Botia Kubotai questions

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coyote1066

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Messages
16
Location
Denver CO
Hello everyone. I'm a beginner and I think I've already made a couple mistakes in relation to this loach.

Mistakes:

1) Store owner recommended I buy him to assist with uneaten food during the break-in cycle of my new 20 gal tank.

2) He lives with five very hungry platies who gobble up anything resembling food.

3) He's solo.

I've had little luck finding a kubotai specific profile that covers all the bases. For the most part I've been basing my actions on the profile for yo-yo loaches. Since he wasn't a planned purchase at the time, I didn't get a chance to research in advance.

I have been able to get some helpful advice from another board but I noticed there are some loach experts (Fruitbat maybe) here that might be able to give me more species specific answers. Here's what I've done so far to help the situation out:

1) He has a great flow-through cave with plenty of cover. I can't see him if he's in there.

2) I purchased shrimp pellets today to hopefully help with feeding.

3) The filter keeps the water moving fairly quickly which I've read that they like.

So here are my questions:

1) Platies like salt. Should I forgo salt for the kubotai's sake?

2) Are there other ways I can ensure he's getting enough food? The platies bottom hunt after their meals, are they getting anything? What would the signs of starvation look like if he isn't getting enough food?

3) Obviously I need one or two more kubotais to ease his loneliness after the cycle, but will they need separate caves? Is a 20 gal, 12" x 24" tank big enough to accommodate three loaches?

4) What are their species specific water needs. Temp, GH, KH, O2, pH, etc.

5) Does the substrate have to be sand? I have small, rounded pebble-like rocks in there now.

6) Should I eventually go with live plants rather than the current plastics?

7) Any other info I need that will keep him happy and heathy.

Although I didn't plan on getting him initially, I've grown quite fond of him and would hate to lose him. He's got a ton of personality and is stunning to boot.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. I'm sorry to drop the question bomb my first time on the board, but I'm worried for him.
 
I keep one Kubotai (Angelique) botia, and one YoYo Botia. I see very little difference in them, and from what I can tell they see eachother as the same kind of fish too. They spend all their time together, do the loach dance... and they share the same little crevices in my driftwood. In fact the two pretty much hang out together all day. More than anything, being able to wedge themselves sideways under some driftwood is what makes these fish happy.

As for food, they seem to be decent scavengers. But, they really prefer "good" food. Mine really enjoy frozen blood worms. They seem to have very poor eyesight, but very good sense of smell. They will literally follow a scent trail from fish to fish (actually sniffing past each fishes mouth) until they find the block of worms. I also keep a small population of Ghost Shrimp, and though I have not seen it happen, I am pretty sure the Botias are the one who snack on them too.

As for salt, though I no longer add salt to my tank. I used to add 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons in my tank. This did not bother the Botias at all.

http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/botia_sp_myanmar.html
that link has some info on this fish. I think maybe this fish is not very common in stores. Personally I find it to be one of the best looking Botias. IMO, if more folks saw one of these in their LFS they would be much more popular.

One last thing, if you see this guy laying on his side motionless at the bottom of your tank... don't worry, he's just napping. One of many loachy behaviors that makes they fish so interesting.
 
coyote1066...

I have a trio of Botia kubotai in my 'loach tank' along with other loaches and have found that keeping them successfully is not much different from keeping other similar loaches like Botia almorhae (as Zezmo mentioned) or Botia striata.

In response to your specific questions:

1) Botia kubotai natural habitat is pure fresh water with low salt content so the optimum would be not to have any salt in the water. However, I can't imagine that low levels of salt would cause them any real problems and would definitely make your Platies happier.
2) One thing you could do to ensure that your B. kubotai gets its fair share of food would be to drop some food into the tank after you turn out the lights. Botia are much more active when its dark than Platies are. Chances are your fish is getting some food even with the more aggressive feeders present. The most obvious sign of starvation, of course, would be a hollow belly on the loach.
3) A 20 gallon will accomodate three smaller B. kubotai but they do grow to at least 4 inches eventually and perhaps even larger. A 20 gallon would then be a bit cramped for three of them. They don't really need separate caves. Mine all hang around in the same hiding place most of the time with very few squabbles.
4) I keep my loach tank on the slightly acid (pH 6.5 - 6.8) side but pay very little attention to the hardness levels. Unless your water is extremely acidic/basic or exceptionally hard then I wouldn't worry much. Botia species seem to be relatively tolerant of water conditions as long as the water is changed regularly to keep ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels down.
5) I keep all of my loaches on standard aquarium gravel without any problems.
6) Live or plastic plants are equally acceptable. I've got live plants in my loach tank but I have kept them successfully with plastic/silk plants as well. You just want to avoid any sharp edges that might cause problems with the finely-scaled loaches.
7) A couple of things you might want to be consider:
a) Loaches are susceptible to ich and are very sensitive to many aquarium medications. Keep your water changes regular to prevent stress-induced diseases.
b) Frozen bloodworms seem to be the favorite food for most of my loaches. Try some of those in your feeding regimen if you can.

It sounds to me like you've got a good set-up for housing Botia kubotai. They ARE gorgeous loaches and are becoming a bit more available in the hobby. The folks at Loaches.com (as Zezmo already provided a link to) are an excellent advanced resource for all things loach.

Keep us up to date!

-Joe
 
Thanks!

Thanks Zezmo and Fruitbat!

I feel a lot better about going forward with my kubotai. He was out quite a bit today, even during the daytime. I think he's starting to get comfortable with his surroundings. I was even able to sneak close and get some photos which I'll try to upload soon. I think he's fairly mature as his stripes have joined. The LFS owner said he'd had him for three months. There are at least a half a dozen still at the store, so I think I'll reserve one if I can...for later.

My tank just started day 3 and the ammonia rose to 0.5 ppm, right on schedule. I added some Ammo-lock rather than do a water change since I would like to avoid prolonging the cycle if possible. Is this a good course of action?

Also, I have a carbon filter but I'm wondering if that will limit the effectiveness of the Ammo-lock. I've read it will filter out medications, but I'm not sure about water treatments. Any thoughts?

Update: Here's a picture of "Oswald"

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oswald.jpg
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Doing fine

Well, I'm on day 8 now and Oswald the B. Kubotai is doing fine. All the advice helped a lot. Thanks again.

Additionally, I came up with an idea for ensuring the loach gets his bloodworms without overfeeding. I take a small length of PVC with an end cap on, add a bit of food and then lower it slowly to the bottom. Before I started doing this, I dug a shallow hole in the gravel for the pipe to sit in. The Platies aren't brave enough to try the awkward approach, but Oswald swims right in and eats his fill.

I've found I can feed the two species independently rather than worrying about the loach relying on fallen food. Nifty huh? :wink:
 
Fruitbat, what size tank would fir 3-6 kubotai loaches comfortably? It seems like 55gal is the magic number for loach tanks, but have wondered if 40gal breeder could be one.

coyote1066, a turkey baster works well if you'd rather not get your hands wet. I think the pvc idea is nifty. Cleaned film canister would be clever too :)
 
A 40 gallon breeder would serve admirably for housing most loaches, including Botia kubotai. The 40 breeder has lots of bottom space, which is much more important for loaches and other primarily bottom-dwelling fish than how tall the tank is.

coyote....good thinking on the use of the PVC as a feeder.

-Joe
 
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