Loaches Online Forum

Crazy Zippers!!

Even more crazy.

There was a massacre in the tank a couple of days ago, all the snails disappeared overnight, and the ground was covered by empty houses. Naturally, I assumed that the yoyo's did it.

Just now, I dropped a snail into the tank (lots of them in the hillstream tanks). Zippers sucked it out before yoyo's got anywhere close (!).

BTW, Graeme, your Old fella makes me wonder: where is the eye spot? Does it disappear with age, like the rest of the pattern?


One more question, if you don't mind: is there any other species you know which is anywhere similar? I suspect that A. rubidipinnis is not (aggressive), but maybe some other Acanthocobitis or Aborichthys?

Yes, the eye spot does disappear when they grow out of juvenile stages. This must be the Fake eye spot in order to avoid predation. To direct attacks away from the body areas with vital organs when in the wild. I imagine.

The Acanthocobitis zonalternans would be a ideal choice for tank-mates. These are a smaller species but equally enjoyable, if not more so with there colourations.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=3094

Graeme Robson wrote:Yes, the eye spot does disappear when they grow out of juvenile stages. This must be the Fake eye spot in order to avoid predation. To direct attacks away from the body areas with vital organs when in the wild. I imagine.

Yeap, a fascinating idea for self-protection, makes one wonder how something like this could evolve...

OK, I guess this means all of mine are juvies, even the largest at about 6cm has a good eye spot.

The Acanthocobitis zonalternans would be a ideal choice for tank-mates.

Thanks a lot, Graeme, I asked Frank about them already.

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Meanwhile, I've experimented a little with snails and zippers. They are indeed snail-eaters, which should prove useful to someone: keeping a few zippers in a snail-infested river tank would work nicely (unless you are trying to breed...zippers eat everything and even dig looking for food.).
The snail-eating procedure is not very elegant: they simply probe at a snail on the tank glass until it falls on the ground. If it lands upside-down (and eventually it will), it is over.

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Oh, and I got myself two more. Judging by chasing, they seem to have some some hierarchical concepts. Got myself some rasbora-like dither too:

Grrrrr! Is them what i think they are?

Lucky chap!

I have to wait until December for mine.

Lucky YOU.

By December we'll know how to keep them properly. Right now, I don't.

Brook conditions should be adequate. How many you purchased then?

Graeme Robson wrote:Brook conditions should be adequate. How many you purchased then?

4+4.

I'm not sure about the brook conditions, I think it is "light current". Frank kept them in a tank with fairly little current and it was clear that the fish was doing very well (I saw them a few times).

I gave them a little more (HOB+blocked powerhead), but not a brook tank.

Also, unsure about the tankmates. These guys are very small, I suspect that even something like a zipper may hurt them.

I'm actually thinking about a dedicated 10g with some microrasbora for later (will need to find which species would like little current).

Good point. More experiences needed from others. I have a feeling my trip to Emma's store may turn out to be a expensive one. But hey! There worth it!

Two more "unsure" points.

I'm not sure what to feed them with. I gave them frozen bloodworms yesterday without thinking. Well, the bloodworms were appreciated, but given the relative size of the worms and the fish, I'm a bit afraid to give them any more (choke potential). Frozen shrimp and flakes for now.

And I'm not sure they are really nice and cozy. I've seen pretty violent chasing today, the pink ones (males?) are the ones doing it. I still would like to try them with small rasboras one day, but these guys may not be too "community" despite their size.

An alternative idea would be to have them dither kuhlis, but one would need a large group of them. Perhaps, 20 for a 20g tank?

Hmmm....perhaps Emma can can give us some information on which foods she feeds her Rosy Loaches. I personally would try almost any small foods available, like the high protein micro-pellets and baby brine shrimps...etc.

You know! The males acting violent reminds me of the male Yunnanilus brevis. One ponders!

Well i have plans to move mine in with the Pangios and Microrasboras. Any observations will be most helpful. Maybe smaller amounts of males would be wise.....hmmm.

The main thing I have noticed with these is that the males have gradually been losing some of that really intense red colour. I would think that whatever the supplier was feeding them on was helping to bring out the colours. Ours love the JMC sinking catfish pellets/high protein pellets, Tetra prima, and small frozen foods - daphnia, baby brineshrimp and cyclops. They obviously can't take some of those pellet foods whole, but they soon sink and soften up and then they pick at them.

Emma

Now thats interesting, regarding the colour.

Don't get me wrong, they have not lost the colour completely, but they are nowhere near as 'rosy-looking' as when they first arrived. If I had a camera that worked at the moment, I'd get some more recent pics....that might have to wait another week or so.

You know me Emma. It's not the colour that matters, it's the fact that it's a Loach!!!