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I have a 10g tank with two lemon tetras and recently added two botia loaches. My water has been fine (low nitrates, no nitrites, no ammonia) and I did a tank cleaning to get rid of the algae and trim plants. I used no chemicals and did a 40 percent water change. The next morning my tetras were dead, and one of my loaches was missing. The missing loach was pregnant. Several hours later the pregnant loach turned up and the two of them are having a grand time in the tank by themselves. The water is just fine. I know that loaches are sensitive to water issues, so if anything went wrong, I expected them to die first, but this was not the case.
My female loach has been laying eggs and is pregnant again. I'm happy to have a breeding pair since I understand this is not an easily accomplished task. But what happened to my tetras?
Could it be possible that they killed the tetras? What is best way to go about ensuring that the eggs, at least some of them, survive.

A 10 gal. is too small for 2 Loaches & 2 Lemon Tetra's. Tetra's like to stay in schools & so, 6 is a bare minimum.

If your Loaches are breeding, that a very good sign that they are happy & it's quite difficult to breed Loaches in tanks.

Your Tetra's may have died due to water changes but there is also a possibility that the Loaches might have killed them.

Welcome to FishProfiles & i'm sure you're going to enjoy it.



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Thank you, people have been telling me that loaches would never kill the other fish. It could have been the water change too, but it was not the first.

I intend to just leave the loaches alone in there. They will only grow to at most 4.5". They seem to prefer their privacy and they are very amusing to watch.

When you say 'used no chemicals', did you use tap water and not dechlorinate it?

I'd have said today's tetras are far more sensitive than loaches. Loaches get sick, tetras just drop dead at the mere suggestion of a water issue.

Last edited by Callatya at 08-Sep-2005 10:54

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

It would also help if you told us what species of loach you have From your description, there are several possibilities.

As per your tetras... they are not hardy fish at all. the major water change could have altered the water chemistry enough to stress them too much. Loaches, they like to be around their own kind, 5 or 6 minimum, and your tank is too small for them.

My loaches are striped loaches. I dechlorinated the water, of course, I meant that I used no cleaning products to clean the tank. Prior to the change, the water was fine, no nitrites, no ammonia, low nitrates. The water change was routine, but a little larger than normal. I didn't remove all the algae either, just some of it, and trimmed my plants.
The loaches are still fine and enjoying their privacy. I know the tank is small, but they are only an inch long right now and loaches grow slowly. I live in an apartment and when I move into my boyfriends house in the spring, I can put them into his 90g tank with the loaches he has.
As for having more than two, I disagree, they are quite happy and play often. They seem to prefer their privacy now that the tetras are gone.

When you say striped loach, what do you mean. Try looking on http://www.loaches.com for the scientific name.

My loaches are yo yo loaches or Botia almorhae. And they are still doing well. They do like to stuff themselves full of food and eat more than I've seen any fish that size eat in a single setting.