Page 1 of 2

Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:23 pm
by botiaboy
I was wondering if someone knows where I could buy any sinibotia species besides robusta.... they are my favorite group of fish but I can't find them for sale.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 3:01 am
by Greek
I have to say that - if you want to keep those Sinibotias with clowns (as I can read in Your signature, You currently keep them), You should think it over, cause their temperature requirements are completely different.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 7:58 am
by botiaboy
Ohhhhh wow that sig is half a decade old :lol: I would be keeping the sinibotia in a low-end tropical (73 degrees) tank with heavy flow (700gph in a 55) and otocinclus and glowlight tetras as tankmates. I don't have any clowns anymore and all my botias are in a separate tank.

Still looking for a place to buy sinibotia though.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 12:05 pm
by Greek
Haha, so that's great! :P

To give You a lil' consolation I can say, that here in Poland I've never seen any sinibotia - even robusta! :shock: That shows how rich selections of loaches we've got here. From one month i'm searching for some striatas - without any effect :cry:

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 2:43 am
by Bas Pels
Greek, you might want to try Germany. I live in the Netherlands, that is on the other side of Germany, and I find quite a lot of Botia, among which striata, in the shops in nearby Germany

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 12:02 am
by NancyD
In CT, I'd ask Uncle Ned in Millis, MA or the "puppy mill-ish" (my words!) place near W. Hartford, CT, I don't recall the name. Then there's always aquabid or wetspot aquatics for mail order (likely expensive shipping but may be worth it in the right weather season).

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:56 am
by mikev
Just keep checking Aquabid and local stores.

They are not really RARE, simply not an item that is imported all the time, so it may take a few months or a year.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2015 8:01 am
by botiaboy
NancyD wrote:In CT, I'd ask Uncle Ned in Millis, MA or the "puppy mill-ish" (my words!) place near W. Hartford, CT, I don't recall the name. Then there's always aquabid or wetspot aquatics for mail order (likely expensive shipping but may be worth it in the right weather season).
Oops, that's not accurate either anymore... I live in Maine now, where good fish selection goes to die... The wonderful "Unrestricted Fish and Wildlife" list.

I'll keep checking around online, thanks everyone!

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:02 pm
by botiaboy
Hi, I'm still looking! This is listed as botia histrionica but it looks like sinibotia to me, probably robusta but maybe something else?

http://bluegrassaquatics.com/loach-boti ... gular.html

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 10:08 pm
by NancyD
Well, not b. histrionca for sure. I have "heard" of bluegrass...email them & see what they say. It's an awful time of year to ship fish to ME or any other cold weather place, keep that in mind even with heat packs.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:31 am
by botiaboy
NancyD wrote:Well, not b. histrionca for sure. I have "heard" of bluegrass...email them & see what they say. It's an awful time of year to ship fish to ME or any other cold weather place, keep that in mind even with heat packs.
It's definitely not any of the sinibotia I want. TBH I went through the entire loach book and the species index on here and couldn't find a satisfactory match... Sinibotia Robusta is my best guess.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:07 pm
by Greek
It seems to be Parabotia fasciata - a little bit scared, young specimen.
I have to ask - what is Your goal, why You need them? You said that You need sinibotias, so You should faultlessly identify them as their fan :lol:

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:22 pm
by botiaboy
I need them because they're my favorite fish of all time! Except robusta, I don't like robusta! That's why I wasn't sure! And sometimes you want something to be what you want it to be so badly it clouds your judgement.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:24 pm
by mikev
botiaboy wrote:Hi, I'm still looking! This is listed as botia histrionica but it looks like sinibotia to me, probably robusta but maybe something else?

http://bluegrassaquatics.com/loach-boti ... gular.html

ok.... here is what is known about Bluegrass: everyone I know who tried to buy from them had problems. Lucky people (like myself) simply do not get their questions answered, so no sale and nothing worse happens. Not everyone is so lucky.

Now, if you happen to buy from Bluegrass and get healthy fish (unlikely), beware that you are buying fish imported by Segrest with price marked up > 3x times. Your store may be able to order from Segrest direct, cheaper and avoids Bluegrass as intermediary. BUT: Bluegrass copies all the errors Segrest makes in identification, compare your listing with this entry:

Original Segrest listing

Segrest has a lot of crazy ID errors so I'd not comment on this fish declared as b.histrionica ..... I'd say that if you cannot find ten obscene errors in Segrest catalogue within half an hour, you don't know much about fish. :P

And very importantly there is no certainty that the photo is of the fish they have.

Re: Where to buy sinibotia

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:59 pm
by botiaboy
Ok thanks for the help mike! I'm keeping space open for sinibotia anyway, so I wouldn't order them.