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Looks like I was fortunate in my teenage years then. Didn't have Bettas or Angels or similar fish in with my loaches. Mostly active Characins, the aforementioned Anomalchromis thomasi[ Cichlids, and some Nannostomus trifasciatus Pencils. Guess they thought that the thomasi were predators and kept their heads down

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Hello When Shannen started this original post, he was refering to MY skunk loaches. We had them in several tanks, they are EXCELLENT snail eaters but were very bad at feeding time to the other fish. Now I put them into a 90g with fish such as large severums, 9" Royal Plec, 10" black ghost knife, firemouth cichlid, syno's, etc. If you notice all of these other fish are much larger than the skunk loach. Now, when it is feeding time, they are very careful to come out to eat and do not bother any body, and they still eat snails.

Bottom line, skunk loaches are not for every aquarium. They can be good fish, you just have to house them in the right conditions. I was very angry at them for tearing up my guppy fry, but now they behave themselves and I enjoy watching them sneak around the bottom of the tank... hoping not to be seen....

WOW! I cant believe this post fits my situation perfectly!

Last week i got a skunk loach cuz he was lonely at Wal Mart, so i decided to house him. He was shy at first and so i didnt notice anything. Then the next day, i notice my female bettas' tails all ripped up and everything, including my Neon Tetras and my Cherry Barbs. Only thing that was fighting back was the RTBS. I immediately gave him to Petco, and they put him along with 2 other ones that were i na Cichlid tanks. I hate these things even tho they're cute.

Same situation, different loach...link to my wonderful discovery, impulse buy

It was one thing when they were eating guppy fry but then they started on the guppy parents ]:| Mine are in the SA cichlid tank now as well.

Last edited by Theresa_M at 06-Aug-2005 12:50

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I too had once thought about getting Skunk Loaches, but short research told me it'd be a rather bad idea introducing these nippy buggers into my tank.

BTW, I don't really consider eating guppy babies an aggressive behavior...:%)

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

well...i used to have one 6 years ago...with my arowana...they seem do live very well and peaceful..no need for a warning

Ok well I have not experienced any aggression as yet but I shall keep an eye on them in the future just to make sure thanks for the info.

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/

Some Yo Yo loaches can get a bit aggressive as they get older, but the Zebras I've had are very non aggressive. Kubatois, also , can be ..not so much aggressive..but if anything STARTs something...they will likely FINISH it.

tessa38uk- I wouldn't necessarily say that about your loaches, I have never kept that kind though. I have kept several speices of loaches now and this skunk loach species is the only one so far to exibit such aggressive behavior.

MMMMMMM this does not apply to the Pakistani Loach (Yoyo Loach) and the Candy Loach (Zebra Loach) does it only I have some of those and although they are active I have never noticed them nipping but quite often I see them chasing the other fish I never took much notice before I just assumed it was a game fish play.

http://www.greenspersonalprinting.com/

Quote from the profile.

"This peaceful loach has been reported from a very limited number of sources as being semi-aggressive in the form of nipping long or flowing fins. This behavior has not been noticed by the majority of loach keepers."

Well my friends make Jamie and I 2 more to see the aggressive behavior.

They ate gup babies, they shredded male gups, and are now shredding long finned barbs.

We moved most of them to the 55, but have to tear down the 75 to get them away from the barbs. Looks like I have something to do this weekend.

Jamie: "Oh look at the cute little loaches hunny. Can we get some?"

Shannen: "Sure what can it hurt"

Yeah, they are very playful until feeding time. Then they run around all territorial nipping at the other fish instead of trying to concentrate on eating food. I like their lil personalities...they just are not fitting very well with the other fish. Except in the 55g with the severums they are fine. They are not necessarily as good at eating snails as the clown loaches but as long as they are in a tank with compatible species they are okay. They just happen to not be compatible with most of our fish. *sighs* Oh well.

Last edited by ~jamie~ at 04-Mar-2005 20:46

I've had them..but only 2 or 1 at a time. Supposedly, they are less aggressive in groups. BUT from how they acted here..I took them back to another LFS and told them to put them with Oscars. They were fine. Mean little things. To MUCH larger fish as well (like large Gouramies). Not again. Try Zebra Loaches. but at least 4..preferrably more. Very nice snail eaters.

They are peaceful fish, IME, as they rarely, if ever, display outright bullying or territorial behavior (in fact, they are quite social amongst their own). However, they do tend to nip fins, thus, they're often kept (at least at my place) with the more peceful (but still fairly aggressive) afros, usually tangs.

[link=Skunk Loach Profile]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/skunkbotia.xml" style="COLOR: #000080[/link]

Is this Botia horae perchance? Or whatever it's been renamed to lately (I suspect it's undergone a name change)?

Only I had these as a teenager. And mine were shy.

Mind you, they did have Anomalochromis thomasi Cichlids and Silver Tip Tetras keeping them company, so that probably explains a lot

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

We got them not for their cuteness...we got them because we wanted something that ate snails but did not get as big as a clown loach. The LFS happened to have some of these so we got them. *shrugs* Oh well...ya live ya learn.

That's exactly where they are going.

In a SA cichlid tank. 4 have been in with the 3 severums and so far not one nip.

They are very funny little fish, almost as comedic as clowns,but that nasty disposition.]:|

Yeah, at work we don't even order them anymore, simply because nearly everybody who buys them brings them back complaining that they were being aggressive. And that's after we warned them about their behavior.

We have to keep these loaches in the aggressive SA cichlid stock tanks, because they shred the fins on anything else.







Last edited by Cory Addict at 04-Mar-2005 14:14

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Shannen, I feel your pain.

Racso: "Awww they're so cute! I'm gonna get them."

me: "Ok, your tank and your money, but what is it you always say about impulse fish?"

(he always complains about people who buy fish without ever knowing anything about them first)

Racso: "They're loaches, what can they do?"

He found out real quick! He put them in a 29g community and now EVERYONE in that tank has nipped fins. Now he has to rework everything to accomodate those stinking loaches!



Skunk loaches belong in a semi aggressive tank with tiger barbs and the like... fish that aren't afraid to bite back.

><>Dani<><

[hr width='40%']I don't want another pretty face
I don't want just anyone to hold
I don't want my love to go to waste
I want you and your beautiful soul