shy zebra loaches

helen nightingale · Post by **helen nightingale** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:31 pm

i will comment more another day, i have had my bedtime orders just now

the most important thing i want to say is: if you want more loaches, get more striata!

jwyfk · Post by **jwyfk** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 5:42 pm

Great pictures, bslindgren!

I think these fish are very curious and stealthy. They always come to the front of the tank to check me out. I will definitely miss them.

helen nightingale · Post by **helen nightingale** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 7:32 am

i got 1 striata as my first loach. i had no idea they needed to be kept in groups, i got her from a reputable shop and was assured 1 was fine (but they did only have 1 in). she was very shy and i hardly ever saw her. i managed to get a second one after a while, and they were still quite shy. i now have 8, and would still like more.

fatty, my original loach, is the boss of the tank, and keeps my big yoyos under control now

she is very confident and swimming around a lot. one of my small ones has an eye problem on one side and i think the eye is blind. i only ever see it when its hungry and it swims in shady areas waiting for food. the others are not as bold as the yoyos or as nosy as the rostrata, but will be active at feeding time, and during the evenings. daytimes most of my loaches cant be seen at all. sometimes when we have visitors who want to see the fish, i put some food in, and only the bravest ones will come out - even though i have a yoyo who will dance at the front of the tank begging for food when everything is normal.

it is funny to watch several striata go over to get their sinking pellets, and pick whole ones up and carry them over to a quieter part of the tank. they have great behaviour when you do see them out, so please dont worry aboutthem being shy for now. hopefully they will get used to your house and your family's habits, and become braver soon. they MUST have lots of places to hide in - completely hide - or they will stay shy i think.

some fish seem to be daytime fish, others seem to be evening fish, you may find that yours are just more comfortable being out and about at a different time of day than you had hoped.

please make sure that if you want to get more laoches, increase the number of striata, it will help them get braver. i have watched mine get more confident as i have added more. if i could start again, i would have one big tank with just striata (lots of them!) and dither fish. they are very varaible in their markings, so they are always interesting to look at

bslindgren · Post by **bslindgren** » Sun Feb 01, 2009 7:21 pm

jwyfk wrote:Great pictures, bslindgren!

I think these fish are very curious and stealthy. They always come to the front of the tank to check me out. I will definitely miss them.

Thanks!

newshound · Post by **newshound** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 9:51 am

as loaches mature I think they tend to hide more
my striata are like this
and so are dario
infact the mature dario is only out during feeding times
i never see it otherwise

Ashleigh · Post by **Ashleigh** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 11:05 am

I found my striata to be shy back when they were kept with the almorhae (and also the clowns at one stage). They would be out and about here and there but you would never see the entire group (I had about 6-7 immature individuals at that time).

Upon making the difficult decision to choose between my striata and almorhae to setup a 'one loach species tank' I bought several more, this time up to 3inch adults. I have these in with a small group of corydora, a shoal of 8 Mystacoleucus Argenteus, kribs, few Apistogramma and oto cats, there are also 7 baby clown loach that are growing on until they are big enough to go in with my larger group.

Since moving them to their own tank and increasing numbers there is never a time that they are not on show-at least 7 are always out, usually more. The tank is in the kitchen so gets disturbed a fair bit-anytime someone walks past the front of the tank, they are out like a shot

Perhaps it is to do with tank setup or mix of species, why some people find theirs so shy? I agree with Helen in saying a larger group than recomended may make help them become more confident.

Ashleigh

karl71 · Post by **karl71** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:40 pm

I was thinking of getting 6 dwarf loaches as I've heard they are very active and this may bring out the Straitia a bit more??

Ashleigh · Post by **Ashleigh** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 1:47 pm

I think you should try and increase your striata numbers first before adding anyother species. Striata imo get over shadowed with more confident species. I would try get numbers up to 10/12 (try and get some larger individuals if you can) and see what that does.

Ashleigh

palaeodave · Post by **palaeodave** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:03 pm

Nobody has yet mentioned this for some reason - if you're looking to increase your numbers, it really would be a good idea to upgrade to a bigger tank. I think you're ok as it is in terms of numbers but I'm sure all the fish would appreciate a bit more running room, if you get what I mean. Could you post up a picture? Partly just because we all like pictures but also because I'd like to have a shot at identifying your 'siamese algae eater.'

karl71 · Post by **karl71** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 3:31 pm

I am really bad at taken phots. I have a video though of my tank but dont know how to post it on here.[/url]

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