Which Botia for an active community?

[Illsavemyself]

When I first looked into getting loaches I thought I was reduced to either Botia Striata or Botia Lohachata as that was all they had locally. I intend on getting 5 in about 2 weeks once the plants in my tank have had a time to root strongly enough to resist their digging.

I have a 50 gallon tank and a very active but peacefull community.

5 Leopard Danios
4 Harlequin Raspora
5 Rosy Barbs
7 Neon Tetras
1 Bristlenose Catfish

From this list the Danios and Barbs are very active but never bother other tankmates.

My tank will be well planted but does have a substrate deliberately chosen with loaches in mind, part sand, part very fine gravel. Lots of bogwood and other caves.

Having visited the 2 local shops today that keep loaches I was very disapointed with what they had. In both cases I was looking at the last half dozen fish from a much larger batch. The yoyos were thoroughly miserable having had their tank invaded by over 50 mollys, all were scrawny and inactive, a real shame. The zebras still had their own tank but there were 6 maximum and again at least 3 of them were tiny and not looking very healthy.

So now I am looking to order online. This opens up a far wider range to choose from. I know that this is far from ideal as I will not get to chose my fish as I would like but will only be buying from a site with an excellent reputation for providing strong healthy fish.

So now my choices are, having discounted the yoyo for beeing too boisterous.

Botia kubotai
Botia histrionica
Botia striata

I don't think overall size will be a big issue as they are all fairly similar in size but need them to be compatable with my current stock which will not be changing unless I add more danios. Also I would like them not to kill my plants too quickly but might not be a factor as I have picked some fairly robust plants to grow.

I know that there may be several opinions based on what you have already but would appreciate any advice on why one might be better than the rest, or if it doesn't really matter.

[newshound]

I'd go with a big school of kubs.
my personal fave.
If you live in england check out emma's shop
the best loach store on the planet!!!!
http://www.fishkeeper.co.uk/store_detai ... storeid=33
your in england evrything is so close...lucky you.
A 1/2 decent LFS is 6 hours away from me

[helen nightingale]

you wont go wrong with striata, but as with any loach, there is no guarantee they will not do some damamge to your plants, no matter how well established some are well behaved, some are destructive

[Illsavemyself]

I would love to visit Emma's shop one day but sadly it is not near enough to make is feasible. She is over 200 miles away through pretty busy traffic and I would be looking at 4-5 hours each way. One day though.

[helen nightingale]

it will be worth a visit. Emma and Steve are lovely people, and all the staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. maybe you should come on holiday in this part of the world

[bslindgren]

For the community tank I'd go with kubs. They look great, are inquisitive, active, and unafraid. Striatas are great fish as well, but mine seem a bit more nippy and skittish (might be because the tank is in a low traffic area, so they aren't used to people around them), and there are some reports (including from me) about them gouging the eyes out of small tetras. Kubs seem more readily available these days anyway.

[Illsavemyself]

For the community tank I'd go with kubs. They look great, are inquisitive, active, and unafraid. Striatas are great fish as well, but mine seem a bit more nippy and skittish (might be because the tank is in a low traffic area, so they aren't used to people around them), and there are some reports (including from me) about them gouging the eyes out of small tetras. Kubs seem more readily available these days anyway.

My tank is also in a low traffic area. I only discovered in heavily researching both Striata and kubotai online that many consider the Striata to be a nippy fish at times. I always assumed before now that they were perhaps the most peaceful of all the Botia loaches.

I am leaning towards the Botia kubotai now I think.

[Tinman]

would love to visit Emma's shop one day but sadly it is not near enough to make is feasible. She is over 200 miles away through pretty busy traffic and I would be looking at 4-5 hours each way. One day though.

You gotta go ,I did and its a bit farther for me, The fish are all top shelf.

Striata are great in large groups and very vegatarian in diet. Almorhae are not as bad as advertised and I have many with a golden hue and jet black stripes that are spectacular but Histis are so fantastic in person they may well be the prettiest of all....Kubs are nice but expensive.
Striatas do stay smaller than many others . I have 24 striatas in with some rummy nosed tetras and a roseline shark in a 4' tank so you may have more of these than the others.

There are numerous other choices as well

[Diana]

I have kubs in a 45 gallon (American gallons, 4' long) tank with several species of Rainbow fish and some other fish. Very active tank. The kubs tend to mind their own business, they hide under the rocks and driftwood.
The substrate is soft, and they might have played a part in digging up some new, small plants, but many other plants are well rooted and are fine.
I have just recently gotten some striatas, they are not out of quarantine, yet. They seem very active, busy little guys, zipping all over the tank. There are only floating plants in this tank, so I do not know if they burrow enough to upset rooted plants.

[Dutch]

I love histrionica and kubotai. I plan on getting histrionica myself because they are supposed to be more active during the daytime. Also, out here kubotai are about twice as expensive as histrionica, which you start to notice if you get a good group. (Although on my total budget that is only a minor difference.)
But once I go to buy the fish and the shop has a group of kubotai like they had two days ago I might give that a second thought....

[Illsavemyself]

I can get the kubs for £3.79 a fish so just over 7 USD at today's rates. Is that good?

With regard to seeing Emma's shop We only have 1 car in the household and lots of school runs to do. That coupled with my wife who although I love her passionately , barely tollerates my hobbie. I think she might divorce me if I suggested I was going to make a 400 mile round trip to look at some fish!

[Dutch]

I live in the Netherlands so that's the euro-zone, let's see.... 3.79 is EUR 4.74
That's about the price of histrionica here, kubs are twice that. I'd say that's pretty good.

[Tinman]

I think she might divorce me if I suggested I was going to make a 400 mile round trip to look at some fish!

She sounds like a good woman, I would miss her

[starsplitter7]

I can get the kubs for £3.79 a fish so just over 7 USD at today's rates. Is that good?

With regard to seeing Emma's shop We only have 1 car in the household and lots of school runs to do. That coupled with my wife who although I love her passionately , barely tollerates my hobbie. I think she might divorce me if I suggested I was going to make a 400 mile round trip to look at some fish!

I am so jealous. Most Kubs I see in my area are $23, but I found one for $17. I am looking for more. I can get Sids for $17. Augh! Selection of loaches is limited and outrageously expensive.

[Illsavemyself]

I have a £10 ($20) delivery charge on top of that but I am going to buy some plant ferts at the same time as they have a buy 2 get 1 free offer on Seachem products which are actually priced very well for the UK where everything is expensive.