Needn't have worried about my snails

Alien Anna

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Hi Everyone,
well I got the chain botias (aka "chain loaches") from Tri-Mar. Sadly, since I released them into the tank I have only seen two of them. I'm worried that the third may have been crushed in the filter or something but they are very, very tiny and one could be hiding anywhere. I had been told they were about an inch long but I still visualised them as somehow fatter - they looked big in the photo!

Anyway, my fears for my apple snails seem a bit silly now. The chain botias are about 1/10th the size of the snails and I think they might have trouble with a baby wild trumpet snail, let alone a golfball sized apple snail. In fact, at one point I was worried the apple snail was going to injure the baby botia!

When I can afford it and Tri-mar have some in I might get some more. They are schooling fish, after all. They do grow to about 2" long but since that's 2" long and very skinny, they don't take up anywhere near the space I imagined. They are a bit stressed after their journey. The largest of the three is swimming about fairly happily but the middle-sized one spent his first few hours lying on his side, panting. He's now swimming more normally.

P.S. A "dead" cardinal has turned up, alive and not actually dead but swimming in an alarming fashion. He may make it till morning, you never know :(
 
Morning,

I have heard that these should be kept in groups of at least 6 - how many do you have at the mo? Having said that this website seems to think differently (some lovely pics on this site!).

Would be cool to see some pics if you ever see them again! I would like to invest in some more loaches as I love their 'personalities' and dwarf botias look scrummy!
 
platypus said:
Morning,

I have heard that these should be kept in groups of at least 6 - how many do you have at the mo? Having said that this website seems to think differently (some lovely pics on this site!).

Would be cool to see some pics if you ever see them again! I would like to invest in some more loaches as I love their 'personalities' and dwarf botias look scrummy!
Hi Platypus,
well I've still only seen 2 at any one time, but as my daughter pointed out, there is no guarantee they're the same 2!

They seem to huddle together occasionally, when resting, but when active they swim about independently. Their behaviour reminds me a little of my cherry barbs, who also "school" at night but are independent in the day.

I hasten to point out that this is a fairly heavily planted tank with loads of bogwood, so it isn't unusual for me not to see some fish for weeks at a time! Bit ironic really - you spend a fortune on some rare fish that you never see. :rolleyes:

I only got 3 because I was worried about over-crowding my tank - opinions seem to vary about their eventual adult size and how fast they get there. Monty at Tri-Mar felt they'd be fine given the type of tank I've put them in.
 
Bit ironic really - you spend a fortune on some rare fish that you never see.
Ha ha yep it's a killer - but I'm sure we all get satisfaction from knowing that the fish are happy, wherever they are. Or something! :p
 
- you spend a fortune on some rare fish that you never see

:lol: :lol: ..i have a Banjo Cat that I only see if I uncover him during a tank cleaning....he must be Ok though, he is about 2x the size he was when I got him.

As for the hiding loaches, if they act anything like my Queen Botias you may not see all of them together for a couple more days. I thought my smallest one got eaten, but sure enough 4 days after I got them they were all out at breakfast time.
 
I often don't see my skunk botias for days and days, and even then, only one will appear. If I think it's been a really long time since I've seen them, I'll blow some bloodworms directly to the bottom of the tank through a straw and see if it draws them out. It usually works. If it doesn't, I sometimes lift a few pieces of wood or slate to make sure I don't have any decomposing corpses around. Needless to say, they're both still there and one of them is getting huge. The other one seems 'normal' size. Maybe one is female?
 

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