after several hours and many cramps...

[sophie]

(ok, so I'm exaggerating a little. but these are the hardest fish to photograph; most of the pictures I took
came out looking as if they were dojos; all elongated and blurred to sand-coloured. I was reduced to using flash,
spit, eurgh, and these are not great. but I took them, dammit, and it required WORK!) I rearranged the tank fairly considerably
after over a month of no maintenace other than water changes, and they've been very out and about.


three of them at once during a brief pause in the fight for an algae wafer:
(sadly the reflective spot is right on the fin. sigh.)




look! I'm sitting still! but I'm right at the back of the tank <evil laughter>




and I'm sitting still too. but I think I'm hiding.




I still think I'm hiding. that's becuse I can't see you through this eye. In fact, this eye is missing.
(I know this isn't a good picture, but it never ceases to amaze me how well this fish recovered from a really grizzly accident)



they sit, perfectly still, in wonderful poses at the edge of the tank, for hours, and then I get the camera out.
bah.

[Emma Turner]

Lovely looking specimens, sophie!
You should post pictures more often! I like no. 2 perched on top of the bogwood, he's a beauty.

Emma

[sophie]

thanks, Emma!

in real life there is a lot more contrast between their dark markings and the light background; the camera under flash loses that -
I think because it brings out a gold tone to the lighter background. shame, I think they're miles prettier in the flesh - but they
can't half MOVE! I had several attempts at videoing them, and they just whizz past. I want to sort the tank out so that it has
a couple of mezzanines, as it were, to give them a bit more playing space.

a query: I seem to remember reading that the females are more reticulated than the males - is this the case?
it's certainly very much so here, the two that have always said "yoyo" down their sides have remained slim (and smaller,
one distinctly so) and the two more reticulated ones look like they've swallowed a marble apiece - even after a fortnight
with only one meal when I was away. also, the female with one eye went almost uniformly black when she had her accident
and has remained a lot darker than the others (a kind of reverse greying out...) Do you happen to know if this is usual?

I'm really enjoying having these a lot

[Mad Duff]

Nice photos and nice fish Sophie

The loach in the 4th pic looks a little angry, all he needs is the red eye and it would look demonic .

Mark

[Mark in Vancouver]

Hey Sophie. Nice pics. I know just how patient you have to be to get even a moderately good shot of these little squirmers.

On the females being more reticulated... I don't personally buy this. I think reticulation has more to do with regional differences in the fish. Look for a rounder belly both laterally and in cross section on your female Botias.

[kimby]

I think they're great pics sophie. thanks for sharing.

[suya1]

Thanks for the lovely pics Sophie. My favorite one is also picture # 2. I've also had trouble taking pics of my clown loaches. They move too fast for my camera.

[shari2]

Based on my experience it seems that the females reticulate sooner than the males. there should be some kind of metaphor there...but I digress.

I don't think that ultimately they will be more reticulated, just that the change happens faster in females.

[Graeme Robson]

Great pictures Sophie. Regional differences is a must. Here's a picture from HH, showing just one river system that they live in.

[Pickerel]

Hi Sophie,

Beautifull rocky tank bottom ! (I hope not beeing ambiguous or disrespectful,so if it' s the case, i apologize beforehand...)

Could you shoot a wider picture to let us see ?

Generaly speaking, yoyos tends to darken under stress conditions, territorial problems, unadaptated water parameters, or any trouble.

While we're on the subject, wouldn't it be any relation between colors, dominance and domination ? For exemple, in my tank, the dominant female yoyo has most of the time very clear and contrasted scheme, while the dominated 2 younger females(?) are paler and never gets gravid.
My most beautifull yoyo wich is, i assume, a male, constantly wears a perfectly contrasted glossy silver and deep black scheme. He is not under any domination, living is own little live and almost ignoring (and almost ignored by) the rest of the school.

Are your yoyos acting the same way ?

Cordialement,
Dom

[sophie]

Hi Dom,

both males grey out when feeding - the dark bits go paler and the pale bits go a little darker; they also do this when resting out in the open sometimes. but the injured one went almost completely black when she damaged herself and is not a great deal lighter now - I have no photos that show this, only video clips and they're in an odd format I can't upload

the tank is very bare at the moment; it's low light so I yanked out all the horrible algae ridden plants and added a bucket full of stones that I brought back from the pays du galle. I want to put something in at the righthand side and give everything a bit of height. If I can find the right bit of wood I'll be laughing; or I might go the stones and silicone route. The loaches like it a great deal as it is, the single female gourami is very nervy though and while the rasboras look ok I think they might well prefer more cover. it's "in progress" and very empty right now though; a couple of (poor) shots below: