Hillstream loach… territorial squabble. or mating dance???

Been watching for the last 20 minutes, a pair of lined Hillstream’s going round and round, in the middle of the back wall, between 2 hanging pots, in the middle of the bubble waterfall… one is the biggest one, one is medium sized, from their actions, I can’t tell if the fighting or mating
Hard to take pictures with all the bubbles

1/2 hour later, still at it, but out of the bubbles

Wow, interesting. I've been reading up some on them b/c I want to add some, since right now I only have corydoras. I need some better algae control.

Do you only have the 2, or are there more, but you just noticed those 2 behaving that way today? I've read that you can't really keep 2 together, b/c the stronger one will pick on the smaller/weaker one, even if male & female. But especially if they're both male, they'll definitely fight over territory.

It's difficult to see your photos, but are they fully grown, or is the smaller one younger? If they're the same age, I'd say the smaller one is a female. In the 3rd & last photos, it appears that the larger one has more coloring & patterning, which would also be consistent with it being a male & the other one female. I do not believe that looks like mating behavior if so. It appears that the larger one is butting the other one, & that may not be lethal, but it would be stressful for the smaller one.

If you only have the 2, & have enough room for 1 more, it might be most helpful to add another female.

To add to that: However, if they're both males, it won't do any good to add a female. The males will still spar over territory. And I'm not sure, but they could possibly also gang up on a single female. Hope someone with experience has an answer to that.

There are 3 lined and, and 3 spotted, in. 55 gallon tank, with a lot of tank mate… 90% of the time, they looked like the Chinese ying/ yank symbol and were turning circles

Love it, always wanted to keep these and see how they are in a well oxygenated cool water group

Magnum Man said:

There are 3 lined and, and 3 spotted, in. 55 gallon tank, with a lot of tank mate… 90% of the time, they looked like the Chinese ying/ yank symbol and were turning circles

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Are they all the same age? That's a decent-sized tank, but what does "a lot" mean? And do you know their genders? I had tiger barbs, & 2 of the males used to go at it now & then, almost exactly that way. Circling, with one or the other seeming to get a nip in now & then.

However, having 6 would definitely seem to be a better thing than only 2. It still would depend on the gender distribution to some extent.

Do they have enough cover & hidey places? They appear pretty high up in the tank, so I really don't know. Maybe it was a mating ritual. How are they doing now, or have you noticed any more of this behavior?

The spotted ones were purchased a month after I had the lined ones… tank is in the low 70’s for temperature, and in an extreme amount of oxygenation… tank mates include 5 Tin Foil barbs between 6 and 8 inches long, 5 mature Denison barbs, 2 Flying Foxes, recently added 5 baby Panda Garra’s, and there is one 3 to 4 inch kisser gourami

It would be hard for anything to successfully breed in this tank, but it wasn’t set up as a breeding tank

A Lined Hillstream sharing an almond leaf with a couple of the Panda Garra’s… pandas have doubled in size in the couple weeks I’ve had them

Beautiful photo! Just that many of those tin foil barbs would be almost enough for a 55G tank, it seems. I reckon it all depends on your filtering, etc. It seems like the one you called lined, like in the photo, would be a Tiger or reticulated loach (Sewellia lineolata), even though to me he looks more spotty than striped. But I guess it's just that the spots run together to form lines. So then if the other one (only one other?) is spotted, I'd make a guess that it's a butterfly loach (Beaufortia leveretti), but I really don't know enough to say fur shur. They have butterfly loaches at our LFS, but I'm holding out for one like in your photo.

these are the 2 varieties I have

Of course there are other varieties…

Magnum Man said:

these are the 2 varieties I have

Spotted Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon sp.)

Spotted Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon sp.) for sale from Dans Fish at $11.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

Reticulated Hillstream Loach (Sewellia lineolata)

Reticulated Hillstream Loach (Sewellia lineolata) for sale from Dans Fish at $19.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

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OK, that might kind of explain the behavior. Especially if 2 males. The kinds you have (different genera) wouldn't breed anyway, right? But going back to the original photos, I'd say they're doing some territorial sparring, & the reticulated one is "winning" or maybe even bullying the other one. Hopefully they've found their own separate territories & are able to just leave each other alone.in the tank!!!

Magnum Man said:

Of course there are other varieties…

Red-Tail Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon sp.)

Red-Tail Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon sp.) for sale from Dans Fish at $69.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

Zebra Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon zebrinus)

Zebra Hillstream Loach (Gastromyzon zebrinus) for sale from Dans Fish at $13.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

Gold Ring Hillstream Loach (Sewellia albisuera)

Gold Ring Hillstream Loach (Sewellia albisuera) for sale from Dans Fish at $19.99 each. Shipped Next Day Air.

dansfish.com

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Ooh! I like that Gold Ring one! The Red Tail looks very striking, too. I know right now I need to wait to get some work done on a few tanks before getting any Hillstream Loaches, but can't hardly wait!