Question about Zebra Loach (Botia striata)

[BlueFrog]

My BF and I found a new LFS today near to my work, and I ran across this little guy all alone in a tank with some other fish. I read the article on the type (at least, what I think he is), and it recommends that he should have at least 5 friends to school with, but that hes a generally peaceful.

Does anyone know if he would school with the herd of clown loaches that I currently have, or would he be sad and alone and shunned by my loach-tank society? If hes ok by himself, i might go back after work and get him.

Heres the little guy -- i'm pretty sure hes a Zebra (they had him labeled as a Queen or Tiger, but i'm not sure thats right?)


Heres his tankmates at the store. Hes hiding behind the plant.
(Apollo sharks, Barbs, Longirostrus cats)


And from another tank, but he made me smile. Soft spot for whisker-fish and all that

[helen nightingale]

you are right, it is a botia striata.

you would do better to have a group of them, as the interaction a single striata will have with clown loaches wont be the same as with other striata. i would only reccommend getting him if you are prepared to search for other striata to keep him company - that is if you have room, due to the large size of the clowns. striata are great little loaches.

[mikev]

Very nice looking Striata..... I'd grab it in an instant and start looking for more....

What are the longer loaches on the second pic? Sinibotia pulchra ? If yes, this is another real nice find...

[BlueFrog]

I'm not sure what the others are -- they weren't really labelled I don't think.

Heres some closeups from the original pic if it helps






And on the other guy, I think I may go back after work and snag him, and keep a lookout for more (or see if they can bring in more). I'm running a 99 gal tank, so there should be room for 5 of them

[helen nightingale]

i think you will be pleased if you go go and get this one and some company when you can. i love the way they have such a variation in their stripes. if you have the choice in future, have a good look at all of them before choosing.

[mikev]

I'm running a 99 gal tank, so there should be room for 5 of them

The other four are sitting in a bag here as I type this But yours is much prettier.


I do think that the unidentified loach is indeed S. Pulchra or a closely related sp.... these are quite rare.

[LoachOrgy]

thats striata is so cute!

[Pixelated_Pirate]

I had a few Striata with my clowns before. They actually fought over food. Like not play fight, they brought out the spines and everything. The Striata was so agressive and chased the clowns away even though they were half the size of the clowns. At one of my LFS, they call them "Zipper Loaches"

[BlueFrog]

I'm running a 99 gal tank, so there should be room for 5 of them

The other four are sitting in a bag here as I type this But yours is much prettier.


I do think that the unidentified loach is indeed S. Pulchra or a closely related sp.... these are quite rare.

Ahh... so you're the one who snapped up the rest of them

But I did go back after work and pick him up, and i'm glad i did -- the poor little fellow was hiding out in his rock, and any time he'd come out, the other loaches would come down and peck at him until he went and hid in the rock again.

If anyone wants semi-agressive loaches (that aparently like to peck at smaller loaches) like in the earlier pictures, i think the store was selling them as Queen/Tiger Botia at 9.99 (markham/toronto.ontario)

[mikev]

I'm running a 99 gal tank, so there should be room for 5 of them

The other four are sitting in a bag here as I type this But yours is much prettier.


I do think that the unidentified loach is indeed S. Pulchra or a closely related sp.... these are quite rare.

Ahh... so you're the one who snapped up the rest of them

Yeap, my fault, sorry!

I've been hunting them for quite a long time, and after you started the thread decided to recheck once again one of the stores here....Here are the four:



The store believes that there should be one more but it cannot be extracted from the driftwood cave....I'll try in a couple of days again, but I have a bad feeling it got teleported to Ontario.

But I did go back after work and pick him up, and i'm glad i did -- the poor little fellow was hiding out in his rock, and any time he'd come out, the other loaches would come down and peck at him until he went and hid in the rock again.

Sounds great. It should be much happier without these larger guys around....

[crazy loaches]

IME when I had a lone striata it would have nothing to do with any of my clowns or other loaches. It became reclusive and was many times not seen for months. In a long stretch once it pretty much doubled in size since last a saw it . Even in the presence of 6 more striata for over a year it has not become social, still hiding almost all the time. I feel the poor thing has suffered seemingly permanent damage from being alone for about 1-2 yrs.

[Martin Thoene]

Are these fish at Lucky's? .....or the place across the other side of Steeles on Silver Star?

Martin.

[BlueFrog]

Are these fish at Lucky's? .....or the place across the other side of Steeles on Silver Star?

Martin.

Hi Martin -- These fish were at a store called AquaPets at Steeles between Kennedy and Brimley

We've been checking out different LFS stores in our work area, and found a batch of fairly large Tiger Loaches (i think, I looked at the IDs on the main page, but I didn't have my camera today for a pic) as well today at another place called Gold Ocean Aquarium at Leslie just north of Hwy #7.

.. i've linked in the google map locations I love the 'locate a business' feature on google maps, since i just put in Aquarium and my work addy, and came up with about 10 around here. Thats pretty much what we've been up to on our lunch break for the last couple of weeks -- exploring all the different LFS's around, and seeing new loaches that i haven't seen before

[Martin Thoene]

Yeah, Aquapets was the place I was thinking of. I call that place "Monster Fishkeeper's Paradise". They have all sorts of species in there that grow way too big for "normal" aquaria. Their prices are top $ too.

I wasn't aware of the other place. Might have to check it out.

Martin.