what Botia?

[jonboy8465]

Hi all. I went to 1 of my lfs at the weekend and found they had some Botia Striata, there was a total of 9 in the tank so they were all baged up. Then in another tank i spoted a load more Botia so i purchased 6 of these but i`m not sure which ones they are, In th excitement of finding loaches in my area i forgot what the label said can somebody help? The manage explained that Loaches don`t sell in this part of the country as everybody goes for plecs or catfish.
What other loaches will live with these in a 5 ft tank?







The one i do remember Botia Striata.

many thanks for your help.

[raecarrow]

The ones in the first pictures look like B.almorhae to me. Really cute!

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/bo ... yo%20loach

[jonboy8465]

Thanks rae i`m glad you said that as i thought the same. I was hoping a more experienced loach keeper could confirm it. Will take more notice of labels in the future. they are rather cute arn`t they? same as the b striata.

[raecarrow]

I have both B.almorhae and B.striata. They are both funny little species. All of mine are around 2 inches right now but i've read that the B.almorhae get up to 6 inches and B.striata up to 4. I'm going to need to get a larger tank for my Yoyo (and the buddies I will be getting for him soon) because they will be cramped in my 3ft tank when they get older.

[raving_wayne]

lovely pics

my Yoyo is now 5inch and is gorgeous and the defo do like room mines in a 450litre tank and im still thinking bout looking for a bigger tank lol

i have yoyo, clowns, kulhi, striata, kubs, b.modesta, sumo and a few hillstreams all in the same tank and they all get along fantastic hope that gives you some idea of what ya can have with em

also what part of the country you in?
cuase its murder finding decent loaches in kent
rave

[jonboy8465]

thank you for your help thats given me a few to look into. definatley great fish to watch. i`m mid sussex , i only know of 1 ma store that gets them in. is it not possible to order a specific fish from your lfs?

[palaeodave]

Nice fish. They look very small (in comparison to the cucumber) so I'm surprised to see the patterning linking up like that...

[mickthefish]

i don't want to put you off this fish, but i suspect it could be a hybrid.
i had some that had the exact same trident markings behind the gill plate.
if you check where these fish come in from, if they say czech import then they are hybrids.

mick

[raving_wayne]

you not that far from me then, i can order fish via my LFS but they seem to want to charge a little on top for it all the time. might have to take a drive over to your area sometime and see what they got lurking in there tanks lol

Rave

[palaeodave]

Sorry to see I'm not the only person who thinks the markings are odd

[Emma Turner]

I also thought 'hybrid' as soon as I saw these. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they came from the Czech republic.

Emma

[helen nightingale]

the ones in te top photos look like normal sort of B. almorhae markings, but i am not sure about te nose shape. the bottom few photos, the markings dont look quite standard, but then B. Almorhae dont always look standard!


whether they are hybrids or not, they are very pretty, but if they are, watch the agression levels. last time i saw hybrids ina shop tank, they did look extra feisty.

[jonboy8465]

Thank you all for the advice. next time i`m in their direction i will ask where they come from. Any idea why they are producing hybrids, is it an accident or are they playing around with nature to produce something different? I still think they are lovely active fish but will watch for any aggression.

[Emma Turner]

It's no accident, unfortunately.

[mickthefish]

here's a couple of pics of the one fish i kept , mainly cos i could'nt catch it.
but it's a good reference pic so it stays for the meantime.
but check out the upside down trident just behind the gill.
and how much it looks like yours.



mick