Skunk Botia Question

[fishyaddict]

I had been researching different loaches and had come across the skunk botia which I liked cause it was pretty similar looking to my clown loaches...I researched on a couple of sites, petsolutions.com and loaches.com and got varying answers on compatability. Petsolutions said that they were community fish that pretty much went with anything a clown loach could go with and would even school with the clown loaches. I believe loaches.com said they could sometimes be aggressive. Today I purchased 3 dojo/weather loaches from our LFS and while I was waiting for assistance noticed a skunk loach was in with them and another was in the tank just to the left. As i watched him I noticed he seemed to be bullying the dojo's who were rather large (5 inches) about 2.5x his size. I also found it strange that they had the two skunk loaches in seperate tanks as my clown loaches thrive on each others company. I guess i'm just wondering what everyone else's experience are with these fish?

Thx Dave

[loaches r cool]

I too have read some varying reports on these critters. Most say they can be agressive and this is true. Some have said if you keep em in a small school they might just bully each other - kinda like tiger barbs. I have just one. I have a variety of other loaches too. The solo skunk loach doesnt really school with the other loaches. When we first got him he was agressive and would try to nip at others occasionaly. After a year now, he isnt as agressive, but does chase some of the other loaches every once in a while. If I had to get rid of a loach the skunk loach would probably be the first. If you want another loach like the shape of the Clowns I might suggest a Yoyo loach. With atleast 3 they should be more comfortable and not hide as much (with 1 or 2 they hide alot).