Which loaches?

[OohFeeshy]

After deciding not to bother with other non-bottomy fish, I'm going for loaches in the danio tank. Khulis would be the obvious choice, but I have 6 in another tank and would rather keep one species to a tank. So, can you reccomend a spcies? I can get yo-yo's, clowns P), I think chain loaches, red tailed boatias and probably a few more common species.

 

[LoachLover]

polkadot loaches, yoyo loaches, dwarf loaches, kuhli loaches, there are a lot of smaller species of loach, the trick is finding where you can buy them usually.

 

[The-Wolf]

try finding the not so common loaches
forget the botia species and look for sand loaches
like Schistura mahnerti or Nemacheilus masyae
to name but two.

 

[Snowman]

I have a couple of Batik Loaches known in NZ as Zodiac Loaches (Neomacheilus triangularis) Zodiac Loach that have cool personalities, they do chase each other a bit and have a bit of a go at the gravel vac sometimes which is funny to watch. They seem to get on well with most other fish and look cool perched on their fins.
One of my fav loaches at the moment would be the Angelicious (Botia kubota) Angelicious which seems well tempered and gets on well with all the other fish.

 

[STEVIE]

What about a lizard loach.They are really peaceful.Mine never chases or bothers anything not even a guppy.

 

[modernhamlet]

If you can get the chain loaches, by all means, keep them. They are very small and everyone I've ever talked that has kept them says they're a really entertaining fish to have a school of...

 

[LoachLover]

I have a couple of Batik Loaches known in NZ as Zodiac Loaches (Neomacheilus triangularis) Zodiac Loach that have cool personalities, they do chase each other a bit and have a bit of a go at the gravel vac sometimes which is funny to watch. They seem to get on well with most other fish and look cool perched on their fins.
One of my fav loaches at the moment would be the Angelicious (Botia kubota) Angelicious which seems well tempered and gets on well with all the other fish.

[snapback]906824[/snapback]​

Batik loaches are one of my favorite, very cool loaches.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmm, I seem to remember batik loaches there too.... How many would you reccomend with 8 danios?

 

[Snowman]

The Batiks look staunch perched up on their fins, quite awesome, i would start with a couple and see how they go, they don't seem to be a schooling loach like clowns etc but in my opinion have a lot more character.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Are they particularly skittish? I mean, I'm deco shopping at the moment, do I need to get something with lots of hidey holes, or are they fine with only a few?

EDIT- I've done a bit of reading (as you should ), and most websites say they prefer to live on their own, or you can only have one to a tank unless its a big tank. Also there seems to be a bit of a hoo-haa on size, some places say 3'', some 5''. So, what is the truth?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Bump. Want this answered before it disapears into the abyss

 

[The-Wolf]

ok
firstly the correct scientific name is Neomacheilus triangularis.
yes they prefer to live a solitary existance and max reported size is 7.8cm (3")

Zodiac loaches Mesonoemacheilus triangularis are a different species
and often confused with Batiks, I think this is where the size inconsistancies are comming from as Zodiacs can rach 15.2cm (6")

both species can change to a very dark brown colour when water conditions are not optimal.

HTH

 

[OohFeeshy]

Thanks Wolf, all the websites I looked at were Neomachellius. I like them, but I'd want more than one .