Why Won´t My Yoyo Loaches Eat Bottom Feeder Pellets?

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

After posting and then re-reading:

I think honestly the greatest aggressor at the moment is my hillstream loach who often attacks the yoyos. I have no idea why she has become so aggressive, she used to just hide under her slate, but its not a active aggression she only does it when they get close to her.

Sounds pretty normal, s/he's made that spot their territory, and only chases off others when they invade it. Just an adult doing it's thing and protecting their spot in the tank!

If you can't manage a bigger tank, a 30g would be perfectly fine for a group of dwarf chains. But I would, sadly, suggest returning the two yoyos, and searching for more dwarf chains so the single dwarf chain has conspecifics, and will suit your tank size. I truly think two yoyos is a bad idea long term, for them and others in the tank, since without a large enough group, they'll dominate each other, and take it out on other tank mates too, especially a smaller dwarf chain. They'll annoy the hillstream too, and likely any upper level fish you have.

But a 30g is too small for even two yoyos, and they need a group too, which means a bigger tank.

I'm genuinely sorry if it's not what you want to hear, and of course, it's your tank, and your decision. That's just my two cents.

 

[Magnum Man]

I don’t have, or ever had yo-yo’s… but I do have an “ark” load of Hillstream loaches… which are more sucker mouthed than a yo-yo, but I feed frozen brine shrimp cubes, I thaw them in a dedicated shaker bottle, and several other prepared foods… most seem to particularly like the brine shrimp, and Bug Bites, which I mill in a dedicated mortar and pestle, into a coarse dust… Repashi Soilient Green, is also a favorite of the fish.. I also supplement with Bacter A E, once a week, ( I mix that up in a shaker bottle as well, as it’s a powder ) even bigger fish love that, I have a medium sized kissing Gourami, that will swim into the cloud, when it’s poured into the tank, and sits there sucking in as much as it can get, until is disperses…

I’m not really a fan, of any pellets, that are too big, for a particular fish to eat multiple of them… some fish will sit there and work them over, but some will not mess with them, until they soften up, and often someone else will eat them 1st ( at least in my tanks )

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I don’t have, or ever had yo-yo’s… but I do have an “ark” load of Hillstream loaches… which are more sucker mouthed than a yo-yo, but I feed frozen brine shrimp cubes, I thaw it m a dedicated shaker bottle, and several other foods… most seem to particularly like the brine shrimp, and Bug Bites, which I mill in a dedicated mortar and pestle, into a coarse dust… I also supplement with Bacter A E, once a week, ( I mix that up in a shaker bottle as well, as it’s a powder ) every bigger fish love that, I have a medium sized kissing Gourami, that will swim into the cloud, when it’s poured into the tank, and sits there sucking in as much as it can get, until is disperses…

I’m not really a fan, of any pellets, that are too big, for a particular fish to eat multiple of them… some fish will sit there and work them over, but some will not mess with them, until they soften up, and often someone else will eat them 1st ( at least in my tanks )

What about the behaviour? OP is saying his hillstream loach has become more aggressive lately, but only when they get close to her spot in the tank. Normal territorial defence, you think?

 

[Magnum Man]

Hillstream loaches love lots of water movement, so if there is not a spot it likes in the tank except for that one, it’ll likely defend its turf… also typically Hillstream’s like lots of others around, if you don’t have a group of them, perhaps you’ll see more aggressive tendencies, like is often associated with other schooling fish, without a school…

Since I don’t have yo-yo’s , I hadn’t read the thread… did the OP list what Hillstream they have???

 

[anewbie]

Well in the OP case i would either keep the one yoyo or rehome it and not buy any more. I definitely would not buy one more as keeping just two is worse than just one. My aquarium is much larger of course but all the loaches pretty much socialize together - the yoyo are full grown and of course at 5 the clown loaches are just kids. The tank has enough room that they can sep or hide if one is picked on. I will say i have one bossy female clown loach who has its own little cave and won't play much during the day but when she wants to play she will go to all the other caves and wake everyone up and insist they join her in a swim. There was a particular male her same age that she would have to bite on the tail to get it to come out.... but after a while he got the message either join or be bitten.

 

[oceanArnold]

I get it, I know it can be rough!

But... not to encourage you to get into multiple tank syndrome, but perhaps a good opportunity to look about and see if you can make some room for a larger tank? A 55g-75g would do for a group of yoyos, and that's not much bigger than the one you have already, and tons of tanks going for cheap on Gumtree and FB marketplace

Even if it's a plan for later - they'll still be quite small right now since juveniles, and you don't want to wait too long and risk stunting their growth, but if you can do it in six months to a year and upgrade the tank size, it'll be more suitable for the size yoyo loaches reach, and for a group of them, possibly with the dwarf chains too, depending on the rest of the stocking and how they seem to get along.

It does sound as though you're doing all you can to make it loach friendly!
And please, don't take any of this as meaning to be critical of you, at all! Just want to help, and hopefully help you have long term success for you and your fish.

I'd honestly love to have dwarf chain loaches, but they're pretty expensive! How many do you have?
You could ask the store if they'd order some in and reserve them for you, most half decent stores will. If they won't, there are other stores and online sellers that would love your custom.

I don't have a lot of experience with hillstream loaches I'm afraid, only recently got my first one that's no trouble. There are a few different species though, so if you can get photos or video of yours, someone here will be able to ID it for you!

If the behaviour is new, might be reacting to changes in the tank (worth testing your water, if you have a test kit?) or it might be because it was a juvenile and is now maturing, and showing more territorial behaviour/searching for a mate, and being more bossy as a result. I think @Magnum Man has hillstreams and would have more insight than I do!

Seriously Fish is a really reliable site, in a sea of misinformation, and have pages on most every species you're likely to find in the hobby, so worth remembering to check there, especially before buying new fish to add. But we're all guilty of impulse buying fish, don't worry, not judging you there! I recently accepted a spotted hoplo someone gave me, and it changed my plans utterly and means I need to get more! And that's a 4-5 inch fish, lol. So while I like him and will adapt to suit him, it wasn't what I planned, but I accepted on impulse when she insisted he'd be fine with just my cories! But since found out he really needs at least a female, and more likely a group.

I think with my hillstream loach its just that she is not social and yoyos are, she does not like that they invade her space.
And unfortunately I am doing all that ¨I¨ can do, my parents do not want a bigger tank and does not want to spend more money, I don´t even ask for more than fish food for Christmas so as not to push her buttons. Unfortunately I also have extremely soft water meaning that there is a very limited amount of breeds/species that I can have.
Betta Fish scare me because they always appear dead.
I am not a major fan of schooling fish so tetras are pretty well out (although I have 4).
I do not want aggressive´s.
So that kind of left me with Loaches and I learned that I really love Loaches.
Thus I have 1 Reticulated Hillstream Loach (they are territorial if you keep them with one or two other Hillstream loaches). 1 Dwarf Chain Loach, because at the time I had got him he was all alone and I needed something to clean up the snail problem in my tank (I have a under-gravel filter and the snails breed under it and come up through the gravel/ I also have a over the side filter). I have 2 khuli loaches (they also have just discovered the under-gravel filter which is concerning me). I have two Yoyo Loaches ( one is a female and one is a male, but they leave each other alone for the most part). I have one Panda Gara ( eats me out of house and home). And I have 4 Blue Tetras (they are fat because they eat everything).
That is everyone! And go ahead let the criticism flood, I realize I am not the best fish keeper, but I am just trying to make it work with whats available and what I have, I also have to keep it simple for my parents because in 9 months I am going of to college.
If there are only two fish in the tank my mom will want it taken down and I love certain fish a lot, my dwarf chain loach actually comes up to the glass when I sit down next to the tank ( yes I know he probably is not saying hi, but it feels like that because when I leave he goes back to searching through the gravel or hiding in his cave). I love my Hillstream Loach because of her personality. And my khuli loaches are way to fun (except when they do dangerous things). But both my parents said they would not keep the tank going if I was going to only have 4 fish and 3 of them they never see. So I figured that the tetras and yoyo´s we would see and I impulsively got the Panda Gara, because cute.

 

[oceanArnold]

Hillstream loaches love lots of water movement, so if there is not a spot it likes in the tank except for that one, it’ll likely defend its turf… also typically Hillstream’s like lots of others around, if you don’t have a group of them, perhaps you’ll see more aggressive tendencies, like is often associated with other schooling fish, without a school…

Since I don’t have yo-yo’s , I hadn’t read the thread… did the OP list what Hillstream they have???

Oddly my Hillstream loach, ever since the yoyos got put in the tank, has changed her ¨turf¨. She used to stay in her cave now she is on the back wall behind a up pipe from the under gravel filter. I honestly have no idea why she did this other than she and the knuli´s and Dwarf Chain loach were alone for a long time and she thinks she owns the tank. She is a reticulated Hillstream loach and was never aggressive before. The Yoyo´s just tick her off.

 

[anewbie]

It could be unrelated; it could be the hillstream feels more comfortable with more fishes in the aquarium. One of the value of dithers with dwarf cichild for example is that when the dwarf cichild see the dithers swimming it creates an impression that things are 'safe' and without the dithers they are more inclined to hide (or at least some species; some species come from areas where they don't understand danger).

I never heard of hillstreams being particularly aggressive. I will note that ANY fish that is hungry enough will become aggressive around food. I had a clown loach that i purchased that was particularly under-fed (spines where showing through). It would grab a pellet to slowly eat and any fish that approach it it would attack (it was approx 1.5 to 2 inches). After about a month and it had put on some weight it drop the aggression. I've had other fishes do the same thing around food. I remember once my upside down cat was eating a pellet; the stupid bn pleco had a pellet but saw the upside down cat eat another one so it decide that one must be better - well that upside down cat taught it a thing about trying to take someone else food. After about 15 minutes it got the message and never tried that trick again..... it was an epic battle - i really liked that upside down cat.

 

[oceanArnold]

It could be unrelated; it could be the hillstream feels more comfortable with more fishes in the aquarium. One of the value of dithers with dwarf cichild for example is that when the dwarf cichild see the dithers swimming it creates an impression that things are 'safe' and without the dithers they are more inclined to hide (or at least some species; some species come from areas where they don't understand danger).

I never heard of hillstreams being particularly aggressive. I will note that ANY fish that is hungry enough will become aggressive around food. I had a clown loach that i purchased that was particularly under-fed (spines where showing through). It would grab a pellet to slowly eat and any fish that approach it it would attack (it was approx 1.5 to 2 inches). After about a month and it had put on some weight it drop the aggression. I've had other fishes do the same thing around food. I remember once my upside down cat was eating a pellet; the stupid bn pleco had a pellet but saw the upside down cat eat another one so it decide that one must be better - well that upside down cat taught it a thing about trying to take someone else food. After about 15 minutes it got the message and never tried that trick again..... it was an epic battle - i really liked that upside down cat.

Ya, my hillstream loach will ram a yoyo if it swims up to look at her, but I think that the yoyo´s are starting to get the message ¨don´t introduce yourself the the spotted flat fish behind the up pipe¨.

 

[Magnum Man]

another thing, is perhaps its the oxygen level... Hillsteam's particularly like highly oxygenated water... adding other fish to the tank, could have lowered the oxygen level noticeably to the Hillstream, & it may be trying to take a spot of increased flow, or highest Oxygen level in the tank...

 

[oceanArnold]

another thing, is perhaps its the oxygen level... Hillsteam's particularly like highly oxygenated water... adding other fish to the tank, could have lowered the oxygen level noticeably to the Hillstream, & it may be trying to take a spot of increased flow, or highest Oxygen level in the tank...

That is highly likely, thank you, her new spot is over near the bubbler in my tank (it agitates the water and causes more surface area at the surface helping to increase oxygenation). If that is the case as long as I put a slate cave over there she should be fine.