Botia Robusta?

[pedzola]

So tonight I went to the fish stores and made some purchases to fill my new tank. I am basically using the new tank as a quarantine tank for all of these new fish, as I won't be adding my existing pets until later on.

I purchased 4 clown loaches (sorta funny lookin clowns, but thats all I've seen around here lately... ), 15 cherry barbs as dither fish, and 2 yoyo loaches. They were all placed into the new 75g tank along w/a 90g dose of bio-spira. We'll see how that goes.


Anyway, as the store employee was preparing to bag the 2 "lohachata botia" loaches, I noticed that one of them didn't really look like a yoyo. Instead of "Y o Y o" on his side, he had more like upside-down Y's. And he was a little more yellow. I took him anyway.

So I just got home (the new tank is at my parents house, which I'll be moving back to next month... ) and looked up the loach...

He looks JUST like this:

http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/bo ... usta2.html

Can anyone give me any details on this loach? How big do they get? What is their temperment? What is their preferred water temp? etc? Is this loach rare?

Thanks!

[Martin Thoene]

Sinobotia robusta, to give it it's correct name is native to China and parts of Vietnam. It lives in slightly cooler conditions than Clowns, with a max of around 75F being desirable. They are not fussy about water parameters, just avoid extremes.
They are very inquisitive fish that like lots of nooks and crannies to hide in and search in for food. They'll eat most regular foods with relish.
They can be territorial, but mainly with their own kind so need plenty of hidey holes if kept with others of their species.
I kept one with some Botia dario without incident a few years ago.

Martin.

[pedzola]

Thanks for the info!

I really prefer to keep the tank a little warmer for my clowns and yoyo's. Maybe I will return this little guy to the store... although he is very cool.

He was immediately active in the tank... he began searching for food right away, and chased around the *real* yoyo loach for a bit.


On second though, maybe I should give him to my roommate. He's got a bunch of praecox rainbows which apparently like cooler temps as well. I'm sure he would go in that tank.


Thanks again for the info!