Found some striata, Pics-Vids(Update)

[LoachOrgy]

ok here they are. there are 6 total.


i noticed now that one of them seems like it has skinny disease. i felt bad leaving him there for death. these guys have been there for quite some time and they havn't been bought yet. so im hopefully going to fatten the little guy up. here are some videos of them along with some pictures. the 2nd picture you have to zoom into, but its really cute. these guys are very playful. so far they love the jet current. i put it on as low output as i can with bubbles here and there. they love it..

i might name one of them lenny the lunatic! lol...





videos uploading in a min


http://youtube.com/watch?v=DlAjYsBiuY4


the loachy dance. these guys are a bit small but i cannot find them anywhere. i think that i would take better care of them than a 1'x1' aquarium they were in. i saw algae wafers in the bottom of the tank. i fed them an algae wafer and they ate a litte. these guys are tiny. im not used to it. i may get a small ac unit tommorow and run this tank for a bit till they get another 1/2" or so before putting them with the clowns. they can hardly handle the current right now. one of them actually took some bites out of cucumber. but i removed all food they didn't eat. i can see them in the dim light and they are loachy dancing up and down the sides of the tank. i did another two water changes from 55 gallon loach tank water to the 10 gallon qt tank.

[loachmom]

I'm glad you got them, LO. Now we can all watch them thrive under your care.

[LoachOrgy]

does anyone know how long i should wait before i put these little guys with the clown loaches?

they are a bit small. biggest guy is 2". but i had to get them. they don't carry them anywhere else. they all seem very playful so far. they are eating algae food and a few are trying the cucumber. I was thinking since they are so small that I actually let them live in this tank for a few months to allow them to grow a bit.

if thats the case i may go get an aquaclear unit today. something small for a 10 gallon.

right now the ac70 is at its lowest output with bubbles spurting every few seconds. the loaches will swim against the current up and down against the glass. these little guys are very curious. if i sit in front of them for a few minutes they get brave enough to come right up to me. and when i pull out the camera, they come right up.

[Emma Turner]

Very nice, LO. I would be inclined to wait at least a month. As mikev has already mentioned elsewhere on LOL, many (but not all) shipments of Botia striata seem to be carrying something nasty at the moment, depending on the source. If there was a problem, I think you would expect to see it within a month - look for lethargy, clamped fins etc.

Good luck with them!

Emma

[LoachOrgy]

Thanks emma. Emma, the lfs has had these guys for several months. Most likely if I remember correctly, 6 months at most. I saw them several times thinking they were red tail tiger loaches. They had them labeled as such. But I go into that lfs once a month at least. So I have been keeping an eye on them recently.

btw, they love that little barn. tis there house! i caught a few cleaning it already.


Does anyone think I should treat the tank with levimasole hcl? I ordered a bottle of it today. I have one very skinny pup! Hope he survives.

[LoachOrgy]

It has only been a bit over two weeks in the qt tank but I could not wait any longer. These guys look very healthy and are eating everything I give them. They group together and loachy dance and I hear them clicking when they eat cucumber. They were very cooperative during the move and when they went into the bigger tank they were so excited.

When I put them in the tank they immediately started loachy dancing all over the tank back and forth. They just made themselves at home and were playing with the clowns, cory's and cherry barbs. They even are going right in the pvc pipe side by side with the clowns.

Here are some vids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVHj1PXxvy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgkh2-bFLzs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKFZNUjhiPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSrwT7k2kxo

[Graeme Robson]

They certainly look happy and healthy!

Superb!

[LoachOrgy]

I am so happy I picked up these little guys. I woke up to a giant loachy dance. It was almost like the solar system if that makes any sense. The clowns were the larger planets like jupiter and saturn and the zebra loaches look like little moons hovering around them.

[helen nightingale]

great news that they are getting on well. they have nice markings too

[mikev]

Very nice, LO. I would be inclined to wait at least a month. As mikev has already mentioned elsewhere on LOL, many (but not all) shipments of Botia striata seem to be carrying something nasty at the moment, depending on the source. If there was a problem, I think you would expect to see it within a month - look for lethargy, clamped fins etc.

I am not as brave as LO. My group is at 40 days right now, still confined to a qtank, and will stay there a bit longer, just to make extra sure....even if there are no reasons to suspect that nasty thing: very active and always hungry. The problem with the "nasty thing" is that since we don't know what it is we cannot guess the incubation time...we only know it is longer than 3 weeks.

[LoachOrgy]

Mikev, your absolutely right. I should have waited. If something bad happens I guess I will learn the hard way.



These striata have been at that lfs for close to 6 months if not longer. I have kept an eye on them for several months. But until I lost my 4 clowns I didnt' even consider buying them. This store doesn't usually order any striata or yoyos or restock them very often. They do order the clowns often but that is what most people guy. There were a tank of yoyos next to these guys that took almost this long to sell. I don't believe these guys are big sellers around this area. But the loaches were in the same tank and there were this many 6 months ago. They had them labeled as red tail tiger loaches. I thought this was what they were originally until I started looking on the species list here at LOL. Ill keep my eyes on these little guys. I been watching them non stop since I put them in.

Plus these guys hide everytime you go to their hidden tank at that store. I think this may be why no one bought them.

[mikev]

LO,

I learned the bad way. On June 16th, I got four Striata's that looked perfect and were in the store for three weeks. The store has pretty good reputation, probably the best in NY.
They did have the darn plague.

I fought it for more than a month, using pretty strong drugs, then, after 3 weeks of seemingly stable situation, relaxed the drugs a bit, and ended up bleaching the qtank... the drugs suppressed the bacteria, but did not eliminate it.

This Striata disease is particularly nasty... it is actually the worst disease I've seen yet, since there is no clear way on how to fight it.

[wasserscheu]

HI LO, when I meant "setting them free" it was based on the Clown-compatability issue, in your other thread. Sorry that I was not aware that quarantine lastet only 2 weeks - I am defenitely with Mike on that.
However, considering the lf´s-time as q-time is an potion - but a risky one as we never know what other fish the put in there, and the dealer may use the same tools for infected and healthy tanks (transfer risk). Now, if that makes you "feel better" I´ve done a risk evaluation myself and simply skipped quarantine occasionally, but it is necessary to mention, that it is/was a high risk and may wipe out your collectrion.

Hi Mike, thanks for sharing your important observations.

[mikev]

Hi Wolfram,

thanks. Your point about long stay not offering any guarantees is fully valid, fish goes in and out and may be healthy for six months and then catch something unpleasant the last day. I'm specifically paranoid about nets (this was the source of another disaster earlier on, involving fish quarantined for more than a month, but infected shortly before I got it), so I buy a net first (<$1), and then ask the store people to use it...low-cost insurance policy.

Just like you I do risk-evaluation. I would not skip quarantine entirely, no matter what, but I would occasionally quarantine together if all looks good... so the worst-case scenario is to lose a qtank (this is what happened with Striata's). The problem with risk-evaluation is that we always do it on insufficient data....

LO, the chances are that you will be OK now, but be really careful and slow the next time. I've had about ten wipeouts in qtanks, all connected to loaches, and it is not worth it to endanger the animals you already have to provide a tiny bit of extra comfort to the new ones.