Striata vs Dario?

[mikev]

Here is the situation: I currently own Clowns, Yoyo's, and Kubotai's (all in proper numbers). The tank space should be sufficient to accomodate one more Botia school, but it will be the last one, at least for a couple of years.

I wanted Striata's for quite a long time but no store around had them (clowns, clowns everywhere...). Now that they became available from Frank, I am not certain. I saw his Dario's yesterday too, and they looked really nice, and Martin's posting the photos of his new great acquisition yesterday confused things further. Plus, there is that issue of Kubotai-Striata relations (the current plan is to keep the new species with the Kubotai's).

I certainly cannot have both. One more option available is Sids.

Would anyone here want to offer a good argument in either direction?

[Mad Duff]

I have B. Dario and B. Striata together in a tank with B. Kubotai and the interaction between all species is great, if I had to decide between the B. Striata and B. Dario I dont think I could really as they both are lovely fish but if I could only get the B. Dario then I certainly wouldnt see them as the lesser option.

On the subject of the Sid's, they are half the size of my Dario, Rostrata and Kubotai and I wouldnt honestly trust the Sid's with them because they are pure swines.

[mikev]

Thanks, Mad.

No, the problem is that both are available. They both look fine, they are the same size (1" babies), they cost the same.... and I know that both are great fish....
Darn, it will probably have to be a toss of a coin.

[Jim Powers]

I agree, you just can't go wrong with either dario or straita. Both are attractive, active and peaceful.

[Emma Turner]

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I kept B. dario in high numbers (13 specimens) in our Clown loach tank and they were nothing but trouble. In the end we had to strip the tank down to catch them out - not an easy job - as their aggression and fin-nipping became too much. But, I'm yet to hear of anyone else having the same experience.

Emma

[Barracuda518]

Right now I have 3 Striata and 1 Dario. I had 3 darios at first, but the other 2 died in quaratine. After I moved the one remaining Dario in with the Striata, it was mean, very mean. That last about 2 months and it has settled in nicely and causes no problems.

If I had to choose between the Dario and Striata, I would choose the Striata everytime.

[mikev]

If I had to choose between the Dario and Striata, I would choose the Striata everytime.

Thanks a lot. This is what I was looking for exactly. Together with Emma's spanner this removes the need for the coin.

Does anyone think that Dario is a better species for any reason?

[Martin Thoene]

Well....I've kept dario before and always found them to be probably the most "up-front" of Botia species.

My first ones squabbled amongst themselves, clicked unbelievably and were generally good VFM on the entertainment stakes.

This morning, my new aquisition, who is for want of a suitable pure Q-tank sharing the 120 with the Redpoint Convicts, was out doing the loachy-dance WITH the Convicts who normally sit fairly stationary waiting for food. I guess he was teaching them Loachrobics.

He was straight on the sinking catfish pellets and basically acting very bold. Yesterday, the Convicts were checking him out and he was basically unphased by them. Today, he's been swimming around a lot and the other fish have decided he no longer merits their attention.

He came out when I entered the room and swam right up to the glass to say "Hi". I do think these fish have a LOT of personality. That certain precosciousness might as Emma states tip over into a bit of hooliganism. I can understand that. He was "whiskering" the cichlids today which completely phased them. Very bold fish indeed.

Big decision mike. The "your mileage may vary" thing obviously comes into play. I love striata....I've kept them before. They're cute as all get out. I think it's very much a personal choice and cross your fingers .
Have a lot of entertainment with dario, or play safe with striata.
I would have to base any decision on tank mates I think.

Martin.

[mikev]

Thanks, Martin.

No, I'd chose safe over entertainment.

The only unsafe item is indeed the tank mates: Kubotai's.

The largest is pretty mean and he kept larger and heavier yoyo's suppressed and terrorized. Equally mistreated other Kubotai's.

Will have to see what is his position on Striata.

[Mark in Vancouver]

The only other consideration, IMO, is that striatas stay a tiny bit smaller than dario. But I've kept both with other Botias for years and they're fine, fine fish.

[Wendie]

I currently have 3 darios in the tank with my 4 kubotais without any problems. They've been together about 6 months now.

[piggy4]

The answers here are all valid thats for sure , a long time ago i kept about 4 dario's in a mixed loach tank ! Modestas Beauforti's Helodes,eos's and more , in this setup they were out of their depth , and were shy and retiring , no wonder i hear you say ! times change i now have a lot more tanks and am able to distribute the loaches with far more care , i now have a large group of Dario's in a more apt setup , BUT have noticed that they are much more bold in this larger group, Emma's experiance springs to mind , i'm having no problems i.e. no competition , [other loaches ] i bet in a big group they would have handled the other loaches with ease ? i think that the competition between the group , would spill over , and those other loaches would not be in quite the pole position ? all that said though i'm not going to try it ha ha ha .

[Graeme Robson]

The answers here are all valid thats for sure , a long time ago i kept about 4 dario's in a mixed loach tank ! Modestas Beauforti's Helodes,eos's and more , in this setup they were out of their depth , and were shy and retiring , no wonder i hear you say ! times change i now have a lot more tanks and am able to distribute the loaches with far more care , i now have a large group of Dario's in a more apt setup , BUT have noticed that they are much more bold in this larger group, Emma's experiance springs to mind , i'm having no problems i.e. no competition , [other loaches ] i bet in a big group they would have handled the other loaches with ease ? i think that the competition between the group , would spill over , and those other loaches would not be in quite the pole position ? all that said though i'm not going to try it ha ha ha .

Nice name, Andy!

Good to see you here.

[mikev]

Let me resurrect this old thread and explain what has happened.

Following your recommendations I decided on getting Striata's...and this turned out to be really difficult.

I had a chance back in November, but the fish were skinny <1" and I waited. Than Striata's disappeared and the horror stories began. The stories all had to do with a mysterious untreatable disease connected to these loaches; while most of them were secondhand, they involved some people who are quite experienced with treatments and failed.

The parts that were not secondhand:

After much looking around (and finding none), I asked one store to get them. Sure, they arrived from a distributor -- in good shape, a whole dozen. Ten were dead by the time I made it to the store (24 hours)...the treatment I suggested failed to save the last two. This was May.

Talking to nearly every store around (and there are a lot in NY), I learned that some distributors blacklisted them -- none survive.

Then on June 16 I found four Striata's --- seemingly healthy, albeit very small and skinny....make me think of concentration camp victims. These were at the store for a while, no warning signs, so I grabbed them. Two were dead within 36 hours.... I managed to fight the disease for about a month, but by mid-July it was over: the remaining two were dead and so was every fish that was in contact with them (never quarantine more than one group together---don't I know this?)..... Bleach the tank, start over.

I did manage to get one more group (from Mark Denaro) toward the end of July; either he knew the magic trick, or was very lucky, but his loaches did much better. No signs of THE disease (but I did dump a lot of drugs on them just in case), a couple of skinnies, and of course small. I lost one of the skinniest, the remaining seem to be doing fine for almost two months now (and are reasonably fat for their size).

It does not look like they are about to die....so I'll make photos some time soon.

Now, to the real problem:

As I was searching for the Striata's, I was compensating with Kubs.... their number kept increasing. Unlike the Striata's they were not inclined to die, so even the ones that came in sick did just fine.... Right now there are 15 of them, 13 occupying a 65g tank and seemingly quite happy there....

I'm afraid to put the Striata's there: they are much smaller than the smallest Kub and I'm not sure what would happen....so I was planning to keep them in the 10g until they are really fat and hopefully grown a bit. (These are 1"-1.5" fishes, 10g suites them just fine...)

Now, today I dropped by the lfs many of my loaches came from... A whole tank of Striata's. These are "real ones" too: 2", fat, some with "vampire barbels"...fantastic fish. Seemingly healthy too.

WTH I'm going to do?

I don't think I can keep myself from getting at least a couple...While mine are fine, the difference is all too real... Of course, they are going to another qtank, and for a month at the very least, Striata's just cannot be trusted.

What happens then is just not clear.

Just how many loaches can be packed into a 65g tank? Obviously, 1"/1g is going to be violated, but this seems not to be a problem with at least some setups around (I'm actually thinking about Emma's clown tank). I can add more filters, and improve on the WC routine....I have no idea if the Striata's will upset the balance in the tank: right now it is very nice, the fish is active but peaceful.... I actually would have felt much safer with adding ten more Kubs...it looks like the more, the better. Bad option #1.

Alternatively, I can give them a 29g... there will be no loaches there, but they will have to tankmate with BN's .... Don't know if Striata's are into egg-eating...probably are. Bad option #2.

Alternatively, I can put them with Sewellia's.... No, this is probably a real bad option....

DDDaarn. Don't know what to do really.... I cannot pass on these Striata's, especially that most of them will likely end up dead at the store (from malnutrition---the fish is fed very little as not to overload the system....yuck.)

65g or 29g?

Any suggestions?

[piggy4]

Argh, Mike ,the old fishkeepers curse , NOT ENOUGH TANKS !