Loach Size I Am Intrested To See

[Fizban]

i went in to the pet store again today where at first i had ordered some yoyo loachers but i was told on here it would be better to get the Zebra/Candy-stripe loach cuz they dont grew as big .. so i changed my order now im geting the Zebra loach typ ...any way the guy still got in some yoyos cuz he was going to do it ....... the yoyos are in but it will be anuther 2 weeks befor the Zebra loachers will be here he asked if i wanted to buy some of the yoyos instead i said no cuz i think they get bigger then the Zebra loachers i wanted the smaller out of both he got a book he had there looked throo it and the book said both grew to 10 cm ??i think thats wrong right?

 

[Lateral Line]

There are at least 2 of us in the forum that have very big YoYo's. My biggest is about 200mm/8". Mine do not appear to be getting any bigger now.

 

[Fizban]

okay and is that as big as u think they get ?..and if any one just takes a look in here do u think thats right

 

[mikev]

There is some "interesting" information out there.

For example, the PetEducation site (which is owned by Foster&Smith -- major online seller via LiveAquaria) has this to say about Yoyo's:

Size: Up to 3 inches
Minimum Tank Capacity: 30 gallons

link

But for a real laugh, see what say about kuhlis. Get "educated" about your pets.

 

[Fizban]

hmmm sounds like if you go look at difrent sites each says a difrent thing and to them its a true thing cuz its what they are thinking is right hows is any one ment to no the truth ............i mean a friend of mine has a fish that i cant rember the name but where ever he gets his info said its only ment to get to 37 cm his is so far up to 54cm (oh that fish is not a yoyo loach) but any way we were talking about the size of the yoyo and the Zebra loach wich is smaller or are they the same size when full size ?

 

[Lateral Line]

I've only kept B. striata once, and that was 20+ years ago. I don't recall them going over 100mm/4".

There is a lot of misinformation around. Bænsch Vol 1 still has YoYo's named B. lohachata and maxing out at 77mm! You can't argue with a specimen. I have 4 in a 6x2x2 tank about 2m to my left, all are over 150mm/6", the biggest is roughly 200mm/8". They have not grown noticeably in the last year, I suspect they are full grown, although in the wild, they may well grow larger.

 

[mikev]

I just moved one of mine into the new 6' tank. Between 3" and 4", and the fish is about 1 year old. I'll be very surprised if it does not make another couple of inches over the next two years.

(Poor fellow seems to be depressed over the change from a crowded 29g to a near empty 125g...hopefully he'll manage until I can risk moving more fish.).

As for the name confusion: Fishbase lists yoyo's under two names with different pictures attached. Then there is also a mysterious creature called B.Birdi, which is somehow related.

 

[TammyLiz]

To put it simply, it seems that there may be more than one variety of yoyos. Some may stay small while others grow as large as 8". Which explains why there is a difference in information out there. If you buy a yoyo, you never know how big its going to get.

Striata are less of a gamble. I have never talked to anyone who has seen one larger than 4 inches.

 

[mikev]

If you buy a yoyo, you never know how big its going to get.

You probably do know.

There are yoyo's that display "YOYO". There are yoyo's that display very different pattern, even at young age.

 

[Fizban]

hmmm sounds like i am geting the right one im geting the Zebra loach typ cuz i was told it was a bit smaller ..........i think i agree with tammyLiz i think that there may be more than one variety of yoyos as well or they are near the Evolution of a difrent size due to some reson ......i gather tank size helps them grew bigger as well you have more chance of geting a realy big one if u get a baby one and keep it in a realyy big tank with not many other fish 8)

 

[TammyLiz]

If you buy a yoyo, you never know how big its going to get.

You probably do know.

There are yoyo's that display "YOYO". There are yoyo's that display very different pattern, even at young age.

Hey Michael,

Are the ones that have the clear "yoyo" the ones that are going to get big, or stay small? I know I've asked you this before but I was never able to read that article you linked me to a while back. I couldn't get it to show up.

Fizban, I think thats a good choice. IMO the striata are cuter.

 

[mikev]

Hi Tammy,

**My feeling** is that the "proper Yoyo's" are the smaller ones. Among my five, 3 proper are slightly smaller and growing slightly slower than the 2 "abnormal's". But I don't know the final answer, since mine are still in the 3"-4" range.

The_Wolf had some thoughts on the subject (he has larger ones, including an 8"), if he is around hopefully he'll comment.

 

[Fizban]

i hope my loachers do end up comeing small pet store in a small town u can guess any thing could happen .......i wonder if the abnormal lochers are a difrent kind that look some what the same or if its a new kind that will come out of the yoyo?

 

[mikev]

"abnormal" was only in reference to the pattern. if they are a different species, they are still very similar to "standard" yoyo's. Practically, not much difference.

 

[Fizban]

thort TammyLiz said the "standard" yoyo's seem to stay rownd 3 and the others rownd 8 ? i ruther think thats a ruther big difrents if the pattern is difrent as well