Loaches Online Forum

Ok, I hope I don't get flamed for this - but I "traded out" of my Clown loaches

Yoyo loaches have only been available in Australia for about 6 months (if not less), and my new 3 yoyo's have just come out of their extra quarantine (they're quarantined a month before heading to where I get my fish, then quarantined again for 2 weeks before I could pick them up... I'm assuming they'd be quarantined after arriving in Aus as well).

I wasn't allowed to get another tank (I probably have to move in 7 months time, so probably just as well I wasn't allowed to get another tank - I did try for the past 2 months, to convince the bf that I REALLY DID need another tank, but alas.... ).

Rather than overstock (and have 3 CL's & 3 yoyos), I did a straight swap.
I was expecting to have to get a new tank for the CL's as they got bigger (which would have probably caused as many issues as suggesting I get another tank ), but I now feel guilty about saying goodbye to my CL mates, especially the "little skinny guy" that recovered to be as big as his two "big brothers".


As for my new loaches... The yoyos are so cute! Not to mention active

Apart from one yoyo finding a hole in my driftwood that I didn't know existed (and getting stuck ), they seem to be settling in ok...
I've read www.loaches.com for info about the yoyos, but if anyone else wants to advise (warn? ) me about things related to these guys, I'd much appreciate it.

TL of these yoyos is about 3"....

Mine you can set your clock by. I just moved them into a larger tank. At 3pm they come out for the day and start working the java moss and playing
among themselves. They were very thin and small when I first got them back in September.


There seems to be two different types here or perhaps m/f. Two are very rotund while the third one is darker in coloration and more streamlined.
Here they are in June.

The smaller of the three is now 3 1/2 inches in length while the others are 4 inches. They love their veggies.

Wendy your yo-yo pics look good . mine dont stay still long enough for photos. what sort of veggies do they like?

Right now they are munching on some zucchini I put in. They love shrimp wafers, some algae wafers, and some bio blend wafers.

Help!!! My stomach is in the way! I cant move!

Hmmm....Botia derigable?

Martin.

I think I know 'who ate all the pies' !!!

Brilliant photo's everyone
After my photography failures with my CL's (3.2mp digital camera, don't be concerned if you missed them), I'm not game to try to get a pic of the Yoyo's

My yoyo's aren't interested in peas, zucchini, cucumber, freeze dried brine shrimp or the sinking wafers - my CL's loved everything...
All my yoyo's want to eat are the tetra crumbles, frozen blood worms & "Wardley tropical fish flakes"...
Is this a problem at the moment?
I'll keep going with trial and error - do you think they'd like some apple (is apple safe? do you cook it first?)


Aside from that - my water is screwy
I didn't know until today (smack me!)

When I picked up my fish, the guy at the LFS told me that because our local water is "very soft", I needed to get some conditioner crystals (put minerals into the water).
I took his word for it.

Up until today, my pH had always been around 7.0 (6.8 - 7.2, thereabouts... 7.0-7.6 from the tap)... I think my driftwood & plants must help lower my pH
I'd never tested for calcium hardness.

When I did my water change today, I tested the tap water, & on my test it looked about 7.2-7.6 (my test kit only goes to 7.6) - I asked my bf to test it with his kit (he has a kit for swimming pools), and it came back at 7.8-8.0

I also asked him to test the calcium carbonate (his big kit does that too, I found out )...

From the tap - less than 20ppm! (Something about counting drops & multiplying by 10... it changed immediately on the second drop)...
I looked up our water supply info - my normal water supply has a hardness of 12-13 ppm That's like, <1 dH
And yes, my tap water has a pH range of 7.0-7.6 (seems my test kit must be about right).

I added some of the water conditioner crystals (thinking the LFS guy was right, water is too soft) - I added a "pinch" per 20L, just to see what it did...

Calcium went up to "30-40" (changed on the 4th drop) - which is about 2 dH... My pH, however, went AWOL (above 8... bf's kit only goes to ...

Anyone got some ideas on how to raise my dH and lower my pH at the same time?