loach has a new favourite cave - fluval outlet arrrgh!

[millym]

hi
we have a little pakistani loach & the other night i happened to glance at our tank & noticed a little whiskery face poking out from the outlet of the internal fluval filter in the tank. our loach has decided that this is the perfect spot for a home, peace, quiet no nosy barbs irritating him!!! we have an external filter but as my partner doesnt think its as good as it should be(there often seems to be stuff floating in the tank when its on) he has put the internal fluval in the tank as well( we got it with our tank when we bought it) & we turn it on now & again to clear everything up, just until we can afford to buy a much better external filter.
is the loach ok in there??? he seems to love it.
we obviously dont now turn on the internal fluval until we're sure hes out & about in the tank but are still worried in case he could get stuck in there.
it is quite funny watching him though - when hes been out pottering in the tank & we've turned the fluval on, you should see him battling the current like mad trying to get back in his little 'cave'. its quite amazing how strong he is & how close he actually gets to the outlet despite the v strong current against a tiny skinny 1 & a half cm long fish.
ps: we have lots of plants, rocks,caves,nooks & crannies in our tank so its not like theres no where else for him to hide!!!!!

[ghoastoflyle]

lol i dont know what to tell you. but it sounds great!
do you think you could get a pic of him swimming?

[Citicricket]

Hi...I'm somewhat of a newbie but worked in a private pet shop as a teenager and remember "weather loaches" that ripped up the tank before a storm but of course when I ask at pet shops they all look at me like I made it up! Is there a more specific name or do all loaches display this behaviour? I'd like a weather loach in my 45 gal of community tropicals. Thanks!

[ghoastoflyle]

ive heard of that. cant really help but i know that ive also read on here
about fish doing that before storms so im sure some one knows

[Allivymar]

millym:

LOL what a little dork. Guess he likes fast moving water *grin* I would, however, suggest using a little netting to cover the outlet so he can't get in. Could be dangerous.

Citicricket:

You can read about the weather loach (also known as dojo loach) here: http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/wloach.html

[millym]

allivymar
our loach is a pakistani loach i think - botia lohachata, well it looks like the pic of a pakistani loach i have in a book & thats what the petshop called it.
ive read on forums that they dont like a highish pH - ours is always 8 ( london tapwater) all our other fish seem quite happy, should we be doing something to lower the pH????
id hate to think hes uncomfortable in the tank.

[Allivymar]

Chances are he's pretty acclimated to that pH; between the lfs tanks and yours. Does he seem uncomfortable or unhappy? If not, I wouldn't mess with the pH; that can be a real pain in the rear.

I just got one of them yesterday; the lfs had him and another loach for the past 2 month just laying around their tanks. No one knew what they were - the lfs was selling the yoyo (pakistani; we call em yoyos cause the markings on the side look like they read YO YO YO etc) as a botia striata, and what turns out to be a schistura as a weather loach! Duh LOL Got a great deal. Yoyos do like buddies tho; if you can find 2 more you may want to consider adding them to your tank (after a QT period of course). I'm hoping mine will school with my clown loaches as he is the ONLY yoyo I've seen in the area in 6 months, and chances of me finding him a buddy seems pretty slim.

If you decide to get him some buddies, you may want to get in touch with Terry, who posts on this forum; he's prob within driving distance from you and owns a small lfs.

[millym]

thanks allivymar
our loach seems quite happy - always buzzing around the tank nosing thru the gravel. we did buy 2 when we got him but one died v quickly so we just wanted to see how this guy got on in case our tank wasnt the best place for him, but we will be getting maybe 2 more soon.