I think I'd be wary of keeping long finned fish with yoyos. They might be too tempting to ignore & stick out from any hiding areas. Females don't get the red head spot or very many (short) bristles. But males hide more, they're the egg & fry caregivers. The females just visit the male's chosen spot, lay eggs & go on their merry way, lol.
BNs do have pectoral spines so they can defend themselves a bit. That male in your pic looks like the bottom pectoral spine has been shortened compared to the top 1. The snout bristles aren't very hard, more decorative than defensive.
But my female L-144 is that pretty gold color, as opposed to brown or pinkish white albino BNs. (L-144s males get much longer, rounder noses) If you get a small 1 you likely won't be able to sex it. How big are your yoyos? That "may" matter, sometimes small fish learn to ignore each other as juveniles that can carry over into adults...but not always. Think of small angels with their natural food, neons. It "may" work...or not. You'll have mostly Asian fish, but BNs are SA...they may have different "body language" as SA & African cichlid do...I just don't know. I have kept both BN & otos with much smaller, mellower loaches (striatas, sidthimunkis & pangios).
