Basil pic

[chefkeith]

Is Basil somewhat lethargic? Is Basil still active and feeds with the other fish?

[salva]

Hello!

I'm Salva from Barcelona (Spain). I really love clown loaches, and I have had some of them. My oldest botia is about 8 years old. Nowadays, I have 13 of them, from 7" to 2".

Bob, some years ago, I sent to you an email asking you for more pictures of your incredible Loach Hilton. I wonder if you could show it to all loach lovers?


I'm sad because Basil is an incredible fish, and I wonder if your other old and also enormous clown loach "Cybil" is OK? I don't remember exactly its name.

I hope it'll get over soon.

Salva

PD. I'm sorry for my english.

[bob d]

Basil is still reasonably active Chefkeith, and does feed with the other loaches, though not as aggressively as before and mainly for bloodworms. I have re introduced the tube to see if I can direct bulk worms at her, but she's a bit slow off the mark so far.
As for the gender thing, I will stop being lazy and call Basil a she. It was discussed on LOL years ago (if I remember correctly) and the general concensus was that Basil was misnamed, as I think was Sybil. I didn't want to rename them, but "Basil" and "she" did cause some confusion.
Hello Salva. Sybil is fine and very healthy looking. I will try and get some pics and post them. I'm afraid the loach hilton looks rather shabby now, compared to what it was. I ran out of patience with the plant destruction and now only have a few extra tough (and mangled) ones. The aquarium plant scene is not too good here really. Sounds like you have a good sized loach crew yourself there.

[Emma Turner]

Bob, I am having the same thoughts about the plant situation here. The big clowns bulldoze and destroy everything green and leafy - even the most ginormous Java Fern motherplants. Usually we replace them every 4 or 5 months, but it really isn't cost effective. Right now the tank looks quite empty (just stacks of bogwood that all the loaches sleep behind) but should have some more plants in over the weekend. I am seriously thinking this is the last time I will replace them, I may have to go down the dreaded 'plastic route'.

I'd also love to see more pics of your other fish.

Emma

[bob d]

I'll see what I can do with the pics Emma. And compared to you experts they will be snapshots I'm sure.
I've got buckets full of plastic plants from my various efforts to make the tank look halfway decent. They are a bugger to keep clean in a high load tank. In my case they never really worked so I gave up and now persevere with just a few live plants and some wood. When I look back at some of the early pics of my tank I can't believe how long it lasted before they got bored and started trashing it. I don't know what the answer is really.