sorry to say the favourite fish in my community tank died today ("Stripes" my yo-yo loach). He succumbed to the flex bacteria. I only wished I could have caught it earlier, but unfortunately I was also preoccupied with treating a cammalanus roundworm infestation as well. Being new to fishkeeping, I didn't realize that I had two different problems at the same time until too late. I can't think of a more rude introduction to the hobby than to have these two conditions concurrently, but it hasn't dampened my interest! Fortunately my other fish seem to be responding well to the Maracyn and Maracyn II treatment.

Anyways, I really loved the Yo-yo loach and would like to get another one. Botia Angelicus/Kubotai has really caught my eye, and would love to get one of those to replace my yo-yo. Are they similar in behaviour, size, requirements, etc?

CanuckFish

[shari2]

Have you taken a look at the Species Index?

[sophie]

did you only have one?

both yoyos and kubotai like to be in groups; I'm not sure that it's fair to keep them on their own...

[Emma Turner]

When the problems in the tank have settled, you'll want to be keeping more than one specimen as Botia are highly social fish.
Best of luck,

Emma

[CanuckFish]

Yes I had only one yo-yo in my community tank, but he was happy as a lark. He was growing well and had nice colors up until the pathology hit. I got him before I read about keeping them in groups. He seemed to socialize quite well with all of the fish in the tank. I might have space to squeeze in two of them. Is it really that much of an issue to have one on his own?

CanuckFish

[adampetherick]

Is it really that much of an issue to have one on his own?

It is really

[shari2]

Yes. 'One is the lonliest number...' and botia are social creatures.

[CanuckFish]

Okay, so I've decided I will do the sociable thing and get two kubotai loaches for the tank. It'd be nice to go to three, but I'd be really overstocked. Two is pushing it as it is. Thanks for the advice all.

CanuckFish

[Emma Turner]

Two fish can sometimes bicker continually with each other, you'd really be better adding three or more to help spread any arguments that might arise. If you're resally that keen on getting loaches, you'd be better off re-homing some of your other fish to make room for at least 3 loach specimens. It's pretty unfair on them otherwise.

Emma

[CanuckFish]

Thanks for the reply Emma.

Okay, so I perused the Species Index on Botias and checked around some lfs in my area. It seems that one lfs has some nice looking Botia Rostrada aka Twin banded or Sgt. Major loaches. These are on the smaller size (6-7cm max) and look rather like mini botia darios. I can think I could find room for three of these in my tank. This probably works out better anyways as articles in the Species Index indicate Botia Rostrata are very peaceful (I have two dwarf african frogs in the community tank and I was concerned that they would become snacks for bigger botias).

Does this sound better for sociability?

CanuckFish

[mikev]

They are pretty good, and hopefully Tammy (who keeps them) notices your post and comments.

But still, it is really 5+ for any Botia species... The more you can get the better...

[TammyLiz]

I think three is OK. Five is what most people here say, and it would ideal, but I wouldn't want to tell you that you shouldn't keep any loaches just because you could only fit three. They are a joy and will most likely be happy enough with each other. I only have two (that was all that was available) but they are able to 'socialize' with my yoyos and striata a little bit as well. The two of them seemed pretty unhappy until I got the others.

But, you haven't mentioned the size of your tank and what tankmates there would be. It is an important consideration. They are very active fish and need a lot of space. And make absolutely sure you have first taken care of those issues that killed your yoyo.

If your tank conditions truely can accomodate three rostrata, I'd say snatch them up before somebody else gets them. I love my rostrata.

[NancyD]

What CanuckFish isn't saying is he wants to put these fish in a 10 gallon tank. In fact on fish geeks he said people at LOL even RECOMMENDED keeping rostratas in a 5g tank as they only get to 6cm!
Nancy

[Martin Thoene]

Thanks for the heads-up Nancy. I just posted this on Fishgeeks:

CanuckFish....what the heck are you going on about?

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=2992

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=3131

Nobody at Loaches Online told you anything of the sort, nor would they.
A small group of Y. sidthimunki would be OK in a 20 gallon tank, but not a 10. ANY species of Botiine loach requires far more room.

Just because you want to keep 3 fish of a given species in a 10 gallon tank doesn't mean it's correct to do so. Any amount of warping of the truth in order to convince yourself it's OK doesn't make it right. Telling informed people here false information to justify it is.....well I have no idea why you're doing it. All it does is make them mad at the blatant disregard for good advice you seem to have. When kind people who know the requirements of these fish through long experience take time out of their day to answer your questions, you should at least have the decency to take that advice on-board. It completely negates the whole point of you asking the question in the first place.
Fishkeepers who use the internet move around a lot. Particularly those who post on specialist boards. It's why I'm here now giving you a hard time. Because somebody else warned people on LOL what you were saying here.
What are you going to do, move around the internet until you can find some numbskull who's going to tell you what you want to hear, or listen to good advice and act on it for the welfare of the fish?

You might want to remove that Raymond Chandler quote from your signature unless you're going to live by it.

Rant over.

Martin.

[NancyD]

Thank you Martin.