keeping several species of loaches together

[Gasper]

hello everyone im new to the site and I was wondering if I could get some honest opinions on which loaches would do well with the ones I already have. I currently have a 135 gallon aquarium with an Oscar,severum,2 lima shovelnose catfish,a pleco, walking catfish, 3 clown loaches and 1 blue botia. ive been meaning to get more clowns and blue botia but ive held off because my 265 gallon aquarium is coming in 2 days. when I set up the new tank I want to get 3 more clowns and 3 more blue botia. I also want to get another 4 or 5 of a different type of bigger loach. which type of loach would u guys think that would do well in my aquarium or do u think that the tank would be over stocked. I have a fluval g6 that does around 600 g an hour and a fx5 that does around 900 g an hour for my filtration and I also have a power head that's not hooked up right now. any info would be great, thanks in advance. Gasper. I alo forgot to mention that all the fish get along great with no problems

[Diana]

Loaches are better in a larger group of the same species, not mixed groups.

[mattyd]

Loaches are better in a larger group of the same species, not mixed groups.

Diana, I a have a tank of mixed loaches, with multiple kubotai, striata and sidthimunki loaches, along with a single shistura mahnerti and a pair of Homaloptera smithi in a single 4 ft tank.

Would I be better of seperating them into individual tanks to species only? I would have probably only 6 dwarf chain loaches, as I recently lost a couple. I have 12-15 kubotai loaches, again, I lost a few recently to some unknown disease. And I have about 10 striata loaches. (I medicated my tank for over two months with proper courses of different drugs and finally ended up killing off whatever it was that was making my tank sick). I have the tanks to seperate them if necessary, but thought they'd be happeir amongst themselves.

Would they all become more socially active if they were in a species only tank?

Matt

[Diana]

Some fish seem to accept other species as their friend well enough to answer their needs for schooling, but it is an individual thing. Most Cories, for example seem to be quite accepting of a mixed school, so I would say go for it if the fish were Cories. But Loaches are not always so agreeable.

If your Loaches are out and about and playing together then they may be just fine.
I would give some thought to optimum water conditions, temperature, water flow sorts of things, and to what will happen when they are mature. Some fish are more aggressive or territorial, some more predatory, and this can be worse as the fish become adults, and particularly bad when the fish are different sizes. Perhaps reading through the info here at Loaches about each species you have can help.

[davo]

I have had many species together of loaches-the only ones that didn't like others was the Skunk Loach-they chased and nipped the other fish-I have 7 types right now that all are good-they interact with or ignore quite well with one another-I have Clowns, Yoyo/Chain, Burmese, Batik, Red Tail, Kuhlie, Striped Loaches

[davo]

Don't worry about keep them together-although as I mentioned I found that the Skunk loach was mean to the other loaches-if you see one type going after the others then I would separate that species-otherwise they should be fine together!!!

[davo]

Some fish seem to accept other species as their friend well enough to answer their needs for schooling, but it is an individual thing. Most Cories, for example seem to be quite accepting of a mixed school, so I would say go for it if the fish were Cories. But Loaches are not always so agreeable.

If your Loaches are out and about and playing together then they may be just fine.
I would give some thought to optimum water conditions, temperature, water flow sorts of things, and to what will happen when they are mature. Some fish are more aggressive or territorial, some more predatory, and this can be worse as the fish become adults, and particularly bad when the fish are different sizes. Perhaps reading through the info here at Loaches about each species you have can help.

I just don't agree Diana-I have many Loaches of varying ages that play very well together-now if you see them picking on others like the skunks do then separate them, I guess because I have been keeping different kinds of loaches for over 10 years with only the skunks being mean to others I don't understand why you make like its such a problem-did you ever really try or did someone scare you into believing it before you tried-(No offense though Diana-just asking)

[NancyD]

I agree with Diana, just because they get along (for now at least) doesn't mean different species wouldn't prefer to be in a group of their own kind. I don't think a species per tank is necessary if there are several of each sort & tank space of course. My "minimum" is 6 of any of the social loaches, more is better. You're missing some of the fun of keeping them if you only have 2 or 3. Their pecking order works better with more fish to spread out dominance fighting too, not just an alpha & an omega.

[davo]

Totally agree Nancy-except for the "for now"-11 years of keeping mixed species has proven they do get along fine no matter the size-but getting them when they are little would seem to be a better idea so they grow up together and except for the skunks of course!
I really need to work on getting more of the same species together for sure-I hope to be able to get a bigger tank and will look at getting 6 or more of the same types-this is something I haven't done and should have done-mainly because of the cost, but since I joined I realize I should have a few more of each species so they can do their dances and all that they do when they have more of their own kind-I have seen some awesome pics and videos of this, and regret not doing it long ago-also now that I have many different kinds my tank is pretty full so I cant really add more without risking over crowding-this is something I am glad I learned from joining and cant wait to be able to do so

I try to have at least 3 of each and they do have fun, just not as much as more would have for sure