Rosy Loaches

[Wendie]

They just arrived a few minutes ago. Very tiny and very scared. I have them aclimating in the Q tank right now. They look good and as I mentioned very small.

I'm headed to the local Petco now to see if I can pick up another smaller
fluval internal filter to create more movement in that particular tank. It's loaded with plants so there should be plenty of hiding spots. I don't think the clowns will bother them as they seem quite fast.

[mikev]

They are fast, but I'd not personally dare to put them with clowns.

My clowns, at 3"-4" size only, already have mouths big enough to accomodate a rosy loach in full. And, while the clowns may have no intention of causing harm, they can be very intense when eating something they like. I think the rosies will be better off in a nice 10g with some small tankmates.

[Wendie]

They are currently in the Q with the clown loaches which are ignoring them completely. The female bettas, however, are chasing them but not enough to really worry. The tank is full of greens so they have plenty of places to hide in. Right now they are doing the loachy dance in the corner of the tank. They are currently the size of extremely small neons. I would say about a month old.

You can see the coloration difference even at this small age. The females are darker with markings while the males are almost a light tan color.

[angelfish83]

I've seen even tiny rostrata accidentally eat one of the barbels on a bronze cory's mouth. The cory wasn't happy. It was an accident. they were all packed together eating worms. It can happen.

[mikev]

I've seen even tiny rostrata accidentally eat one of the barbels on a bronze cory's mouth. The cory wasn't happy. It was an accident. they were all packed together eating worms. It can happen.

One of my clown scarred a 2" schistura when eating. Obviously an accident, but a similar bite on a rosy would be the end of it.

Angelfish,...hmmm, cories probably would make pretty good tankmates for rosies. This is something to explore.

[Wendie]

I expect them to grow fast once I get some food into them. They are already checking out the plants and browsing thru them. The bettas have given up chasing them and everything seems to be settling down.

[mikev]

I expect them to grow fast once I get some food into them.

Do you know their adult size? -- if yes, you at advantage since no one else does. My own suspicion is that it is not much larger than the current size, so they may grow from less than 1" to perhaps 1.5", still not good enough for being clown tankmates.

Don't you have a kuhli tank? This may be the best option.

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Incidentally, do you see any behavior differences between rosies and grays? Here, rosies (presumed males) are more active, and are the first to react to food.

[Graeme Robson]

Speculations are around with them being a Yunnanilus species. Some say this, some say that. But i agree with Mike. These are Small loaches and larger tank-mates should be avoided.

Keep up the observations for us Non-keepers

[Wendie]

Everyone seems to have settled down now without any problems. I decided to use this tank because of the heavy plantings in the tank. I had another tank for breeding plecos but it was too open.

No one is bothering them now. The others might have been curious.



They are spending most of their time either doing a loachy dance or checking out the plants. They seem to love working the leaves and around the bottoms of the plants. They are very active little devils.