Loaches Online Forum

I got a couple questions though.


I have a heavily planted 45 Gal tank with 5 caves. 0 Ammo 0 ites <5 ates. Ph 7.4.

I bought 6 Striatus Botia Yesterday. All seem to be happy and flying around the tank.

However, they are not schooling at all. They are all roaming around as indiviuals and occationally as pairs. Is this normal?

They also do not use the caves. They seem to all find seperate places amongst the plants. From what I have read I expected them to all huddle up in 1 cave.

They are skinny little guys and only about 1" long so I would like to fatten them up real good. At this point I cant tell what type of food they like the best because they do not seem to have figured out I drop the food in yet. So what type of food is my best bet?

ON EDIT: I think I actually am under estimating thier length I bet they are more like 1.5"

Congrats on the new additions!

I just lost my striata . I think it was velvet. But I can still answer your questions.

Its fine if they don't school. They enjoy each other's company but I found my botia-type loaches interacted with each other without actually schooling. Its good they're not schooling since it might indicate they were nervous.

Mine seldom used caves, either. Its nice to see them out and about, IMO.

Frozen bloodworms are great for fattening them up. Mine didn't eat at first, either, especially the first I added to the tank, but they figured it out within the first week.

Enjoy your new pets!

Congrats on the purchase. They are probably not quite settled in yet, their behavior could probably change over the first few days, weeks, or even months. Out of my current group of 7, 1 is seldom seen and hides (poor fella seems to have permanent damage being an individual specimen for over a year), but the other 6 are usually out and about. I'd have to say they are most commonly out exploring the tank in two groups of three. Sometimes I see a loner out and about but typically they do pair up or like I said usually triple up. Sometimes more.

Good luck with your new striatas!

My striata school pretty heavily, much more so than the b. kubotai. It may be because they are significantly smaller than the other botine loaches in the tank. They didn't school much in the Q-tank.

I've found that the botine loaches seem to prefer small caves and don't really seem to spend much time in large caves.

don't worry about what they are doing...heck from what most new loach owners say (ick etc....) you are home free.
if your loaches don't school I would guess that is a good sign
BTW youur loaches will behave differently as they age
my zebras aren't seen much any more as they are older and less "up front".

My striatas were that size a year ago but while taller now they have only grown about 1/2 inch. Mine still dance after bloodworms or other frozen food treat.