HELP I need to catch a loach

[Martin Thoene]

Oh lordy, call the Loach Police!!!

Just a Dojo Loach, and I am lost at sea, oh
My owner wants to say, she wants me out of here, oh
More difficult than a woman could bear
Try to catch me out or fall into despair, oh

I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Post upon this forum, yeah
Post upon this forum, yeah

A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the start
Keeping loaches may keep me together
Loach can mend your life but
Loach can break your heart
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I hope that I can catch my
I hope that I can catch my
I hope that I can catch my
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah

Woke up this morning, don’t believe what I seen
Hundred billion answers right up on my screen
Seems I’m not alone at keeping the loach
Hundred billion loachy nuts, looking for a home
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I’ll send an s.o.s. to the LOL
I hope that I can catch my
I hope that I can catch my
I hope that I can catch my
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Dojo in a bottle, yeah
Sending out for help from LOL
Sending out for help from LOL
Sending out for help from LOL
Sending out for help from LOL
Sending out for help from LOL
Sending out for help from LOL

Was this on the ALBUM "Outloaches D'Amour?"

Martin.

[Sherry]

LOL I would answer in kind, but it is way to early and I just caught a loach!!!!! scooped him up, but couldn't get his pal.

so one loach in a bag another in a tank.

keep singing.. It's working Sing louder!!!! This loach wants his brother.

[Sherry]

BTW I love you guys, I think you are the greatest.. so here's the deal..
I have a 35 gallon cube. I want my shrimp to live and my snails to be food. And I'd like some loaches (in addition to my three hillstreams, one of whom is the cutest because he comes off the glass to forage.. I call him my explora loach.

and I am a little sad to be saying goodbye to the weatehr loaches.. I mean any fish you can train is really a sweet idea, which is how I got into this in the first place.. I loved the descriptions owners had of their dojo/weather guys. I just became saner when I heard that 6 inches was the bottom size not the top.

So who do you suggest I DO add as a snail muncher who might let amano shrimp live.. and big snails live too.. I want to keep my olive nerites. Because of them I NEVER have to scrape my aquarium walls.

I dont' even own a scraper any more and there isn't a dot of algae to be found.

So sing .. sing.. sing.. and I'll find another bottle and we will catch the last weather loach.. and then restock with something of saner size.

ansistrus?

[Sherry]

Got him!!!! and believe it or not, for both the small little net worked better than two nets or the big ones.. they sort of curled up when there was less room and didn't fight

They are going to the LFS and hopefullly will be sold to someone with a great big cool tank.

[Martin Thoene]

Amazing! Loach charming works!

Congrats on the first capture.....Think of it as a Sting Operation


Dojo, I'm going to switch off the tank light
These tank days are over
You have to join your buddy by tonight
Dojo, you will have to wear that net tonight
I'm catching you out honey
I don’t care if it’s wrong or if it’s right

Dojo, I'm going to switch off the tank light
Dojo, I'm going to switch off the tank light
Switch off the tank light, switch off the tank light
Switch off the tank light, switch off the tank light
Switch off the tank light, oh

I loved you since I knew ya
I trickle food down to ya
I have to tell you just how I feel
I must catch you like the other boy
I know my mind is made up
The decor won't be messed up
Told you once I won’t tell you again it’s a bad way

Dojo, I won't have to turn off the tank light
Dojo, don't make me have to turn off the tank light
You could just swim into the net right
Swim into the net right, it will cause you less fright

Maybe this one was on "Dojonicity"?

Martin.

[Jim Powers]

Don't forget the album "Zenyatta Dojotta"

I only have one Police "album" . Its the greatest hits CD called "Every Gulp of Atmospheric Oxygen You Take" or something like that.

[Sherry]

LOL you are the best

so do I adopt some dwarfs or some angelicas next?

[JD]

Glad you caught your quarry. Any good hunt is always challenging.

As for the future residents, I would go for the dwarfs as my preference, but the Polkadot is a nice fish too. However, I think you will find the general wisdom of LOL is that you will rarely be luck enough to find a Botia that eats snails and leaves the shrimps alone. BUT if you can find the Botia sidthimunki, they may stay small enough to leave the shrimp alone and get the snails when they are young, if you are lucky.

JD

[Jim Powers]

Both sids and kubotai are great fish. Sids, however, do have a tendancy to chase the dither fish in the tanks. I keep both together and have a healthy population of large amano shrimp that the loaches don't seem to bother.
I would, however, be a bit cautious of keeping a hillstream with these guys.

[Sherry]

why would they bother hillstreams?

I love my little explora loach.. he wanders areound like a miniature sting ray.

the other two are stuck to the glass.

[Jim Powers]

Hillstreams often don't compete well for food with species that are even a bit more aggressive. I have never kept sids or kubotai with them, but would be a bit cautious, particularly with the sids.
Others may have a different opinion.
I have kept hillstreams with Botias dario and striata and Sinobotia pulchra and they did fine. But the hillstream species I kept with them was Psuedogastromyzon fasciatus which is one of the larger, more bold species.
Do you know what kind of hillstreams you have?

[Sherry]

I have three Beaufortia kweichowensis


now two seem to NEVER leave the glass, even to eat.. I'm assuming they are grazing something, tho I don't have any visible algae.

the third I call my exploraloach. He is all over the substrate and drift wood and rocks.

he gets in there and eats I think

are the other two going to starve?

can I keep kubatai or sids or any other snail eating loach with this group?
I am certain my hillstreams don't eat any snails or even snail eggs.

[Jim Powers]

I personally wouldn't keep beaufortia with any botias. That being said, I haven't done so for any length of time. Maybe someone else on this board has and can tell you how it would work out. I would be afraid that the shy ones you have would not get enough to eat. The bold one might do better, but, I think you need to hear from someone who has kept them together .
As to whether the two who stay on the glass will starve, only time will tell. If they are getting enough food by grazing and/or picking up food while you are not watching, they will probably be okay.However, the one that is out exploring is exhibiting the behavior you want to see in these fish. Getting these fish to "make the connection" that what we give them to eat is food, is one of the major problems with keeping hillstreams. If they make that connection, they usually thrive.

[Sherry]

how can we encourage them to make the connection?

Btw.. two loaches off the glass this morning!

[Jim Powers]

If the others fish come off the glass, maybe they will start foraging for food.
As far as helping them start eating the food, they generally have to do that themselves. If they are going to make it, they will eventually find food and eat. You might want to give them some frozen bloodworms, they really seem to like them.