queen botias?

[wuvmybetta]

I went to my lfs a little while ago just to buy some melafix...but then I saw these loaches in the back and they were soooo cute that I had to have them, I took all they had which were 9

I wasn't sure which tank they'd go in since my 29 is full, my 50 is intended for breeding some L200's that are in there, the 42 has plenty of room but the water is hard since it holds cichlids but luckily I had just bought a used 20 a few days ago so I quickly set it up with some cycled water from my bettas 10 and water from the other tanks and a penguin 170 that I had laying around. I had no gravel so I quickly rinsed out some river sand that I had left over from the 50.

Now they're in there swimming around happily and just oh so cute, the shop keeper told me they were queen botias (?), they resemble clowns slightly but have thinner stripes, about 12 stripes a piece...anybody have the scientific name so I can do some research on them?

 

[Alien Anna]

They're not Botia helodes (Banded-loaches) are they?

If so, Baesch describes them as "A restless, aggressive species whcih is easily frightened. A night-feeder, it hides during the day", "...should be kept in company only with fish of the same size or larger." Later on, he says "...Does best kept alone" and remarks that prefers "live foods, including small fish".

I do hope you haven't got 9 fish that need to live alone!

Their adult size is 8", incidently.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Hiya
No, it took awhile to find a pic but that's not them. They're colored orange and black just like clowns with bristley noses just like clowns, they have 10 stripes each with clear finnage, they're also about an inch and a half a piece, any ideas? I'll search loach.com in a while

And what's so bad about keeping them in a species tank? , my clowns live alone ...practically, they share with 14 khulies but they're never seen so they might as well be alone and they're extremely happy

 

[wuvmybetta]

found em, they're botia dario
Thanks for your assistance