Zodiac (Batik) Loach is mean! Help!
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2012 3:37 pm
Hello
I have a few loaches in my tank 2 Golden Dojo (Weather) Loaches, 1 Black Kuhli Loach, 1 Zodiac (Batik) Loach. At the moment all are pretty small and in a ten gallon tank until the Weather loaches get larger I'll be relocating them to a much larger 55 gallon tank. Also i have 3 neon tetras, 3 guppies, 1 ghost shrimp, 4 cherry shrimp. The issue i am having is that for the most part my community is peaceful and friendly.. However the Zodiac is certainly a "King of the hill" he torments everyone else in the tank with the exception of my Kuhli (They seem to be best buds).
Now i love my loaches and really don't want to get rid of anyone but I'm not sure what to do with the Zodiac to calm him/her down. He has even nipped the fins almost completely off of one of my guppies (I watched him do this! Terrible!) I know that for certain fish you can put them on a fishie "time out" and it tends to reduce this behavior overall but in my searching online to find an answer to his "I own everything" behavior I've come up empty. So i am asking all of you! Some say add more of the Zodiac loaches some say the opposite. Others say a bare bottom tank others say more hiding places..
Also please note that i have sand substrate in the bottom of my tank for all of them to dig in and plenty of hiding places for each to call their own. I also don't feed them anything live in fear of encouraging aggressive behavior.
I have a few loaches in my tank 2 Golden Dojo (Weather) Loaches, 1 Black Kuhli Loach, 1 Zodiac (Batik) Loach. At the moment all are pretty small and in a ten gallon tank until the Weather loaches get larger I'll be relocating them to a much larger 55 gallon tank. Also i have 3 neon tetras, 3 guppies, 1 ghost shrimp, 4 cherry shrimp. The issue i am having is that for the most part my community is peaceful and friendly.. However the Zodiac is certainly a "King of the hill" he torments everyone else in the tank with the exception of my Kuhli (They seem to be best buds).
Now i love my loaches and really don't want to get rid of anyone but I'm not sure what to do with the Zodiac to calm him/her down. He has even nipped the fins almost completely off of one of my guppies (I watched him do this! Terrible!) I know that for certain fish you can put them on a fishie "time out" and it tends to reduce this behavior overall but in my searching online to find an answer to his "I own everything" behavior I've come up empty. So i am asking all of you! Some say add more of the Zodiac loaches some say the opposite. Others say a bare bottom tank others say more hiding places..
Also please note that i have sand substrate in the bottom of my tank for all of them to dig in and plenty of hiding places for each to call their own. I also don't feed them anything live in fear of encouraging aggressive behavior.