Loaches Online Forum

Get another tank!

Someone told me Petland stores have cheap tanks with stands. Maybe you should check that out.

Jessica

Not funny....

I'm out of floor space for new tanks.... I can set up one more 55g, but the kuhlis have been promised it.

No, seriously, just how many Kubs/Striatas can be packed into a 65g assuming I do the best with filtration?

Mike , i must say going back to the beggining of this thread , if i had to pick between Dario's and Striata's , then i think Dario's would win , having said that , i have a group of 12 Striata's , and fully enjoy them , i do find them a little on the shy side ! having said that different people have different expeiriences with the same fish , i keep mine in a 48x18x18 tank with some small Lohchata [Yoyo's] and a group of Synodontis Cats , the tank has quite a lot of bog wood and rocks etc, and i think i might plant this tank also, when i think of Striata's , that chunky one of Emma's springs to mind , and i think of that as a template to aim for , go get em Mike , you wont rest till you do !

Piggy4,

I wonder if the shyness depends on having (or not) other loaches around. The babies I have in the qtank are pretty outgoing, and even chase the rasboras when those are stupid enough to grab a bloodworm... Anyway, I'm committed to Striata's one way or another already...

Here is what I'm hesitating about:




..there are many more under the driftwood. Some of these are solid 2" fat. I'm not grabbing them for a couple more days...especially that the ones I really like showed no reaction to bloodworms today...either not settled or something is really wrong. But no deaths/symptoms. Donno...maybe I can restrain myself yet.

Yeah Mike , they do look pretty good , you just got me thinking ,[ whats that i hear you say ] over on that Coolie loach thread , i've been saying how my Coolies are more gregarious in a tank on their own ! BUT perhaps B.Striata would be better with a few dithers in the upper regions of the tank ! i will probarbly try this ! in fact most of my Botia tanks are mixed setups i.e. midwater swimmers of some kind or another , back to those Striata in the pic , they look pretty good .

Thanks, Piggy4,

In re the dither: I've tried a number of them by now, and far the best all-purpose dither is Rasbora borapetensis. The fish is cheap and instantly replaceable in case of need (not that it is easy to lose them), will take any environment, and -- most importantly -- does not bother loaches at all. It does not really compete for food or eat from the ground. White clouds are the 2nd best...and these two can be mixed nicely too.

In my Striata qtank, I have three juv rasboras establish the tank (not cycle, just mature a bit before putting in loaches)...now they provide a bit of entertainment for the Striata: if a rasbora grabs a bloodworm, they would chase it. After the rasboras serve their sentence, they'll go into some tank which has a school of them already, and I may get 2-3 more small ones. I used them to quarantine different loaches, including hillstreams and kuhlis, and I think they always were helpful. The very fact that someone else in the tank is slowly eating seems encouraging for new loaches... And in the worst case, if the loaches have some nasty disease, rasboras are likely to survive it, and if not, not much lost.

Not a very interesting fish, but it serves the purpose ideally.

Everything else I have/had either makes the loaches nervous or eats too much.

dario- larger and really nippy at feeding time. In mine the colouration gets dull as they mature
striata- smaller

Maybe one day I'll get to Dario's...not yet.

Anyway, here are the babies....with the dither:



they are pretty hard to photograph..when I approach the Kub tank, Kubs come out and pose. OTOH, Striata's together with the dither retreat and even hide with the first camera flash.



The one on the right is the slightly problematic one. It arrived skinny and
still not to the level of its tankmates. But much better than at the beginning, and has no problem with eating.







Not very exciting fish at this time...In a year, probably, they are fattening and may be growing a little... But right now they just don't compare to 2" ones at the store.

Their skittish behavior may change. At least mine did once I moved them from the QT to their 'permanent' home. They would always run for cover when I entered the room when they were in quarantine. Well, after being in there over a month I finally decided it was safe to move them to the main tank last night. After settling in, they're much more active than ever. They seem to really like 'schooling' with the 6-Banded Barbs I have in there. And they really seem to be enjoying the amply snail population. I have a feeling I'll be snail free soon

Great pics Milev , these will look great once established , im hoping to grow mine on also , good luck .

Thanks.

Four more being acclimated now (from the picture above).

And something really weird has happened: there was one small Striata I was watching which was unusual: really dark, almost black. I distinctly remember it being caught...when I came home, indeed one Striata is small, but perfectly normal.

DDDarn...I guess I need to go back to the store to check.... If it is still there, it would be the 12th...an overload again.