Yo-yo loaches

[pendragon]

Anybody have first-hand experience with yo-yo loaches, aka Pakistani loach (Botia almorhae, formerly Botia Lohachata)? They are supposedly great "personality" fish, prolific snail eaters and tireless scavengers. I am very interested in them, but I want to know more about their compatibility - more specifically, I want a few of an interesting scavenger fish for a community tank (largely medium-sized tetras), but my LFS guy says that yo-yo's should only be kept with barbs or gouramis, and will antagonize tetras to death. While I do understand that the personality of many loaches can vary in individual fish, I don't get the feeling that the yo-yo is an "antagonistic" fish. LFS guy says yo-yo's are solidly in the "semi-aggressive" category of fish, but I am unsure he's a conisistent source of accurate information.

Can anyone confirm or deny?

If I can't go with yo-yo's, I may get Kuhli's instead, but the yo-yo's would be much more "visible" and entertaining fish. Clowns get too large for my comfort in this application.

pendragon!

 

[noelberg]

My lfs actually recommended YoYos to me as the best bet for loaches in my tetra community aquarium. The Yo Yos are actually put in the community section with the tetras at this lfs. I have never kept them, but all accounts that I read/hear show that YoYos are one of the most passive loaches out there.
Also from what I read, kuhli's will be more visible if you get a few, since they are naturally gregarious.

www.loaches.com is my favorite loach site

 

[pebbles]

pendragon... i have 4 yoyo loaches in my community tank , since i have had them ,i have also had no snails!.good plus point.. the fish i keep include neon tetras , beacon tetras and black phantom tetras along with corys , gouramis ,molly and rams ,not forgetting the sae's and bristlenoses... havent had any problems with them , they are playful and always busy ..very entertaining... hope this helps.... pebbles

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I have 3 kuhuli's, 2 yo-yo's, a zebra, and a clown loach in my community tank. I always wonder what the LFS's are talking about, because mine mind their own business. They occasionally run into other fish, but just because they're clumsy, not mean.

 

[jams.alaskan]

Well sorry to say but my experience has been different. I have a single yo yo. Two years now and this last year he has taken to driving my two green barbs crazy! After any meal / water change / decoration or plant arrangement (ok so every time I'm watching) he chaces and nudges them for 10 solid minutes. They are often out of breath from the experience. The yo yo leaves all other fish in my sig alone.
Don't get me wrong - I love this guy. VERY colorful and fun to watch but it is true agression when it comes to the two barbs.... I've no idea why as the barbs never really ask for it and rarely even go near the favorite yo yo hangouts. Would I get one again - YES - but I wouldn't get the barbs too as it isn't fair to them. Who knew, it was peaceful for the first year.

ALASKA

 

[pebbles]

i always understood that it wasnt good to get a single yoyo loach . they like company of their own kind , maybe this is why it is displaying signs of aggression.

 

[jams.alaskan]

I think you're right pebbles... The lfs I got him from is gone however and the two that have started out lately haven't offered them. Neither of them have very many healthy tanks and I'll not be adding stock from them to my tanks in the near future. I don't want to risk the health of my tanks for yo yo's happiness. Poor guy but that's the breaks...

ALASKA

 

[millym]

hi there,
we have 2 yoyos in a community tank with neons,cardinals,danios,tiger barbs,corys,red eye tetras & shrimps & they dont bother anything. although i will say we had one yoyo for about 8 weeks by itself ( we bought a pair but sadly one died within 2 days & we couldnt find any others for ages at the lfs in our area) and he did take to chasing the corys occasionally whilst in there by himself, since we got him company of his own kind we've not seen him chasing anything & we do watch our fish closely. they do like to be in groups 2 at the very least. we would get more but have no room in our full tank. great little fish, real characters, but if you get some dont freak out if you spot them lying about on their sides on the tank floor, they seem to lounge around like this quite often & until we realised & got more info we more than once thought they were dead, we'd check them by poking a stick near them only to watch them swim off looking very disgusted with us nothing wrong with them at all..

 

[adcs]

My mum has a Yo-yo loach, 2 Red-finded blue loach (Botia Modesta) and a zebra loach and they spend half the day beating each other up!

I find loach are best if they're kept in shoals of their own species otherwise, they terrorise the tank.

 

[pendragon]

I've read someplace before that if you mix more than one species of loach they generally pal around together, but the pecking order tends to get "reinforced" pretty frequently with skirmishes here and there. I don't know if that's as common if you only have one species.

pendragon!