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Hey everybody, I've got a quick question for Yoyo loach owners out there. Has anyone had any experience with these guys spawning? Recently two of mine have been acting oddly. One of them- the smaller one with darker markings- has been playing "Guppy Bowling" when my guppies congregate in a certain spot, right above the Cabomba and fake hollow log. S/he doesn't hurt them, just drives them away. The two I'm thinking may have paired up have changed their behavior pretty drastically. The three of them used to hang out on the bottom, sometimes playing with my cories, sometimes just hanging out under the fake tree stump of log, but always towards the bottom. Now two of them have been making forays to the top and pushing the other fish (guppies and otos) ou of the way.

The water quality and temp are good, and my other fish are behaving the same as ever, only these two loaches have changed. My other Yoyo, Ninja, still does his same thing, hanging out on his gargoyle statue most of the time and comig out to claim his share of the food.

Any thoughts?

Anyone?

Could a mod please move this to the breeding forum? Maybe I could get more responses there. Thanks.

3 yoyos is not a good group for the reason that they will pair off like that leaving 1 behind. In my experience they just pair off some as they get older unless you have a group of at least 5. They also get slightly more pushy after they've been in a tank awhile. Yoyo loaches are very hard to breed in aquariums and it's unlikely yours were even captive bred but it is entirely possible. I've heard of it happening if other fish in the tank are spawning. Spawning behavior usually involves lots of swimming in circles and the colors on 1 or both will fade slightly. Although one of mine fades color completely just when getting fed.

Well, my cories have spawned recently so they may be reacting to that. I'm actually hoping they're not spawning- I don't have the time and space to take care of a bunch of fry. The cory eggs always get eaten, so I've never had to worry about them, but I don't know is loaches are more protective of their eggs. I'm not sure of my fish are captive bred or not- I could probably ask at my LFS, but I doubt they'd know.

I don't think I could add anymore loaches to my tank- it's already slightly overstocked as it is.

I have noticed my yoyos have been acting more like they used to- staying near the bottom, no more "guppy bowling" games. Maybe they just got a wild hair when the corycats spawned.

I always get worried when my fish change their behavior so drastically. The last time a fish did that- a betta I'd had for what seemed like forever- it was not long before he died, so I get nervous whenever my little guys make such changes.

most loaches are sensitive to weather outside. If the pressure changed alot recently they might get more or less active. They can even tell you when a storm is coming. Some have been known to get so excited they flip out of their tank especially dojo or the weather loach.

That is a possibility I didn't consider. They started acting odd a couple of days ago, right after a small storm and now today it's raining again. Maybe it was just change in pressure?

Response to changes in barometric pressure are not uncommon in many species of fish, but loaches in general seem to react more strongly.

Breeding any Botia species is very unlikely in home aquaria. The few that do breed them commercially mostly do so with the help of hormone injections. No one seems to have figured out dependable natural triggers for their spawning.

Oh, and how big are your YoYos? Some books give max size as about 3 inches, but I have one right now that is over 4" SL (Standard Length, which doesn't include the tail). They would have to be near full growth before they would spawn, as well.