My New Skunk Botias

[espo]

Hi folks

Just wanted to share some photos of my new acquisitions. I purchased 5 skunk botias two days ago. This is my first experience with loaches other than clowns. I've been reading a lot of bad reviews of these critters, but I must say I am absolutely loving them. They have more character than any other fish in the tank. They can be a little nippy on occasion, but they mostly stick to themselves in the bottom third of the tank.

I did a water change today and three of them clung to the crevice of a rock and fell into my water bucket. Hilarious. They are safe and sound now, of course. The best is watching them converge on a shrimp pellet, trying their best to eat it without being attacked by the much larger blue gourami, who's not crazy about his new tankmates.




By the way, kudos to the forum administrators. I love the look of the re-designed forum. This is probably the most attractive of the forums I use. However, if I could make a little suggestion: I would find the forum a little easier to navigate if the postings were divided into categories.

Cheers,
Espo

[Graeme Robson]

However, if I could make a little suggestion: I would find the forum a little easier to navigate if the postings were divided into categories.

Interesting point! I've often thought of that myself. Well said!

Superb pictures and additions.

Let time go by and see how your Y. morleti proceed!

[espo]

However, if I could make a little suggestion: I would find the forum a little easier to navigate if the postings were divided into categories.

Interesting point! I've often thought of that myself. Well said!

Superb pictures and additions.

Let time go by and see how your Y. morleti proceed!

Thanks Graeme
Your last comment sounds ominous though, like it should be followed by an evil laugh: Let time go by and see how your Y. morleti proceed! MOOHOOHAAHAAHAAAAAAAAA!

Do you know something I don't. Am I going to wake up tomorrow to find every fish strewn on the gravel, innards hanging out, mouths curled in a blood-curdling scream. I hope not.

[Mark in Vancouver]

Sinister they are not. But they'll fight for dominance with any other bottom-dwelling fish, loach or otherwise. They will also fight with each other, with extensive audible clicking noises and quite violent standoffs.

Five is the right number, I think, but when they show up in the shops in bigger numbers, they're pretty placid.

I recall a photo of Y. modesta caught in a net in a stream... Thailand? They were very densely populated in this river, obviously. Maybe these guys expect to be in huge shoals rather than with four competitors in a fish tank. Either way, you'll see some pretty bullish behaviour. Keep an eye on them and if you don't see your other fish, due to terror, find a solution.

[mikev]

When a fs here put Skunks into a tank with Odessa Barbs (perhaps 20 of each), no Barb died. The bad news are that within three days no barb had undamaged fins...I don't think a single fin on any barb was left alone... The good news are that Skunks looked very happy and healty.

I'd be afraid that gouramis have very appetising fins...In my tank, they even attracted B.Kubotai's who are not supposed to be fin-rippers....

[espo]

Hmmm, this is all very interesting. At the moment they actually give the gourami much respect (although, I have seen him dart rather suddenly a couple of times, come to think of it). As I mentioned, they had to scurry away from him as they were trying to devour a shrimp pellet because the gourami kept chasing them away.

When I first dropped them in the tank they chased the tiger barbs a bit, but I am not seeing much of that behaviour anymore. Besides, I figure it's poetic justice for tiger barbs to have THEIR fins nipped for a change.

Mark, do you think it's a good idea to have more than five in the tank? I was actually considering bringing the number up to seven. I just assume all loaches are kind of like clown loaches, and feel more secure in larger numbers.

Does any body else here keep skunk botias? Would love to hear some experiences.

[fusQer]

that is a great great picture. i too had skunks (3). they went from my 55g tank to a 30g african cichlid tank to a 10G species only tank (just the 3 of them alone) and finally back to the LFS for some plants. i dont miss them one bit, but they do look very cool. but they are ASSholes!!! i think they would bite my eyeballs out in the middle of my sleep if they could

[JonGuerriero]

Nice pictures and a nice pickup on the skunks. I have 3 in a 40 gallon long with a rainbow shark and a b. helodes. I had originally bought only 1 skunk, but damn they can be mean and really seem to need their own company. The only other time I've seen skunks around here they are babies, so I bought 3 (1 didn't make it) and grew them out in a 20 gallon long before adding the to the 40. They pretty much keep to themselves in this tank, but the Rainbow shark is constantly harassing them.....not a problem though, becuase they can handle themselves just fine

Most of the decorations in their tank are some large smooth rounded rocks that I bought ($20 for 25 lbs.) from a landscaping supply company. They love hanging out in the crevices between the rocks, just like in your pictures . I also have a few giant danios and a couple of tiger barbs (remnents of a shoal ) in the tank with them. I would be careful if you decide to add any dither fish to the tank.

These guys are very active and fun to watch, just don't keep them with slow moving fish becuase they will probably get nipped at. In my opinion, if you have the space for them get more.

What are you feeding them? Mine will eat anything I put in the tank including fresh veggies and anything frozen that you can think of

[espo]

Hi Jon

Thanks for your input.

What happened to your shoal of tiger barbs. I had several losses a few weeks ago as well. They all seemed to get some kind of fin rot. However, I managed to save 12 of 18. They are doing very well now, thank goodness.

The skunk botias sure are interesting. This morning a couple of them seemed to be chasing the tiger barbs around. I think, like most tropical fishes, more of one species tends to lower the aggression toward others. I think I'll give it a try. I'm going to pick up 2-3 more. It's only a 35 gallon tank, but I do weekly water changes, and I think it can handle the load. I'll let you know how it goes.

Could you explain the second picture you posted? Why are the skunks in that separate tank?

[JonGuerriero]

Espo:

The shoal of tiger barbs peaked at 8 when they were dither for my clowns. They seemed to eat themselves to death, it was to the point where I couldn;t feed the clowns until after the lights were out becuase the tiger barbs would eat EVERYTHING! They just got really fat and died....

The second picture is just something I found while looking for the other picture I posted. It's the 3 skunks I bought as babies moments before I dropped them into the QT. I did have some problems feeding the skunks as babies, they would only eat bloodworms and then only if I dropped a few in at a time near the filter output so they could see them floating in the water. Actually, what killed the 1 baby skunk that I lost appeared to be starvation. He just never took to any of the foods that I use.

IMO, you'll be best served by keeping the skunks in odd numbers.

[espo]

Hi Jon

Wow, I know what you're saying about the tiger barbs. I've tried to get some bloodworms to my skunk loaches but they don't have a chance. Even if I drop 2 pieces in, the tiger barbs just swarm all over it. I swear there are times when I can't even follow the cube. I just seems to disappear all at once.

I've just added another pair of skunks to the tank. I'll see how it goes. They certainly are feisty little guys. I don enjoy watching them. I hope I can keep them.

What's your opinion about adding a Red Tailed Black shark? I had one that died during the Tiger Barb Disease. He was my favourite.

[Lotus]

I only have one skunk (I think there's only one) left from a group I had. The others had some nasty worm parasite, and one turned out to be another kind of loach (possibly B. splendida) Mine have always been pretty good tankmates, with B. modesta, B. kubotai, angelfish, swordtails and some plecos. I've never seen mine bother anyone, or see damaged fins. Maybe I just have a chilled out one. He doesn't even really hide like he did when he was small.

One thing I did find out about them is that because they're so slim, they fit into cracks in driftwood, etc. One day I took the driftwood out to do some maintenance, put it on top of a bucket, and a few minutes later heard a "plop" as he came out of his crevice! He was only about 1" at the time.