hillstream bully?

[Jason A.]

I have a 20g tall, and my LFS had one reticulated hill stream loach left and I wanted to get some workers to deal with algae that was starting to show up so I got the loach and 3 Amano shrimp, 3 Nerite snails and 2 Julii corys to help cleaning up the bottom. so the Hillstream Loach has been chasing the other creatures he sees feeding on the bottom, such as the corys or shrimp or a neon blue goby, I even seen it chase a tetra, is this normal behavior or is he acting this way because he's the only Loach or is he starving or is he a jerk or am I the jerk for putting him in a 20g tank? 

[Lowells Fish Lab]

I have a couple of reticulated hillstream loaches and I was shocked by how aggressive they can be. I really only saw them being aggressive with each other and not other tank inhabitants. They eventually calmed down and get along fine. Hopefully yours will calm down too.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I've seen on some youtube videos that they like to have a turf, so maybe he's trying to establish his? 

[Jayci]

I had 3 in a 20 Long, had almost the same issue.

The largest of the 3 was absolutely terrorizing the other 2, but left the Endlers alone. They were constantly fighting for the first month. After that, they all chilled out. The large one will still assert itself, but it doesn't tackle the other two anymore!

I intervened only a few times that first month. Whenever I saw the large guy attacking the others, I would gently 'chase' it using my tweezers so it would go into hiding for a bit. Just to stop the harassment. Honestly, I don't think that made any difference, and I think the large guy would've chilled out regardless.

I hope yours chills out too once he gets established!

[RockMongler]

In my experience (Not with reticulated hillstream loaches, but other hillstream loach species), they can be a bit pushy, but not necessarily in a way that leads to physical harm to other residents of the tank.  It mostly looks like they kind of ignore the others and bump them out of the way when they want to travel from point A to point B.  

I know my 4 beaufortia hillstream loaches (in a 20 long) sometimes harass shrimp and snails that are in 'their' territory (and that mostly ends up being knocking snails off rocks, and bumping into shrimp to chase them off), but they don't pay much attention to my otocinclus.  I have a pseudogastromyzon hillstream loach that was an absolute mega-asshole-bully to all the other creatures who hang around at the bottom of the tank.  He would aggressively chase off everyone into hidey holes so the bottom of my tank looked fairly lifeless, despite the fairly large number of other loaches, snails, and shrimp in the tank.  He has his own tank now.  

[Tamitha]

I've had two reticulated hillstreams in a 40b for a little over a year. At first they quarreled with each other to establish their own little space but as time went on they stopped and now hang out often. They do occasionally chase their lemon tetra and panda garra tankmates, who, for the most part, completely ignore them. Interestingly they seemed to really hate the panda garras when I first added them but just the other day I say a pile of garras hanging out, all piled on top of a hillstream. Knowing how much they didn't get along at first, it was quite the sight. Snails are ignored. I think your guy will settle down in time.

[Lowells Fish Lab]

Just to add to the "they're jerks but don't seem to do damage" theme, the worst thing I ever saw during a loach fight was one grabbing the other by the top of it's head pulling it off the glass and shaking it like a ragdoll. Sounds extreme but I didn't see any damage then or at any point after.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Lowells Fish Lab that's actually amusing to picture. However serious it was to them. At least nobody was hurt in the nacho libre move. I watched a youtube video where the reticulated loach was basically playing king of the mountain with at least a dozen or so of its own kind, scooting from one to the next to push them off. 

[Ken]

I have 3 Hillstreams (of some sort) in a 20L with 6 Panda Corys and a bunch of Goldring Danios. The Hillstreams own the bottom. To the point I worry about the Pandas getting enough to eat. I put in some broken up algae wafer in separate parts of the tank where a Hillstream immediately takes possession of the food and the surrounding area, anybody who gets too close gets roughed up. Then I feed the others. The more I think about it the more I think the Pandas need to go to a tank that would be more comfortable.

[Aralia]

I have 3 hill stream loaches in a 29 gallon  with three orange fin gobies. The loaches will bulldoze through when they want to claim the food but the gobies just ignore them now. Those loaches definitely think they own the tank. 

[ashleyruddell.ar]

i have a hillstream loach with about 6 coreys, it seems very agressive to the point where my albino coreys have visible marks and what looks like bites,they're in a 20L. ive had the loach (flappy) for about two months now and the coreys are original residents of the tank,everyone gets fed quite well and there is plenty of spots for the the loach to rest but hes just a giant bully. is there anything i can do??