Hannah Parker Posted May 19, 2022 Share Posted May 19, 2022 (edited) Hi everyone! Hoping someone that has owned dwarf chain loaches can chime in and help me out. Recently I lost one of my yoyo loaches and only have 1 left in my community tank, and am wanting to figure out a solution to his social needs now that his companion is gone. You can check out my thread here for more context. Basically, I have a tank that is pretty stocked and smaller than I would feel comfortable to have 3-4 yoyo loaches in it. But I don't want my remaining yoyo to be alone for the remainder of his life. I was wondering if he would school with and interact with dwarf chain loaches? I would be much more comfortable having a higher number of these in the tank with him, instead of just 1 or 2 more yoyos. Any input would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance! Edited May 19, 2022 by Hannah Parker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 I was just watching this very social Yoyo Loach online here. If yours is this social, my guess is it wouldn't necessarily lonely with other species. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted May 21, 2022 Share Posted May 21, 2022 I currently do not have dwarf chain loaches; but I do have clown and zebra and my yoyos will school/group with them. However given that a yoyo can be 10 times larger than dwarf chain I'd be a bit concern mixing one with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Parker Posted May 23, 2022 Author Share Posted May 23, 2022 On 5/21/2022 at 12:09 AM, Fish Folk said: I was just watching this very social Yoyo Loach online here. If yours is this social, my guess is it wouldn't necessarily lonely with other species. On 5/21/2022 at 2:38 AM, anewbie said: I currently do not have dwarf chain loaches; but I do have clown and zebra and my yoyos will school/group with them. However given that a yoyo can be 10 times larger than dwarf chain I'd be a bit concern mixing one with them. Holy crap that is a big loach! And he was very social with his partner, but I’ve barely seen him since he’s become the only one. Definitely need to get him some friends. And he is over 4 years old and only 3 inches, so I’m sure praying that he doesn’t get any bigger!!! He hasn’t grown in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawjagrrl Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 I have not kept Yo Yos, but I do have dwarf chains and kuhlis. The dwarf chain loaches are perhaps the most fun fish I have ever kept and they LOVE to school. And not just with each other, but the siamese algae eater, the roseline sharks and even my female endlers that are in with them for a reproductive time out! They are very curious about new fish (although they seem leary of the congo tetras I added this week) and will school with them if allowed. I suspect they would seek out your yo yo if he's not considerably larger based on how puppy-like mine are. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 (edited) On 5/22/2022 at 8:02 PM, Hannah Parker said: Holy crap that is a big loach! And he was very social with his partner, but I’ve barely seen him since he’s become the only one. Definitely need to get him some friends. And he is over 4 years old and only 3 inches, so I’m sure praying that he doesn’t get any bigger!!! He hasn’t grown in a while. At 4 years he would be an adult but it is odd he is only 3 inches long - as yoyo can get as large as 6 or 7 inches. -- By the way a lot of websites erroneously list the size of yoyo as 2.5-3 inches; if you want more information on yoyo read this site: https://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-almorhae Also there are several loaches that look similar to yoyo (esp as youngsters). Chain stores such as petco will frequently mix gold zebra and yoyo together and sell them under the tag yoyo even though they are very different species that look similar when younger (as adults they are quite distsinctly different). Another loach that is sometime lump in with them at chain stores are kubotai though that seems less common. Aquahuna is a good places to get dwarf chain loaches. Note that dwarf chain loaches are an endangered species and harvesting them in the wild is illegal; for the aquarium trade they are all tank raised. Edited May 23, 2022 by anewbie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Parker Posted May 23, 2022 Author Share Posted May 23, 2022 On 5/23/2022 at 3:06 AM, anewbie said: At 4 years he would be an adult but it is odd he is only 3 inches long - as yoyo can get as large as 6 or 7 inches. -- By the way a lot of websites erroneously list the size of yoyo as 2.5-3 inches; if you want more information on yoyo read this site: https://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-almorhae Also there are several loaches that look similar to yoyo (esp as youngsters). Chain stores such as petco will frequently mix gold zebra and yoyo together and sell them under the tag yoyo even though they are very different species that look similar when younger (as adults they are quite distsinctly different). Another loach that is sometime lump in with them at chain stores are kubotai though that seems less common. Aquahuna is a good places to get dwarf chain loaches. Note that dwarf chain loaches are an endangered species and harvesting them in the wild is illegal; for the aquarium trade they are all tank raised. Thank you so much for all the information! He was actually sold to me as a golden zebra loach, but many people on this forum thought he was a yoyo after seeing pictures of him. Honestly I'm not sure what he is at this point 😂 and I was looking at AquaHuna for the dwarf chain loaches, so thank you for the endorsement! Here is the boy in question, he was never as colored up as his counterpart: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted May 23, 2022 Share Posted May 23, 2022 Hard for me to tell because the colours don't seem accurate in the picture; definitely not a gold zebra; i lean towards yoyo but there are some other loaches with similar pattern. Also not a kubotai. Btw another loach that you could consider as tank mates for him are zebra loaches. These are around 4 inches as adults and are extremely passive - again at least a min of a group of 5. dwarf loaches are much smaller and extremely active; they will swim everywhere - zebra loaches are going to be a bit more shy and tend to stay on the bottom of the tank (think shy cory). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hannah Parker Posted May 23, 2022 Author Share Posted May 23, 2022 On 5/23/2022 at 10:48 AM, anewbie said: Hard for me to tell because the colours don't seem accurate in the picture; definitely not a gold zebra; i lean towards yoyo but there are some other loaches with similar pattern. Also not a kubotai. Btw another loach that you could consider as tank mates for him are zebra loaches. These are around 4 inches as adults and are extremely passive - again at least a min of a group of 5. dwarf loaches are much smaller and extremely active; they will swim everywhere - zebra loaches are going to be a bit more shy and tend to stay on the bottom of the tank (think shy cory). I will definitely consider zebra loaches! I love they way they look. However, what attracted me to the dwarf chains was their size, as the community tank in question is a well-stocked 4ft long 33 gallon. You can check out my thread here for more context, but I was misinformed when I was sold these loaches years ago, and was planning on them living out their days in this tank as a pair. However, since I am now down to one and don't have the room to upgrade and also don't want him to be alone, I'm leaning towards more smaller loaches to accompany him than 1-2 zebra loaches, for example, as I'm limited from the size of the tank. I'm not sure why he's stayed so small, but from his behavior I think he is probably a yoyo as well. When he had his counterpart, they were also zooming the length of the tank together during the day and at night. Now that his friend is gone I barely see him, he hides all day 💔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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