# Yoyo loach and next steps!



## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I need a loach for my 20 long and I am considering the yoyo loach. I would like some input on peoples experiences with these loaches. I like that they stay small enough to never outgrow my tank, which is my ultimate goal with all fish. And it better eat my MTS. I like the burmese a lot but I recently saw a full grown one and it definitely gets too big for a 20L. They are slow growers for certain. But big!


I am currently bleaching my 5 ga but I need to get the filter out of storage. I plan on running water through the filter by running it on the bleached tank. Once I am done with that and have given it a thorough rinse job I will put it on my 20ga for a week to gather some bacteria in the sponge and bioballs. Next week I will buy some of the fish I want to go into the 20 and start them on their quarantine. I am hoping I can get some Neon's here that are more used to the local water.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

The yoyo loach can get rather large. They don't get as big as clown loaches but can get upwards of 6 inches. Mine is 6 months old and is already 7 inches. They are a lot of fun to watch when they are younger but when the get older they are more recursive. They like to cram themselves in weird places and half the time you think they are dead. Ha mine hides in the space between my power head and the suction cups. 

It's up to you but I wouldn't put a yoyo in a 20 gallon. they seem to like a taller tank so they have more space to do loops...which is how they got there name.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Try to lfs and look for dwarf Cain loaches. They cap out at 2-4 inches and have a really cool pattern


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Thanks grogan  The guy at the LFS I was at said that a yoyo would be better for what I am looking for but I didn't really trust him so I thought I should ask around more. He told me they would get long but that it was more snakelike so not as much of an issue in a smaller tank. 

I will look into the dwarf Cain you mention. I am sure I could get one if I need to. Maggie would order one for me I know.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

I don't have room for 3-5 loach's. Maybe someone knows another fish that stays small but will eat my stupid snails?


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

Just did a search and couldn't find any botia loaches that:

a- can't be kept in a tank under 30 gallons
b- shouldn't be kept singularly 

sooo.. I would say just got buy the yoyo because it will eat your snails. If its size and temperament become a problem donate it back to the store. You wont run into any of these problem for a few months so go for it. They are a really fun fish to keep, but watch out for the fingers. When they get 2-4 inches they like to swim to the surface and demand the food in your hands...and those barbs are sharp!


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

here's a pic of one of my lohachata loaches...from where the end of his tail is to the tip of my finger , it is just over 7 1/2"...so he is about 6"....










sidthimunki are great little loaches..very active and peaceful and good snail eaters..they are a more slender fish than most of the loaches..they only get to be about 2 1/2"..the will be fine in a groups of 3 or 4...
the bad part is that you will be lucky if you can find them for less than $10.00 each...


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

He's beautiful Goat Boy! I already have 5 cory cats so I am trying to be careful of bottom space and bioload. I have the worlds smallest Rubberlip pleco. She never grew. I have no idea why not. It was NOT stunting! She spent the first 2 years of her life in my 100 gallon. She is tip to tail about 2 maybe 2.5 inches and is proportionate with that so not a wide girth. Basically the size you get them from the store. She grew maybe close to an inch and that was it. For obvious reasons she's the one I kept for my 20 ga LOL. This is nice because it helps a little with bioload but I still prefer to find something I can get a single one of without stressing them out too much. 

Are there any other fish that eat snails (no puffers they are not compatible with my tank)? 

My curvicep seems to be doing well. I need to get new Cichlid food so he has something to eat up off the bottom of the tank. He feeds there from what I can tell, and not in the water column. He's shy but does show himself so I have high hopes that when I get some dithers he will do well. My 5 ga is bleaching now. I have the sponges for the filter in my 20ga filter so they are gathering bacteria, and I have some stability but I am not sure if it is still active. So hopefully next weekend I can get some fish and QT them. Then I can get those into the tank as dithers. Kind of exciting! QT tank is bare bottomed but will have a piece of mopani in it. I bleached that as well ans have it drying out of the tank. I am going to empty the tank of the bleach water and put in treated water for the next week so the mopani can get water logged and leach out the rest of the chlorine it may have absorbed in this process. So while it will be running, it will not be cycling.


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## hXcChic22 (Dec 26, 2009)

We used to have a single yoyo in a 20 gallon with a bunch of other loaches, including two Angelicus, some dojos, etc. We had hoped the Angelicus and Yoyo would hang out together but the Yoyo spent a lot of time pestering the others. 
That Yoyo died in a tank disease 'splosion and we replaced him with two baby ones. Now that we have two, it's obvious how much they prefer being in groups... they hardly ever separate. 
The dwarf loaches, on the other hand, are absolutely precious. We only have two because that's all the store had but we will get more as soon as we can. I don't know if they eat snails, though.


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## Plecostomus (Jul 31, 2006)

I have a yoyo loach in my 20 gallon tank and 3 zebra loaches. I think they could work fine in your tank. They are a little aggressive to each other in small groups, but none of mine seriously injure each other. You could easily put Kuhli loaches in your tank, but they aren't quite as adept at eating snails. They will eat some of them, but not all of them.


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