Loaches Online Forum

I just wanted to say that pet stores and other pet fish suppliers should put more of a warning on these guys. I, unknowing of what they become, bought one for my loach tank. Now I am the type of person that researches what I put in my tank before I add new kinds of fish. However these loach I did not research and now I regret it. After he grew to about 2-3 inches and killed all the guppies I had in the tank. (they were dither fish). I came home from a 2 day vacation to find that he had chased one of my dojo loach out of the tank and the dojo died . He also bullied my clowns and my pleco that is at least 12inchs long. Anyway my point is these guys are insanely territorial, even in my 100g tank. And should NOT be considered as pets for your casual aquarist

It depends on the RTS. Some are peaceful, others are very territorial and won't put up with any bottom dwellers. Generally you want to put them with fish that can hold their own against one though. And loaches look pretty similar to them; they're often territorial against similar looking fish.

you dun goofed up!
and if you back traced it you'd know these ain't loaches.

LOL Hound you are preaching to the choir I, in fact, stated in my 1st post that I did NOT research them. So I'm confused why you felt the need to point it out but what ever makes you happy Oh and Thank you for telling me they are NOT a loach. I read that they were and since the have very loach like mouths it made sense.

RTS and Botia Modesta look very similar just at a glance when they are small
All of B.Modesta fins are red/orangish/yellowish colored and RTS only has the red caudal fin. Shape and body color can be very similar.
Many LFS label RTS as loaches around here so you have to know what you're looking at to keep from being fooled.
Carol

Interesting, I have heard that they can be a bit feisty. I have kept mine with many different species over the years without any problems, he is now 5" and happily shares a 4' tank with 12 yoyos.

Thank you Carol maybe that was it. And Lestat your lucky I wish had been as well behaved.

I recently bought one of these after much research. He'll be going into a 125 gallon tank with 14 feisty tiger loaches, 8 boisterous Arulius Barbs, a 5 inch pleco, and my largest SAE (5.5 inches or so).

I've read reports of some people keeping these guys in community tanks successfully. And I've heard stories of red tail sharks killing community tanks. I think partly this has to do with the personality of the fish. And partially to do with the environment.

If you have a tank with lots of hiding places and sight barriers it makes it so the red tail shark can claim a territory in the tank and just shoo other fish out of his territory. If he has no barriers in the tank or holes to hide in he may decide the entire tank is his and will attempt to remove all others. If the other fish are fairly peaceful slower moving fish (and they have no where to escape to) this will be a problem. The size of the tank will also factor in, as in most cases bigger is better.

Some people advise not to keep a red tail shark with other "shark" shaped fish (rainbow sharks, siamese algae eaters, flying foxes, other red tail sharks, etc...). Do botine loaches like Kubotais count as shark shaped? Maybe... In a large enough tank I'm sure the two species could coexist although I wouldn't recommend trying it without a backup plan.

This is a fish to be prepared for when purchasing, and not one to be taken lightly. The rainbow shark which I mentioned above is a closely related species and has just about the same personality.

Anyway those are my thoughts on the species for what it's worth.

Sharkscott2 the rts will hate the s.a.e.
even the 125 might not be large enough.
rts hate any other fish with the same body shape.

I have kept a rts with dario, yoyo, histies, kubs, rostrata, striata, clown, modesta, skunk, eos, sid, rubusta and helodes.
most botia are fiesty enough to deal with the aggression of an rts.

the rts will do fine with the tiger loaches (your talking Syncrossus right?)
my rts didn't do well with my horse face loaches and I don't think I'd put a rts with any pangio.

We will see how he does with the SAE. If it doesn't work the SAE will go back to the 75 gallon. I have 10 Syncross Berdmorei and 4 S. Hymenophysa.

I'll let ya'll know in a couple weeks how it turns out.

I personally love the look of RTS's. My very first one was gorgeous, and he schooled with the clowns, but he became aggressive as he got older but I didn't want to give him up so I set him up in a 20 gallon tank. But because he was a nut job he injured his eye in the big tank going on a spastic fit and one thing lead to another and he didn't recover.

My second one was MUCH more peaceful, also schooled with the clowns, but he didn't make it--I had gotten into a car accident, I was laid up for quite some time...the fish tank suffered...

Anyway, it's true, personality does vary from fish to fish and I wouldn't hesitate to add another RTS to my tank one day. I won't do it now, but one day I will in a larger tank where all tankmates will have their space. And if he should become THAT aggressive, then he goes back to the store. But they are strikingly beautiful and my first one was the best looking.

And I agree about having enough hiding spaces for all. Sorry your experience was so bad (original poster). One fish shouldn't kill it for the rest of the group.

Well I'm sorry to say that my SAE died just days before the RTS was to be moved into the tank with him. He was 4 or 5 years old and had slowed down quite a bit over the past 6 months.

However the RTS is doing well is my Syncrossus loaches and the Arulius barbs. He swims mid level of the tank and kind of does his own thing. He doesn't interact with the other fish and they rarely interact with him.

Sorry about your SAE but I'm real happy your RTS is doing well. He's kinda like the lone wolf.

We have an RTS with our loaches, bala sharks, angels, and plecos in our 450L tank. We used to have him in another tank, but he chased the other inhabitants so we moved him, and to our surprize he's really calm. It's almost the opposite, the loaches and balas will shove him away from the food during feeding.

my red tail shark is about 8cm and my little clowns chase him around the tank as if he was one of them.
it is also in my community tank with neons!, angles, discus, pleco,yoyo,danio,and others iv missed and no problems with them i did us to have silver dollars and they didn't get along.
I think its just whether or not u get a grumpy one or pecfull one luck of the draw