Loaches Online Forum

Hi there...

So, I've had so much success with my clown loaches since finding this forum & making it through my inital "learning curve" <eye roll> I really wish my LFS would have educated me properly PRIOR to selling me these babies, but at least I've taken the time to learn about them & care for them properly. I've actually become quite obsessed with them & additcted to giving them great care!

Well, to the point, shall we?

Today we just "rescued" a singular Yoyo Loach from a person who was giving it away on a local Buy-Sell-Trade group on fb... we have him/her in quarantine right now, but I was wondering about their schooling habits/prefrences. Will they be happy with the clowns as their school or do I need to get 4 more Yoyo's?

Please, advise, thank you!!

Read the below info and it should answer some of your questions. Good luck with the yo-yo.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-almorhae

I have yoyos and a number of other loach species in one tank. Here's how I see their interaction:

Clown loaches: Play with other clowns, rarely even noticing any of the other fish.
Yoyo loaches: Keep to themselves for the most part, but will occasionally interact with the other loaches and catfish.
Other botiine loaches (kubotai, histrionica, rostrata): Mix and match freely with each other and often try to do the same thing with the yoyos, though not always successfully.

My recommendation is to get at least another two yoyos to keep your original one company.

Thank you to both of you for your replies!!

I dosed the tank with Levamisole last night because I feel like he just looks wormy... or heaven forbid... like he might have dropsy. Despite reading the threads on how to attach photos I still can't figure out an easy way to do that? However I can give a description that most of you very knowledgeable loach keepers will recognize. His belly is really fat, but otherwise he has that sunken in look above his eyes & down his dorsal area. =( However, he's SUPER active & interested in food & brave & friendly & super happy. I"m guarded but hopeful.

I tried to give them a little bit of food this morning & you can tell he has NO IDEA how to eat off of the bottom. He was battling the fish at the top of the quarantine tank & mostly gulping air. So he missed out on the brine shrimp, but I also put a small piece of algea wafer in there. He nibbled on that & now looks SUPER BLOATED!!

Ugh... I hope if he does have worms that the Levamisole worked & he is strong enough to pass them.

I did indeed read that article before I posted here, but when I reread it I noticed in that paragraph it does say that they're happiest in a bunch of the same. It's not as easy to spot as the big bold red writing on the clown article!! LOL

Any other suggestions would be very helpful... Thanks again!!

Okay... I started an account with photo bucket.

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r69 ... 827256.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r69 ... 27b43f.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r69 ... 758cc0.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r69 ... 47471c.jpg

http://i1362.photobucket.com/albums/r69 ... 474bbd.jpg

Hope that works?!

We can see the links, but if you use the "Img" button at the top of the reply box, instead of the "URL" button, we'll be able to see the pics right on this page.

For example:

This URL:

"http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... ropped.jpg"

shows up like this when I use the URL button:

http://i1245.photobucket.com/albums/gg5 ... ropped.jpg

and shows up like this when I use the Img button:



Hope this helps. Also, if you use the preview button (next to "submit"), you can see how it will look ahead of time.

Also, nice looking yoyo you've got there.

ACK!! Sorry! I'll try again... thank you for the tips.

So, you think he's okay looking? I thought he looked a little sickly & bloated? If not then great!! Leavmisole was prophylatic then LOL!

I'll keep you guys updated & thank you so much for being patient & kind to me!

Amanda =)

I'm no expert, but to my eyes he looks like a relatively healthy juvenile yoyo with a bloated belly, as if he's just enjoyed a large meal. He isn't showing the "knifeback" appearance commonly associated with skinny disease. However, it's hard to judge by photos alone.

He does resemble my own juvenile yoyo pictured above, who was and still is quite healthy.

Keep with the treatment (if you haven't completed it already), it can't hurt. If he does have internal parasites, the levimisole should do the trick.

RIght on... thanks again for the support. <3

ALSO for teaching me how to post photos <3 I think I'll post some of the rest of my fish now too!!