Attention Loach Fans!

[GDominy]

Loach Fanatics it's that time of year again!

Yes Loach season is once again upon us and this year it looks like a good one. I have already seen a large number of species hit the stores that I haven't seen in a while (or ever).

There are a few things to note:

1.) Exports from Burma this year are much higher then last year so some of the more unique, and attractively coloured loaches should be more readily avilable, and at a lower price (This includes the "Polka Dot Botia, Botia Kubotai" and several other members of the Botia Family, Hillstreams, and many more.

2.) Exports of Botia Sidthimunki seem to be higher this year as specimins are showing up already at a lower cost then last year. This is a wonderfull opportunity to get one of the best loaches for a community tank (small size, peaceful demeaner)

3.) Tiger Loaches in the hymenophysa seem to be showing up a bit more readily if you are a fan of the more agressive fish (I already found a Botia Hymenophysa, and rumors are that beauforti, and berdmorei are on the way)

4.) I've seen some interesting Loaches from the China/Vietnam area coming in as well like Botia Pulchra (I have some on hold for me).

So loach fan's, keep your eyes open, this looks like it will be a good year!

[amanda huggenkiss]

Ahhh, so that's what's going on. I've been seeing a lot of loaches I've never seen in stores before. Also seeing a lot of kuhli loaches around (which had been impossible to find for the last year).

[bigpow]

Good to know
I haven't experienced it here (North Bay)
Not that I could get some anyway, since I'm way overstocked :*(

[zapus]

Good to hear. I've been looking for some sids for a while now. Drs. F & S has some, but at $30 a pop not including the shipping. Apparently someone has figured out how to breed them, as they are now being farm-reared in Malaysia.

[Ibn]

Through the use of hormones, they're able to breed them (B. sidthimunki). Captive bred ones can be found for $10 each, and readily available. I just saw a pack of 30 of them this past weekend.

Also saw a small number of red tail zebra loaches (Schistura subfusca) for the first time.

[Urkevitz]

I am not familiar with loaches, would Botia Sidthimunki chase after, or eat cherry shrimp? I am down to my last Corydora and I would like to give these a shot.

[GDominy]

THey might.... there is no way to say for certain. In general loaches "love" meaty foods, and shrimp are one of their fav's.

I feed my Loach tank 2 whole cocktail shrimp daily, 1 icecube sized chunk of brine, and a chunk of bloodworm about 1" square (quater inch thick)

[Momotaro]

I am not familiar with loaches, would Botia Sidthimunki chase after, or eat cherry shrimp?

I have seen them munching on small shrimp in the LFS aquariums. I cannot say that the Botia Sidthimunki hunted down and killed the shrimp, but they were eating them.

Mike

[Aphyosemion]

Well, since we have the loach fan's attention, I have a question. At the pet store a month or 2 ago, I saw these little guys who looked just like Kuhli loaches, except they were a little shorter and a little wider in the body. Other than that, you couldn't tell the difference. What was cool is that they were breeding like mad in a customer's tanks, so she was selling them to the pet store just to thin them out. There were a lot of little babies in there and some older ones as well. Not only could the pet store guy not tell me what they were (other than they were definately not kuhli loaches), but he was so inept that he couldn't catch them...at ALL and eventually gave up. I am like, Uh dude, why don't you just use the two net method instead of chasing them with one? He's like, oh, that doesn't work either. I was about ready to take the net away from him and push him out of the way, like OUTTA THE WAY, ROOKIE!!! I have been keeping fish for 11 years and I can tell you that with really fast fish, the two net method is the only one that works worth a dang, unless maybe you have one really BIG net.
Anyway, I digress. Anyone know what those guys might be?
-Aphyosemion

[Ibn]

How close are they in looks to kuhlis (especially coloration wise)? Also, what size are we looking at here (jumbo kuhlis can get pretty large)? Pictures would really help...

BTW, next time, ask the employee "if you could give it a try" and net the fish out yourself.

[Aphyosemion]

Yeah, I debated asking him to let me give it a try, but I didn't want to be rude, especially after he tried to catch them for 15 minutes and insisted it couldn't be done. This was just one of the teenagers working at the store though, not the owners.
As for the loach, I obviously didn't take pictures at the time, but it is the same color as a kuhli loach, same wormlike body, just about 1/3 shorter and with a body about twice as wide as a kuhli loach. I have never specifically looked up breeding kuhli loaches, but I was under the impression that they don't breed in the aquariums under normal conditions. Either way, these fish are very closely related, but after a few seconds of observation they are obviously not the same species. I was just thinking that someone might know right off hand what they are, the way it is immediately obvious to most fish hobbyists that a cardinal tetra and a neon are not the same.
-Aphyosemion

[GDominy]

They may simply have been happy, fat, healthy Kuhli's. They do breed in the aquarium although you don't hear about it too too often

[Ibn]

They have been known to breed in aquariums on quite a few occasions. As for looking exactly the same, but slightly larger, I can't think of any other species. Might just be a jumbo kuhli.

[Aphyosemion]

I'm pretty sure they weren't regular kuhli loaches. Even the babies were noticably shorter and wider bodied. Maybe they are like a fancy strain of guppy that someone bred. These could be like the FANCY STUB LOACHES!! This is the first time I actually have seen these and I was guessing they were kuhli loaches at first, too, even though there was a noticable difference. I was like, those are kuhli loaches....no wait, they are too short and stubby.....but they must be....no, wait... <ponder> According to the dealer though, they are a diffferent kind of loach, even though he couldn't remember the name.
-Aphyosemion

[thegirlundertherainbow]

I got some nice BIG Kubatois (aka botia angelicus) at LFS last week..
Then heard of someone who had a Kubatoi kill a Botia Striata (Zebra Loach)

Have to wait and see..I have 7..or 6..Zebras..

HIGHLY* recommend Zebra loaches BTW Peaceful, smaller, and WILL KILL snails..good with plants..and small helpless fish..need groups to feel secure.