Queen (Bengal) Loach needs buddies

[jenricae]

I have a single Queen Loach in my tank. I'd like to get him some companions.
i have med-hard water and i have noticed that Zebra loaches are better suited to the water. Would he socialize with the Zebra loaches?
Would he feel comfortable with a shoal of Peppered corys? They are very hardy and would survive in my tank.
Or should i just get 3 more Queen loaches?

[Mark in Vancouver]

To have any real long term success with B. dario, you're going to want to work on your water somehow. They really deserve to live in small groups and five is perfect - I only have three, but they interact amongst themselves more than most Botias except for clowns - if you count clowns as Botia.

I am not sure that hard water is good for the fish - but you might try dense plantings in your tank. I think that plants would offer a buffer of some use.

[jenricae]

Thanks.
I've tried to soften the water with little success and stability. I'd prefer to try and work with my harder water. I have only one Queen loach left and want him to be comfortable, but i don't to keep getting and killing more them if they won't do well in the water. Would getting Zebras or Peppered Corys help him feel socially comfortable?

[newshound]

I have never had much luck with corys grouped with loaches.
I have a big dario with zebras and kubs. No problems.
I do have a few more young darios in a Qtank at the moment...waiting to join the big guy. I don't know how it will work out seeing as the size & age diff.

[jenricae]

Does your Dario and Zebra's socialize? I understand that socializing is very important for Darios.

[Jim Powers]

I kept a lone dario with two histrionicas for several months and they got along very well. When I moved the three to a larger tank with more darios. I found it interesting that the dario that had been housed with the histrionicas, continued to hang out with them most of the time. Occasionally, he would run with the other darios, but preferred the histrionicas.

[merryn]

i had a clown and pakistani that went every where with each other, stripes and tiger. still have my clown but stripes dissapered after the black out ( my heater broke and the lights and filter went off for 3 whole hours)

[Mike Ophir]

I too kept a lone large dario...he was originally part of a group of 5 that unfortunately was killed off by some blood thirsty morletis which are now in the "aggressive" botia tank.

The dario got along well with modestas and especially B. striata. Could be due to similar coloration and body patterning but thats just a vague guess.

It could also be due to the fact that Botia striata and Botia dario hail from the same geographic distribution more or less, and members of the Botia genus who come from the Indian subcontinent tend to be peaceful, sociable animals in nature.

Mike

[newshound]

I have a single Queen Loach in my tank. I'd like to get him some companions.
i have med-hard water and i have noticed that Zebra loaches are better suited to the water. Would he socialize with the Zebra loaches?
Would he feel comfortable with a shoal of Peppered corys? They are very hardy and would survive in my tank.
Or should i just get 3 more Queen loaches?

I would avoid the corys. I once had some with zebras and they slowly died off.
I have a large dario in with 4 zebras of mixed sizes and two large kubotias. Never seems to be a prob. At feeding times the large dario is very nippy but that seems to be the way they behave.
In another tank I have two young darios with a young yo-yo. Although the yo-yo is 2x the size of the darios at feeding time the two darios keep the yo-yo way from the food!

[piggy4]

I'd tend to agree with Mike O, most of the Botia group seem quite sociable ! Dario's are wonderful fish and do tand to fare better in groups , so i suppose you should try and get a group of these wonderfully coloured fish , Queens they are and should be treated as such !