Will upping the numbers calm this loach down?
I have a 123-litre tank with seven glowlights, five black widows, eight rummy-noses and six corys. I recently added a skunk loach, and all was well to begin with but now the loach has started terrorising the other fish and has badly nipped the black widows’ fins.
I've since read that loaches are better in groups, so should I get some more, and will this stop the behaviour? I'm worried about being overstocked.
Will adding more plants help to break up the line of sight and create more places for the other fish to hide?
JO BYRNE
BOB SAYS: Skunk loaches, Yasuhikotakia morleti are attractive little fish, and often temptingly cheap, but I really don't understand why they are still so commonly sold, as they are one of the most vindictive little nippers around! You’re not the first person to find out the hard way that they're unsuited to all but the most robust, specialist communities—I made the same mistake myself early on in my fishkeeping life.
Adding more will usually mean you just have more nipping going on, even if some of it is between the loaches, and they won't restrict their violence to just fins. Missing eyes among tank makes isn't uncommon. Only fast-moving fish, or species that have a similarly aggressive attitude are likely to escape their attentions.
Your best bet is to catch the loach, which will be no easy task —watch out for the spines located just below the loach’s eye when getting it out of the net—and return the fish to the shop you got it from.
If you want to keep botiid loaches, then the dwarf chain loach,
Ambastaia sidthimunki is an attractive choice, whose squabbling antics are usually restricted towards its own kind, especially when kept in groups of five or more.