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So April's Tiger Loach has struck again. I am just wondering if most Loaches are known piscivores or if we just got "lucky". We didn't have too much hope for the baby earth eaters but the one survivor had gotten quite large. He "disappeared" a few days ago. And now we've found the half eaten carcass of a Red Honduran that dwarfed the loach.
On a side note, if anyone is in need of population control feel free to PM me and we can set up a time for you to borrow our Tiger;)

If you're talking about Syncrossus hymenophysa or similar, commonly called tiger botias, yes. They are known nippers and murderers. Awful fish, really. Stores should warn hobbyists that want to purchase them. Better yet, don't stock this fish. Many (most?) of the botia-type loaches are ornery. (The clown loach is an exception.) Red- and yellow-tailed botias and skunk loaches are other common bad boys. I even had a problem with the little dwarf loach (Ambastaia sidthimunki )-- a species that is reputedly peaceful-- taking eyes out of my rasboras.

The worm-shaped loaches, such as coolie loaches are much safer bets.

Very good to know. Good information on a number of species for future reference too:-) It was a fish from petco, and April has more then paid the price. He may get to move to the turtle tank tonight...

I'm going to speaking on Loaches and Botias at our January meeting. It's an interesting group, and hopefully I'll be able to present a lot of useful information on these fish. Denny

we had a group of skunk loaches that had me pulling my hair out. we put them into a planted 60 gallon (tall 55) along with a mixture of rainbows, congo tetras and various other fish. we had no idea they would be so nasty. they would actually catch rainbows and bite off their fins. I had <someplace hot> trying to catch them too because they are so incredibly fast and smart. I tried trap after trap design and caught every fish in the tank except the skunks. I finally developed a method of placing a funnel-type trap facing the front of the tank and then put some pellets in front of the opening of the trap. then I would lay on the floor and hide below the tank waiting for them to feed on the pellets and then RUSHING the tank to scare them into the trap. this took a few weeks to catch 6 loaches but eventually worked. never again......... we also had a tank of larger botia/loaches such as yo-yo, striated, etc. and never had an issue with them being aggressive. Kyle

Thanks for the info Kyle. Denny

snakeskinner wrote:we had a group of skunk loaches that had me pulling my hair out. we put them into a planted 60 gallon (tall 55) along with a mixture of rainbows, congo tetras and various other fish. we had no idea they would be so nasty. they would actually catch rainbows and bite off their fins. I had <someplace hot> trying to catch them too because they are so incredibly fast and smart. I tried trap after trap design and caught every fish in the tank except the skunks. I finally developed a method of placing a funnel-type trap facing the front of the tank and then put some pellets in front of the opening of the trap. then I would lay on the floor and hide below the tank waiting for them to feed on the pellets and then RUSHING the tank to scare them into the trap. this took a few weeks to catch 6 loaches but eventually worked. never again......... we also had a tank of larger botia/loaches such as yo-yo, striated, etc. and never had an issue with them being aggressive. Kyle

Where can I find the video on YouTube please?