True abino weather loach is a bottomless pit

[Darkmarc]

My albino weather loach is more like a hungry hippo, he eats EVERYTHING besides other fish. He's more obcessed with eating than my other loach. Does it have to do with his size? Is it normal behavior?

[Diana]

Is s/he getting too fat?
Is/are the other(s) healthy?

a) The others may be eating more food out of sight so they really are eating about the same

b) If the one really is eating more, but not getting fat it have something wrong so is not benefiting from the extra food.

c) If the ones that are eating less are not a healthy weight they might have something wrong.

Just looking at the pic, the Albino looks fat. Overfed.
The fish in front of the Albino... is this even a weather loach? Look at this link, and do some research about similar fish (some are not named Cobitis) that look similar to weather loaches, but do not grow so large. I do not know which fish it is, this link is just a suggestion of where to look to see if maybe the spotted loach might be something else.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/co ... nia-taenia

[Darkmarc]

Is s/he getting too fat?
Is/are the other(s) healthy?

a) The others may be eating more food out of sight so they really are eating about the same

b) If the one really is eating more, but not getting fat it have something wrong so is not benefiting from the extra food.

c) If the ones that are eating less are not a healthy weight they might have something wrong.

Just looking at the pic, the Albino looks fat. Overfed.
The fish in front of the Albino... is this even a weather loach? Look at this link, and do some research about similar fish (some are not named Cobitis) that look similar to weather loaches, but do not grow so large. I do not know which fish it is, this link is just a suggestion of where to look to see if maybe the spotted loach might be something else.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/co ... nia-taenia

I apologize but my phone is giving me a hard time posting images. The smaller guy is definitely a loach though, besides size and color they are the same. Both loaches were given to me by my brother when he got rid of his tank over six months ago. I feed my tank a balanced diet and try to keep their food interesting for them. Nothing goes in the tank without the albino trying to gobble everything up. He'll even gobble along the top of the tank trying to eat everything at the top where the other loach will usually wait until things sink to a lower level. I've also noticed that while eating shrimp pellets along the floor you can see food particles coming through his gills. The smaller loach will follow closely and try to catch food as it comes out the others gills.

[Darkmarc]

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[Dojosmama]

Since your albino dojo looks fat, I would be more concerned that the other tank members are able to access food when you feed them. When one fish is a hog like that, the others are at a disadvantage at feeding time, and may not get enough to eat.

I had that happen awhile back, when I had three dojos in my 65. The two larger ones were older. I had them for a long time, and still have them. I introduced a new, smaller and younger dojo into the tank, and it was always having to compete for food, often unsuccessfully, because all the other tank residents would hone in on the food and prevent the newcomer from getting any. I also have Rosy Barbs that are voracious eaters, which have been in the tank for as long as the established resident dojos. The poor little newcomer kept getting pushed out of the way at every turn whenever it would try to eat.

You may have to put a partition into your tank to physically separate the hogging dojo from the others at feeding time, then feed each side of the partition separately so everybody gets their fair share.

Every now and then, one fish gets so greedy that it becomes problematic. Looks to me like this is what's happening in your tank.

Dojosmama

[bhansai]

We have the same problem with the albino we adopted. It was a young, though mature, adult when we purchased it and slightly smaller than the other dojo we already had. It quickly outgrew our other dojo and became so fat! It and our Siamese Algae Eater are voracious and eat from the top. The older dojo, who is at least 4 yo, just stays at the bottom and eats all that falls down.

[Diana]

Not good for fish to get too fat. They store some of that fat in the liver, and then the liver is less capable of doing its job.

[Dojosmama]

From what I'm seeing in the pictures, your albino is vastly larger than your spotted dojo. Your albino is obese. I would suggest temporarily transferring him to a separate cycled tank with water parameters matching his regular tank, and start putting him on a diet, there. Only feed him every other day, and minimally. He might not like that, but it's crucial for his health that he return to a normal size and weight for a healthy weather loach.

If you have a separate 10- or 20-gallon tank, transfer some of your regular tank water into that, and transfer over some of your cycled filter media, and ONLY put your albino loach in there, and nothing else. After he has lost some of his excessive heft, try returning him to your regular tank. Hopefully, he will have developed the habit, and need, to eat considerably less.

If you are overfeeding your regular tank to begin with, stop doing that. General overfeeding contributes a lot to obese fish. They won't consume what they don't receive. Just try giving them less food, and feed less frequently. Fish can go for a day or two without being fed, and still be fine. In the wild, their food supply is always unpredictable, so they've evolved to take what little they can get and make the most of it. I'm not saying to starve your fish -- just cut down a little. That would require your albino dojo to eat less, too -- if less food is available.

If he stays obese, our albino dojo will suffer health problems, and his life will be shortened.

[Farrand]

From what I'm seeing in the pictures, your albino is vastly larger than your spotted dojo. Your albino is obese. I would suggest temporarily transferring him to a separate cycled tank with Crazy Bulk parameters matching his regular tank, and start putting him on a diet, there. Only feed him every other day, and minimally. He might not like that, but it's crucial for his health that he return to a normal size and weight for a healthy weather loach.

That;s a good idea. I did that with mine and he lost weight. Never though I would have to put a fish on a diet to lose weight lol.

[RichardHurst]

We have the same problem with the albino we adopted. It was a young, though mature, adult when we purchased testogen it and slightly smaller than the other dojo we already had. It quickly outgrew our other dojo and became so fat! It and our Siamese Algae Eater are voracious and eat from the top. The older dojo, who is at least 4 yo, just stays at the bottom and eats all that falls down.

Most are not true albinos ?

[PhilipBlount]

My albino weather loach is more like a hungry hippo, he eats EVERYTHING besides other fish. He's more obcessed with eating than my other loach. Does it have to do with his size? Is it normal behavior?

I think it is his normal behavior but usually size matters. If the size is big it will eat more. If the size is less it will eat less. Loaches does not like to eat fish.

[KellyHolley]

Since your albino dojo looks fat, I would be more concerned that the other tank members are able to access food when you feed them. When one fish is a hog like that, the others are at a disadvantage at feeding time, and may not get enough to eat.

I had that happen awhile back, when I had three dojos in my 65. The two larger ones were older. I had them for a long time, and still have them. I introduced a new, smaller and younger dojo into the tank, and it was always having to compete for food, often unsuccessfully, because all the other tank residents would hone in on the food and prevent the newcomer from getting any. I also have Rosy Barbs that are voracious eaters, which have been in the tank for as long as the established resident dojos. The poor little newcomer kept getting pushed out of the way at every turn whenever it would try to eat.

You may have to put a partition into your tank to physically separate the hogging dojo from the others at feeding time, then feed each side of the partition separately so everybody gets their fair share.

Every now and then, one fish gets so greedy that it becomes problematic. Looks to me like this is what's happening in your tank.

Dojosmama

hi Dojosmama
I agreed with you but, The Weather loach may not be the most flamboyant of fish, but its fascinating