Botia Dario

[piggy4]

I'm just wondering about Emma's experience , dont get me wrong i wouldnt dare question Emma's fish keeping skills , the pictures she shows are of superbly conditioned fish always ! i'm wondering if it was simply the mix i.e. Clowns and Dario's , perhaps the clowns being larger saw the Dario's as irritants instead of mates ? [ i'm only guessing they were bigger] mine are kept with Almorahes and Rostratas , and seem perfect companions , oh and 4 S.Berdmorei varients , now years ago i kept Dario's in a mixed loach tank with Modesta's S.Helodes , S.Beauforti, Eos's , and Caudipunc's , there were only 4 Dario's in that tank , and they seemed out of their depth i.e. very much the underdogs ! this thing about numbers probarbly has some credence ! this newish combo i have seems ok , even the Bermorei's aren't a problem , though in fairness Berdmorei's seem to be the least aggresive of the Syncrossus group ,i m o , the majority of this tanks fish are of a similar size ! i suppose i'm just adding to the broth , lets hope it not a case of too many cooks .

[Emma Turner]

The B. dario were all fairly large sized specimens (if I remember rightly, 4"+ TL) and constantly picked on the clown loaches that were all significantly bigger than themselves (up to 9" TL at that time). The choice to remove them from this large tank was not taken lightly as it took a whole day to strip it down and do this. It followed lengthy observations of the B. darios going around and constantly biting chunks out of the clown loaches dorsal fins. And before anyone asks, yes, we actually saw them doing this on numerous occasions. Once they were removed, the clowns tattered fins grew back nicely. All this will be documented somewhere in the archives.

Emma

[piggy4]

Hi Emma , i dont doubt your experience at all, just trying to fathom out the reasons for this ! it sounds a bit like the Jack Russel syndrome , small fish playing boss with its then bigger cousins ? its all interesting stuff , and all worthy of documentation ! personally i think i'd have gotten rid of the Clowns , ha ha just kidding ??

[Emma Turner]

That's ok Andy, I know. It is just that I wanted to clarify on here that this wasn't just one of those 'suspected' cases we so often hear of. This was actually happening for real and was surprising, given the relative sizes of the two species.

Emma

[piggy4]

I may have said this already but years ago i picked up a small lobocheilus , at the time i thought it was a small Labeo sp/s ,this fish was all of an inch and a half ! i noticed it chasing some giant danios , after a week or so of this i thought i'll show you , and i put it in the 6 ft tank with various big barbs Tinfoils Lemonfins etc , etc , anyway the next morning i glanced at the tank and all i could see was the Lobo , cruising up and down like lord muck , all the big boys were cowering in the corner ! although this story isnt really a comparison with yours , i suppose its a case of living and learning , Lobos dont bother with small fish as they are scale eaters , i didnt know that at the time !

[Rocco]

Lobo... what a name. Reminds me of that comic book character. Even the attitude.