Yoyos with Clowns?

[Tinman]

Kubs do much better with Clowns than Yo-Yos in my experiance from a behavior perspective. The Kubs are docile like the Clowns. yo-Yos like to hang out with Yo-Yos but I do have them mixed with Kubs now. I would not do it by choice again as a first choice. There are much better options for Kubs. My yo-yos and Robusto have a great relationship but very fiesty to each other. The patterns of Yo-yos and Kubs do not mix well in my opinion . Kubs and Clowns are much more impressive together visually IMHO.

[Botia Robert]

Hi Graeme McKellar, its nice to know there is a Loacher in my part of the world. That is some very positive news about Aquariumwarehouse having Kubotais and their prices of both botias were cheaper than I have seen elsewhere. I will have to go for a drive and check them out, Thanks.

Thanks Tinman for more options. I have a 100gal 4 footer and a 160gal 6 footer so I have several options available. I will let you know what I do. What do we know about Kubotai's lifespan? I have heard about 10 years for a Yo Yo??

I think Shari made the simplest and most important point; that multiple factors influence the outcome. It is not just personality that dictates the interaction between species. I think we are in safe enough territory with botias to say; just give it a go and see what happens. The feedback of this information is what helps us learn more about these delightful fish. (IMO)

[Emma Turner]

Hi Robert, I for one will be hoping that you simply stick to lots of Yoyo's. I'd love to see a tank dedicated to a multitude of adult specimens of just this species of loach.

And for inspiration, here is one that is now in Helen's care (can't remember if this is Bertha or Betsie):









I've always thought that a nice sizeable group of these would be wonderful when they transformed into their amazing adult markings - and if I had more room in this house (and more money!) I would set up such a tank.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing what you decide to do, and of course, pics.

Emma

[Blue]

Ooooohhh..My new inspiration, Emma!:mrgreen:

[Marcos Mataratzis]

I would say kubotai are less anoying then YoYos to Clown or any other fish. I have 5 medium to large size YoYos (3 to 5.5") living in my tank and agree with Emma. The do ghosting a lot. Not only with other YoYo but with my Clowns and my 6" Labeo bicolor as well. Sometimes the do it a lot really anoying other fishes.
I do not regret having them but I would say kubotai is far better companion to Clown loaches than YoYo.

[ey]

Haven't read the previous posts in this thread, I am thinking if there is any way other than to take out the yoyos to reduce the level of aggression from the yoyos towards the clowns in the tank?

I have 12 yoyos, all of which that I've had for about 2 months and are juveniles (5-6cm). I noticed when I originally added 6 yoyos that they were quite placid and only chased each other and left the clowns and other fish (tetras) alone.

After adding another 6 to bring the total to 12, I've noticed that they have become a lot more active and feisty towards the clowns and recently have started to chase and swim side by side with the clowns whilst whiskering at the clowns gill area. I am just worried that this could cause stress or damage to the clowns. Is there a reason to explain the feisty behaviour of the yoyos? Would taking out some of the yoyos and relocating some of them help reduce the aggression?

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hello ey,

have started to chase and swim side by side with the clowns whilst whiskering at the clowns gill area. I am just worried that this could cause stress or damage to the clowns. Is there a reason to explain the feisty behaviour of the yoyos?

This strange movements of your YoYos is called Ghosting. Take a look at this short video:

YoYo ghosting CAE

It shows my younger YoYo ghosting one of my CAE.
Ghosting is believed to be an intimidating behavior much common withing YoYos but can also be seen between them and other fishes like it happened on the video.
We use to advise people to have a few more YoYos for them to ghost each other than other fishes but this seam not to be your case as you still have a good number of them.

[ey]

Hello ey,

have started to chase and swim side by side with the clowns whilst whiskering at the clowns gill area. I am just worried that this could cause stress or damage to the clowns. Is there a reason to explain the feisty behaviour of the yoyos?

This strange movements of your YoYos is called Ghosting. Take a look at this short video:

YoYo ghosting CAE

It shows my younger YoYo ghosting one of my CAE.
Ghosting is believed to be an intimidating behavior much common withing YoYos but can also be seen between them and other fishes like it happened on the video.
We use to advise people to have a few more YoYos for them to ghost each other than other fishes but this seam not to be your case as you still have a good number of them.

Hello Marcos,

Thanks for the clarification. Does this ghosting behaviour still exist with your yoyos? Do they do it between themselves or do they still do it to other fish? Do you know if this 'ghosting' will be detrimental to the clowns in the long term?

I also thought that by adding more yoyos that this behaviour will even/spread out but I will have a closer look at them later today. I really don't want to remove the yoyos from the tank unless I have no other choice.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Definetely I wouldn´t remove my YoYos from my tank just because of ghosting. Like you, I also have both. 23 Clowns, 4 YoYos. Ghosting here occurs with clowns, CEA and also with bigger fishes like my 7" red tailled shark but mainly between them.
Guess whenever you introduce a new fish in tank they ghost it but not even that. They are a bit irritating fish.

[starsplitter7]

Like little kids putting their finger over to the sibling's side of the car just to bug them.

[Doc]

I keep Clowns, Yo-yos and Histies together. The only time I see any ghosting or pushy activity is from the two smallest Yo-yos who are about 2" in length.. They target any fish whether it be other Loaches or any of the other fish. It only happens over the rocky part of the tank though and usually just after feeding time (or before if I am taking too long putting the food into the tank).