Loaches - Are They Crazy?

[PlecMama]

Soooooooo....got this loach, and it flies about the tank like it's on speed. He looks like one of those long thin balloons you get at the office party that you blow up and let go and it whizzes all over the place, you know?

Now, I don't know a lot about loaches, it's a dwarf loach, I know that much - but for no apparent reason I thought they just sat about on the bottom or stuck on your glass, looking pretty. Is my loach possessed or is this normal loach behaviour?

We've started calling it "Psycho loach" and all he does, apart from tearing around the tank, is eat. The boy can do a noticable amount of cucumber in minutes.

Is my loach normal or is it derranged? I'll love it all the same....tell me the truth now.

 

[mikev]

No specific information on Dwarf, but very likely a standard reaction to new place:

Many loaches are nervous when moved to a new environment; for example, khulis may swim a lot, clowns may gray out and hide, some other loaches like Schistura may try attacking other fish. For khulis it may take days to settle down, for clowns it may be weeks.

 

[The-Wolf]

I think part of the problem is that Dwarf Loach/Chain Loach Botia sidthimunki
like many other botias need to be in groups.
is it possible you could get it a few friends.

 

[PlecMama]

Definately, if it needs friends, I will get it some. How many friends we talking here? I can order them to be here on Tuesday.

 

[Silverlady]

Hi i have two of these fish and they both shoot around as you describe.it just seems to be what they do.

 

[Animation]

Try to get a group of at least 3+

 

[The-Wolf]

I would say that a group of 3 is the least you need.
I had a group of 6 and they were just so adorable
playing together.

 

[mikev]

Hmm... You should read the page on loaches.com:

http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_sidthimunki.html

In the wild this loach lives in shoals that, unlike most other species of Botia, swim above the bottom- mostly in the middle water layers. It is active by day and night. In an aquarium, Dwarf Loaches can be kept in a small shoal in a tank with a soft substrate and a number of rocks and roots arranged to form suitable hiding-places. The water should be soft and should be replaced regularly.

......................

Groups of 3 are recommended as a minimum. A group of at least 5 would make the Botia Sidthimunki a very attractive group of fish in the home aquarium.

 

[PlecMama]

Excellent and thank you. Another 5 will be on order on Monday.

 

[smithrc]

Excellent and thank you. Another 5 will be on order on Monday.

then i'm guessing they are not sidthemonkis then as they are about £15 each...

if you look at the pattern on the side - can you see Y's and O's?
(Y's in silver and O's in black?

If so its a YOYO loach

 

[PlecMama]

....I might be extremely rich........




Right. I've searched Loaches online and can only find 2 possible candidates.

or

and it definately looks more like the second one, but he has morsecode on his sides, like " - - - - - - - " instead of a single line, almost on a red strip background. Like a single reddish line down his sides with perfectly square dots on it. He also has more dots in a line on top, sort of running down each side of his top, head to tail.

Any other possible candidates?


If I can catch it - which is unlikely, as I mentioned before, it appears to be on speed - I'll take a picture of it.

 

[The-Wolf]

as with all loaches the pattern variations are great, so I'm
going to say you have the dwarf loach.

when we had them instock at work they were £5.95 each

 

[Lateral Line]

I'm suprised to see B. sidthimunki on at £6, it is on the endangered species list and I haven't seen any for quite a while. Last time I did, they were very expensive. I was about to look to see if Monty had any at the moment, but the site seems to be down?

 

[PlecMama]

I'd like a positive ID on this little dude cos he's cute and I'd like him to have friends but I don't want to become an accidental accomplice in illegal loach trading...

I can't post decent pics because the pictures are rubbish, the camera is just no good for close-up work, now I've got Dan throwing a fit too because I put a loach in his Guinness glass. The loach probably isn't best pleased either and I don't have a pic to show you that doesn't look like this:

btw, the loach is back in the tank, eating like nothing ever happened.

 

[mikev]

I'm suprised to see B. sidthimunki on at £6, it is on the endangered species list and I haven't seen any for quite a while.

www.fist2u.com: http/www.fish2u.com/smdwarloacsi.html $15 US (about £8, I think).

So they do seem to be available. Nnnice fish...too bad, no room in my tanks...