Polka Dot Loaches

[iain.betson]

hey
is it ok to put polka dot loaches in with rainbows and khuli loach?
there will be millions of little hiding places for the khuli loach

 

[Bloo]

Yep indeed ! I currently keep that happy combo.

 

[wendywc]

Oooh, nice! That's a combo I would like to do also.

 

[iain.betson]

Yep indeed ! I currently keep that happy combo.

cool what size tank and fish numbers?
any pics?

Oooh, nice! That's a combo I would like to do also.

well loks like you have an empty 55g there. goota be an option?

 

[Bloo]

cool what size tank and fish numbers?
any pics?

47.5 US gallon
3 Botia Kubotai (Polka Dots)
1 (Lone) Kuhli - I had two more but they both got mangled in the Juwel internal filter (hence since removed)
2 Red Rainbows and 1 Boesmani Rainbow

They were in my sand tank first, but then went into the larger tank

 

[iain.betson]

cool what size tank and fish numbers?
any pics?

47.5 US gallon
3 Botia Kubotai (Polka Dots)
1 (Lone) Kuhli - I had two more but they both got mangled in the Juwel internal filter (hence since removed)
2 Red Rainbows and 1 Boesmani Rainbow

They were in my sand tank first, but then went into the larger tank

cool pics
i never seem to have much luck with pics, always blury. any tips?

 

[mitchie]

I love the rainbows!

 

[mikev]

bloozoo2,

There is something fishy about polkadots and it bothers me....

There are really two types: yours is mostly a black fish with a little white; the five of mine are mostly white with a little black...yours is prettier, imho, but this is not the issue.

It is very hard to believe that they are the same species...

 

[Bloo]

something fishy hey ?
I know what you mean - and I'm convinced too that they vary greatly in dot size and distance, depending which part of a river they come from. But that said, they are all said to fall under the same scientific name of Botia Kubotai.

If you just look here, you will see many many different patterns.

Edit: and also remember that their dot size and spacing differ and change greatly as they mature.

 

[mikev]

Yeah, I know the loach.com page, and I have a problem accepting it. Loach.com also thinks that there is only one yoyo species and we know this to be false.

The way the pattern changes cannot account for the white-on-black and black-on-white varieties; I've seen mine growing, and actually someone on loaches.com documented these changes with a couple of series of photos -- they are not that radical.

It is not fully clear from the B.Kubotai's paper (Kottelat, 2004) which of the varieties he described (he has five illustrations in the paper -- all five are the "more black" type), and until someone shows that the two (or more) kinds actually interbred, we don't know if this is one species or several.