Yo-yo loaches and tank size

[Rebekah1806]

Hi, I have a 64litre tank and want to house yoyo loaches but heard different things when it comes to how many and how much space they need. Would I be able to get any in my tank? Thanks all. I have three Celestial pearl danios, three guppies and few corys.

 

[CassCats]

They cannot be housed with your CPDs, they'd be lunch. And they shouldn't be housed with corydoras because botia loaches tend to be a little more on the boisterous, even aggressive side and majority of the common corydoras species aren't going to cope well with that. There's exceptions, but most hobbyists don't have those species unless they're already cory nerds (scleromystax, lineage 1, larger brochis, etc)

Yo-yos ideally need a good sized group and they get a decent medium size, so honestly a tank measuring 36 inch by 12 inches should be the minimum for a group as long as no other bottom dwellers. Larger is better. Yoyos have a mean streak as far as the botias go.

 

[Colin_T]

My yoyo (Pakistani dwarf) loaches grew to around 5 inches for the males and 6 inches for the dominant female (subordinate females were smaller and similar sized to the males). They were kept in a 4x2x2ft aquarium with lots of plants and an undergravel filter. They went down the filter uplift tube during the day and lived under the filter plates, coming out for food and when it was dark. They basically had a 2 story tank to play in with 8x2x2ft area. I had about 20 of them in the tank and they bred.

I gave my friend 10 for his tank (6ft long x 14 inches wide x 18 inches high) and his dominant female hit 8 inches long and the males were easily 6 inches long.

Whilst these loaches are sold as a dwarf loach, there seems to be some variation in how big they get. Some people say they don't get bigger than 3-4 inches but my experience is the ones I had got a lot bigger, and my friend's fish got bigger again.

The smallest size tank for a group of 6 of these fish would be at least 3 foot long and 4ft+ would be better. They also need to be in groups of at least 6 and 10 or more is great.

 

[powerdyne6]

I have 10 in my 75 Gallon tank. Personally I wouldn’t go any smaller of a tank for these fish as they like to swim. A 4 foot tank or longer is a must.

I have had these 10 for about a year now and they range in size from about 2.5 inches to about 3.5 inches. When I bought them they were no bigger than an 1/1.5 inches.

They are very playful and curious. Even when my hands are in the tank they will come right up to me and literally want to be held (I haven’t done this yet as I am actually a little scared of them lol). They sleep upside down, right side up and everything in between.

They are probably the coolest fish I have wver owned.

 

[Sleeveless]

I have 10 in my 75 Gallon tank. Personally I wouldn’t go any smaller of a tank for these fish as they like to swim. A 4 foot tank or longer is a must.

I have had these 10 for about a year now and they range in size from about 2.5 inches to about 3.5 inches. When I bought them they were no bigger than an 1/1.5 inches.

They are very playful and curious. Even when my hands are in the tank they will come right up to me and literally want to be held (I haven’t done this yet as I am actually a little scared of them lol). They sleep upside down, right side up and everything in between.

They are probably the coolest fish I have wver owned.

I put 7 in my tank a few months back, but think 1 didn't make it. I can always count 6 at feeding, but can never seem to get the 7. They are fast so I could just be missing it. Either way, these are such cool fish. Probably my favorite yet. The way they just decide "ehh, I'm going to fall over and rest" is funny. I had one lounging on a barrel decoration the other day on its side. Definitely glad I got them. They have grown fast though. Got them under an inch and the largest few are about 1.5" now