Yoyo loach with Zebra loaches

Will different species of loaches interact and shoal with each other? Specifically yoyo and zebra loaches. Ive had a single yoyo loach for probably over 2 years now in my 20 gallon, its not an ideal situation but i had to rescue him and this was the best i could do and i just love him. Im getting a bigger tank and obviously im gonna move him into there when all is ready, but im not sure i could get an entire shoal of them due to their size. Mine is a little more than 5 inches and extremely active, and im not sure that would work. So i was wondering if i could a shoal of some smaller loaches, such as zebra loaches. Ive read theyre a little less high strung and around 3.5 inches. Would my yoyo become part of their shoal at least a little? I know it wont be as close as a shoal of his own, but i also know how social and funny and interactive loaches are. Would that be alright?

 

Mine swim together. I have zebra loach; yoyo loach; a few gold zebra loach and clown loach. The clown loach tend to not spend much time with the other loaches during the day (other than feeding time) but frequently the zebra loach, gold loach and yoyo loach mix together when swimming. Occasionally a few of the kuhli will join them.

 

It's been my experience that different species of Botia Loach can be kept together, but won't intermingle. Cramped conditions greatly reduce the chances for a peaceful coexistence.

 

Can you be more specific on which species you've kept together. I know that you have a kept a lot of loaches but at least some of them are the more aggressive sort. I've not noticed any aggression between my loaches but i have the more peaceful sort and as i noted i see them frequently interacting in a playful manner (swimming together and such).

It's been my experience that different species of Botia Loach can be kept together, but won't intermingle. Cramped conditions greatly reduce the chances for a peaceful coexistence.

 

I currently keep Red Tail Loaches aka Y. Modesta and a Berdmorei Tiger Loach. I have also kept "Helodes" Tigers (Highly aggressive) & Zebra Loaches.
Berdmorei Tigers tolerate other varieties of loaches but will torment or kill conspecifics. Zebras are passive & go well with almost anything. Red Tails, are built like linebackers, are very active. They get along fine with other loaches. The bigger the tank, the better the chances of a harmonic community.

 

I currently keep Red Tail Loaches aka Y. Modesta and a Berdmorei Tiger Loach. I have also kept "Helodes" Tigers (Highly aggressive) & Zebra Loaches.
Berdmorei Tigers tolerate other varieties of loaches but will torment or kill conspecifics. Zebras are passive & go well with almost anything. Red Tails, are built like linebackers, are very active. They get along fine with other loaches. The bigger the tank, the better the chances of a harmonic community.
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What a cool looking guy he is

 

Thanks, I recently added three baby YoYo Loaches into my new Barb tank.
Got to love Loaches.

 

Only 3 ? Shouldn't they be in a group of 10 or 15 ?

Thanks, I recently added three baby YoYo Loaches into my new Barb tank.
Got to love Loaches.

 

I originally bought 5 very tiny baby YoYos. That's all the LFS had in stock.
Two of the simply disappeared. Probably lunch for the Tiger Barbs. The 3 surviving YoYo's have grown to an inch long and are doing well.
A group of 5 or more is a good grouping.

 

i have 8 or 7 with 5 clowns and 5 zebra - waiting to see how they change as they age. A couple 2 1/2 are young adults now and at least 3 are taking their time (they were two different batches). One might be a gold zebra not sure - will know more when it gets adult pattern.

 

I have the opposite situation. I bought one golden zebra loach from petco (they only had one), and posted on FB to see if he was really a zebra or a yoyo as the photos I saw online weren’t really matching. People said Yoyo so... I bought 5 more. And now it’s really obvious he’s not a Yoyo. His coloring is lighter but right now the pattern is similar.


Should I be looking for more golden zebra loaches or will he do OK with the yoyos? So far he thinks they’re family but I don’t know how long I have til he figures out he’s adopted.

 

Sometimes too much emphasis is placed on stocking recommend-ations.
If the Loach is healthy, active & eating, it's likely that living in an adoptive group of YoYo's will be fine.
I'm a big fan of loaches & keep three different varieties. I think acquiring additional Golden Zebras is a good idea, but not a necessity.

 

For some reason and i don't know why my gold zebras jumped out of the tank. I had clown and yoyo with them but neither the zebra, clown nor yoyo jumped. One did it and i thought it was a random occurrence but then 2 weeks the other 3 did it with in a few minutes of each other. I purchased netting to cover the area the glass canopy didn't cover but it was still an odd thing to happen though since it was only the gold zebra and all of them did it i'm sure something triggered the behavior (I had 2 batch one was about 8 month in the tank and the other was only 4ish month - all numbers approx).

Back to your question - while mine had been purchased at petco (the reason i ended up with a mix of gold zebra and yoyo); you can buy confirmed gold zebra at aquaticarts.com and a few other places. Mind you their prices are significantly higher than petco - i think petco was 3ish dollar a fish and online they can be 10 or 15.