I love my loach :)

[houndour]

I came home last night and was having trouble finding my botia and then I saw one behind my filter!

I'm not sure how he got there, but I figured if he got there he must be able to get out.

Anyway, so I went out and when I got back last night there were 2 behind the filter!

I watched them for ages and they kept putting there noses out the side and then would go back in. I got a bit concerned after a bit and in the end I took the filter off and let them out.

I have rocks/plants/bogwood for hiding places, so they aren't lacking any (although I will get some more smaller pieces of bogwood to make more caves).

They haven't been back behind the filter since.

Oh and the other thing I've seen them do...twice now. Is they try and swim into the outflow pipe of the filter!!!

I've attached a piccy of one of my botia behind the filter. It's not very good.

 

[LoachLover]

The one thing loaches tend to do is be curious, and their curiosity sometimes gets them in bad situations

 

[reddeerhobbiest]

yes they do get themselves into trouble. my one dojo loach got stuck in the hole in the bottom of a clay pot. at first i thought he was just being cute, til i realized he was stuck. my husband cracked the pot open, and out he came with a deep cut all the way around his body. a few days with melafix and he has completly healed.

 

[LoachLover]

yes they do get themselves into trouble. my one dojo loach got stuck in the hole in the bottom of a clay pot. at first i thought he was just being cute, til i realized he was stuck. my husband cracked the pot open, and out he came with a deep cut all the way around his body. a few days with melafix and he has completly healed.

Phew, I'm glad he was ok

 

[houndour]

yes they do get themselves into trouble. my one dojo loach got stuck in the hole in the bottom of a clay pot. at first i thought he was just being cute, til i realized he was stuck. my husband cracked the pot open, and out he came with a deep cut all the way around his body. a few days with melafix and he has completly healed.

Aww poor thing. Sounds like they need checking on regularly!! So far so good, my loaches still havent managed to get behind the filter again, although I was watching one last night that looked like he was trying to squeeze behind there!

 

[millym]

we lost a yoyo when he was v small when he swam into our old filter outlet we'd watched him for ages thinking .ahhh he'll never do it.....till he did one night & died its a good idea to cover such outlets with some fine mesh like the stuff stockings are made of & a rubber band to fix it, just to be safe...as we found out the hard way.
we also had a fluval hang on filter for a while & when i turned it on one day (it had been off for fixing) another of our yoyos shot out of the outlet at a hundred miles an hour - looking a little stunned!!! i dont know who got the biggest shock ....him or me but we made sure all little holes like that are covered with mesh even though now our 2 yoyos are much too big to fit in we still see them swim up & try & stick their noses in every now & again they just love little holes,nooks & crannies & cant resist trying to get in

 

[houndour]

aw that's awful. I did take a look at the out flow pipe on friday because for some bizarre reason I thought they might have gone in there to get to the back of the filter (I just can't figure out how they squeezed behind it). Anyway, there is like a plastic grille at the end which prob explains why they only got about 3/4 of the way in! So I think the outflow pipe is ok.

Do loaches like tubes? They aren't very attractive for the tank, but I thought I could get a tube and cover it with slate or bogwood. I want to provide some fun hiding spaces for them. They seemed to LOVE it behind the filter.

another of our yoyos shot out of the outlet at a hundred miles an hour - looking a little stunned

sorry. I know it's not funny, but it is at the same time.

When I clean my filter I'm always worried that one of the fish get in the way when I put the filter bit back and I'm always checking and re-checking before I put the bit back incase i squish anything

 

[Macracantha]

yes they do get themselves into trouble. my one dojo loach got stuck in the hole in the bottom of a clay pot. at first i thought he was just being cute, til i realized he was stuck. my husband cracked the pot open, and out he came with a deep cut all the way around his body. a few days with melafix and he has completly healed.

Gosh, I'm glad he was ok too...Is it possible that the gap behind the filter could be made a little bigger so they don't get stuck if they are tempted to explore there again?

 

[LoachLover]

yes they do get themselves into trouble. my one dojo loach got stuck in the hole in the bottom of a clay pot. at first i thought he was just being cute, til i realized he was stuck. my husband cracked the pot open, and out he came with a deep cut all the way around his body. a few days with melafix and he has completly healed.

Gosh, I'm glad he was ok too...Is it possible that the gap behind the filter could be made a little bigger so they don't get stuck if they are tempted to explore there again?

That would be a idea, that or seal it off so they can't go back there. But if I where you I would do something to prevent it from happening again

 

[houndour]

I've been trying to think what I could do. Maybe I could wrap a stocking around the filter so it fills the gap between the glass and the filter? What else could I use other than a stocking?

 

[Macracantha]

I've been trying to think what I could do. Maybe I could wrap a stocking around the filter so it fills the gap between the glass and the filter? What else could I use other than a stocking?

I would be a little nervous of covering the gap with anything (especially with something like stocking) in case they got through somehow and really trapped in there...this I why I would prefer to make the gap bigger so at least you know they would get stuck!!!

Anyway if you made it so they could come in and out safely they would probably lose interest and stop doing it!

They probably only do it to wind you up!!!

 

[houndour]

I would be a little nervous of covering the gap with anything (especially with something like stocking) in case they got through somehow and really trapped in there...this I why I would prefer to make the gap bigger so at least you know they would get stuck!!!

You're right. I don't know how I could make the space bigger though. They still haven't been back there. Hopefully they've learnt their lesson. One has found a new home...he burys himself underneath my bit of wood and every now and then I just see a tail waving!

 

[Macracantha]

I once had a Botia Striata for 8 years...I couldn't begin to tell you the number of times he went missing for days, even weeks. I gave him up for dead many times.

The fun of Botia keeping!!!

Would it be possible to put a piece of slate between the glass and filter to completely fill the gap?

 

[millym]

Do loaches like tubes?

loaches love tubes & any little crack or crevice they can squeeze into as youve found out
we have a couple of rock caves one large & one with a small opening & also a few areas of rock work with just a smallish loach sized crevice & both our loaches love them and both have their own individual favourites, you often see a little whiskery face or wagging tail just poking out from the gaps, we made sure though that we dont have any gaps/crevices that are too small- that is where a loach could squeeze in & get stuck