FishProfiles.com Message Forums

hi guys

bought 2 of these little guys the other day.

Just some Q's

1. do they eat snails? (please say yes)

2. what do i need to feed them? (feeding floating flakes and algea tablets at the moment)

3. I want to buy 4-5 more, do you think this sounds ok?

The tank is a heavily planted tank, which has been set up for 5 years. It is 40 british gallon tank. I have 4 florida flag fish, fully grown (and are breeding at the moment. 2 Blue rams (again they are breeding also) and 1 flying fox who is 3 years old and is 13cm long and sits around all day.

cheers any comments would be great

1 yes they do
2 blood worms and the stuff ur feeding would be cute
3 yea i think 5 more would be sweet.

hello
yes they eat snails
and i would feed sinking foods
loachs are a schooling fish so yes i would buy more
but.....
your plants may not like them ...
any loachs ive had like to eat holes in my plants.
i would check to see if your loachs are plant safe first before buying more.
if you see leafs that look like they have holes punched in them, thats your loachs.
good luck
cheers

Cheers for the great info

One more Q how big do they have to be befor they eat snails? Mine are 4cm big at the moment (including fins) but they dont seem to eatting any snails at the moment. Is this becuase they only been in the tank 2 days?

cheers

There could be several reasons for this, they "might" still be young, not settled in yet and still a bit nervy, also not hungry enough.
Reduce your feeding to every second day for a week or so it will not hurt the fish at all. It will clean the tank a lot and you might notice the water is a lot clearer.
Finally they could be eating the snail eggs first and filling up with them. Do they have a cave or a place they can call their own this will settle them down a lot quicker?

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info
Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Rule number one with Botias. You can NEVER have enough caves.

The best way to make your Botias settle down nicely is to give them LOTS of caves - ideally, ones constructed from bogwood. Numerous Botia type loaches will take up residence in the gaps between sunken tree roots and similar debris, consequently one way to make Botias happy is to provide similar furnishings in your aquarium. If you can obtain some gnarled pieces of Mopani wood (it's pretty expensive, but SO worth it once you get decent pieces) that you can stack together to form a fake root grotto for your Botias, and then let some Java Moss grow on the wood, then your Botias will take up residence in their new home and be VERY pleased with you for providing it!

Let's put it this way. My Panda Corys love caves to explore and gather under, and your Botias will love them even more than my Pandas. Give them a nice tangle of Mopani wood pieces to call home, and they'll feel secure, and consequently be a LOT braver at coming out when they know they have a secure bolt hole to run to.

Yesterday I went to a dealership in my area called Maidenhead Aquatics (it's a big nationwide franchise with branches all over the place, despite the name which can mislead you into thinking it's located in one town only!) and there's a honking big display aquarium full of fish - this aquarium is almost big enough to float a rubber dinghy on, but don't let that put you off! The point here is that this display aquarium is liberally furnished with bogwood root decorations, and it houses a LOT of cave loving fish, including 10 species of Plec, and five different Botia type loaches. There's enough caves for everyone to get along fine in that monster of an aquarium, and as a consequence, the Botias are out and about, inquisitively searching for things to nibble on, and everyone gets along fine.

Now you probably won't have space in your living room for an aquarium that's the size of a family hatchback car, for one thing setting up an aquarium that size in your home will involve you in some serious civil engineering to reinforce the floor! But, the same principle applies even in more manageable aquaria - Botia type loaches LOVE caves. If you can get yourself several appropriately sized bits of Mopani wood like the one in the photo I'm attaching, and stack them to form a grotto, then your Botias will LOVE you for it.

Next up, if you want your Botias to come to the front, here's another tip. Gather up a bunch of the snails you're trying to get rid of, then dump them all at the front of the aquarium just before "lights out" as you head off to bed. Keep doing this for a few days, and eventually, the Botias will learn to associate the front of the aquarium with food, and so, they'll be easier to tempt out of their caves. You should only need to do that for a maximum of 14 days, and if you've followed the above tip and given your Botias a nice Mopani wood grotto to live in, it shouldn't be long before you see them frolicking about like mad to your heart's content.


Attached Image:


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002