Badly behaved loach!!

[Kyrae]

I'm having problems with a trouble making loach! I'm a bit of a fish newbie and don't know what species he is but he's a golden colour and about 1.75 inches long. I've had him a few months and he used to get along fine with the other fish in the tank: a couple of goldfish, blackmoor, few little fish, a pleco, and 2 other loaches of same species as him.

Then about 3 weeks ago i added another blackmoor to the tank. At first they got along fine, but now the little loach won't stop bullying the pair of blackmoors! He chases them around the tank and sucks onto their bodies. He tries chasing the goldfishes too but they're a lot faster and more of a challenge so he generally leaves them alone apart from a bit of tail chasing. He never bothers the pleco or the other loaches. At first I thought they were just having a bit of harmless fun, but cleaning the tank today I had a nasty shock when i noticed the blackmoors have got painful looking white patches on their sides where the loach has damaged their scales!

I immediately caught the bullying loach and put him in a plastic clear container of fishtank water and left it floating in the top of the tank. He's nice and calm, but as soon as one of the blackmoors swims up to the container he gets nasty and thrashes around trying to get at him!

What should i do to help the wounds on the poor blackmoors heal? and is there anything i can do to calm the loach down so he'll get along better with the blackmoors?

[Graeme Robson]

Sounds like the Gyrinocheilus Aymonieri which is not a Loach!

[Kyrae]

Sorry, my mistake I was told they were loaches when i bought them :/ Think the shop called them sucking loaches.

[TammyLiz]

Even though its not a loach I thought I would put in a word of help for you.
This guy you have will get about three or maybe even fourtimes the size he is now, and as he gets bigger will get even meaner. Goldfish tend to bring out this behavior in them even more, I hear. They aren't very fast and can't do anything to defend themselves. See if your pet store will take it back, even if they won't give you a refund, so your goldfish can live in peace.

[Martin Thoene]

This Kyrae?



It's what Jim said. These fish are an absolute pain as you are discovering. They are indeed not a loach. Unfortunately, they are sold in their millions and it amazes me there's still a demand for them because of their reputation. Still, I guess like yourself lots of unsuspecting people buy them
in good faith. They get large (ish) and worse behaving the older they are.

Best thing would be to take them all back to the shop. Strictly speaking, you shouldn't be keeping goldfish with tropical fish either.

Martin.

[sophie]

Can I ask how big your tank is?

[Graeme Robson]

Sorry to "change" the topic but personally, i cant stand this specimen of a fish. Like Martin Say's, it is always in lfs and always seams to live on. Maybe it's too many years of me seeing this.......*chill shivers*

[Kyrae]

Thank you for your replies, yup they're definitely the fish in the photo!! I'm soo annoyed at the fish shop i bought the loaches from. I'm a newbie to fishkeeping and told them exactly what other fish i have and asked whether they'd get along well, and the shop keeper didn't warn me at all about the aggressive habits and said they'd get along fine. I guess too many fish shops are all about profit and not about giving people good advice :/

Do you think the 3 sucking loaches would get along okay together if i bought a new tank for them? I'd miss the cute little guys if i took em back :/

Sophie: The tank is 40" x 16" x 12".

[Graeme Robson]

A group of them will do fine with fast dither fish like "Dario's" And there's nice ones out there.

[Kyrae]

Thanks Graeme, that's good to know! Think i''d rather get another tank for the guys than take them back to the petshop and let them sell them to another unsuspecting person!!

Would the sucking loaches be hardy enough to put in the tank to let it cycle?

[Graeme Robson]

Hmmm i personally didn't want to answer your question but yes these are bullet-prof given the right temperatures.

I will admit, I do have some Friends with 4 or 5 inch specimens, and they are lovely to the chosen "eye"


Graeme.

[fusQer]

as far as the injured fish are concerned, you might want to give them a melafix/pimafix so that fungus doesnt start growing on it or what not. i havent really dealth with damaged fish like that but i guess you can give anti biotics to prevent infection? i dont know maybe someone else can chime in.

[Kyrae]

The antisocial chinese algae eater is now in his own 28l tank and looking rather happy! After it's cycled a while i'll try adding the other 2 chinese algae eaters and see how they get along. The damaged fish in the other tank seem to be doing okay, and the difference without the loach is amazing. The goldfish used to all sit up the same end of the tank (i presumed they just prefered being by the pump or something) but turns out they were staying there because the loach was herding them up so he could have the rest of the tank, greedy thing! Now he's gone the goldfish are happily swimming all over the tank

If some melafix or pimafix would help the blackmoors heal, let me know and i'll get some

[Graeme Robson]

Good old water changes will help immensely. Melafix will only prevent any further damage.

Nice to know a problem is solved.

[kellingson]

It just needs the right group of fish. We have had one for 5 years. It is about 4-5 inches long. It used to pester others but it lives in a 70 gallon with 4 clowns , 4 yoyos, 4 rainbows. It is super well behaved now that we have loaches. It bothers no one now. Our clowns are 4-5- inches.