Botia Loach?

[Ogrt48]

My roommate has a 29 gal tank that he's basically just tossing in whatever fish he likes. The pet store in flushing he goes to just tells us everything will get along, then again they just want a sale, they don't care about the fish..

He's had 1 blue botia loach, 1 red eye tetra, 4 of these weird tetras with bright pink spines I have no idea what they're called but they're so cute, 2 bamboo shrimp and 2 platys. Right now my main concern is the botia loach. Is it ok with these other animals?

He doesn't care for the water either, he just fills it up, adds dechlorinator and thats it. I had to buy a heater for it to keep them from freezing and I did a ph test. Ph came back as 7.4 about and I'm not sure what to keep the water at so I have it around 80-82f.

 

[Ogrt48]

anyone?

 

[The-Wolf]

the orange finned loach aka blue botia Botia modesta will reach 12 inches
and is therefor too big for a 29 g tank.

as with all botias they are social and should be kept in groups of at least three.
one on its own could lead to it becomming very aggressive.

 

[mikev]

And generally you want slightly acidic water for loaches. 7.4 is too high, 6.4-6.6 is what it should be. Adding driftwood will lower Ph and provide a hiding place (which will make it less likely that he'll go aggressive).

As for the temperature, probably slightly lower will be better. 75-78F.

You can read more about it on this page:
http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_modesta.html

(see the letter on that page about what happens when these loaches feel hungry or lonely...)

 

[Lateral Line]

I think there is a lot more to worry about then being in pH 7.4 water, where I live, 7.4 would be considered low, and where I lived in England, the tap pH was often up to 8.7.

The room mate obviously has no idea.

I agree, the water should be dropped in temperature a little. The Botia is not really suited to that tank. The Red Eyed Tetra is also a shoaling fish and can be quite aggressive kept alone. Right now, I'd suggest taking the Botia back and getting 4 more Red Eyes.

 

[Ogrt48]

He wants to keep the botia, he said he'll consider getting rid of it if it grows more.. =\

Anyways, the one red eye we had is no more, he left the tank open over night and it was a jumper. I really wish I knew what these other tetras are, they're like the red eyes body minus the red eye ofcourse but they're spine is a very bright hot pink. so cute!

 

[Lateral Line]

Hemigrammus erythrozonus, the Glowlight Tetra?

GlowLight

 

[OohFeeshy]

Dyed glass fish probably

 

[sylvia]

Make shure your friend doesn't over-stock the tank.
Don't mess with the pH, the fish will be fine in 7.4. Changing it causes dangerous fluctuations.

I suspect the unknown fish are a pink dyed version of this:
http/www.h-nds.de/fische/chanda_ranga01.jpg (chanda ranga) or, more likely, a dyed version of chanda baculis for which I found no undyed images when I did a quick google image search (though I'm sure you can find some under the name of 'glassfish')
You can read more about this cruel practice and see a pic of dyed chanda sp. here: http/www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/cav1i2/by_spencer_glass.htm