Loach Size I Am Intrested To See

[mikev]

thort TammyLiz said the "standard" yoyo's seem to stay rownd 3 and the others rownd 8 ? i ruther think thats a ruther big difrents if the pattern is difrent as well

NO. Regardless of the pattern, they will make 5-6" if treated well. They will also make 3" *within one year or less*.

Below is one of mine, 3.5" and growing. It used to have the standard pattern, one can still see the remnants of it.

 

[The-Wolf]

here is my observations on the yoyo loach types
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=103153&hl=

bottom line is assume they will reach 8"

 

[TammyLiz]

A quote from Wolf in the linked thread:

I am 100% convinced that both species are sold as the same fish, and that
you will never know when purchasing the yoyo/pakistani loach what one you
are buying.

So he does agree with my opinion, which is not surprising considering my opinion is based largely on what I've read of his experience! Hehe...you know...in a couple years I'll have some experience of my own on this matter to talk about. My yoyos are still all at or under 3 inches.

 

[mikev]

All is well, unless what Wolf is describing is simply the sexual dimorphism. Females lose the pattern faster, get larger and fatter at the end, an no two species are needed.

OTOH, there are also yoyo's that never had the YOYO pattern.

 

[TammyLiz]

All is well, unless what Wolf is describing is simply the sexual dimorphism. Females lose the pattern faster, get larger and fatter at the end, an no two species are needed.

You know, that thought did cross my mind. Wouldn't that be funny? Like the hikari danios with the yellow males and blue females. People can point into the tank and say "I want six of those blue ones" and have no idea they are taking only females and leaving the males behind. We could say "I want some of those yoyos that only grow to six inches" and not realize we are excluding the females from our tanks.

 

[mikev]

Exactly.

Did I mention that I actually have a small school of them? (Frank again).

 

[TammyLiz]

Exactly.

Did I mention that I actually have a small school of them? (Frank again).

Yes! I did hear that.

 

[Fizban]

he looks cute u seem to have taken good care of him ....i cant wait to get my loachers but i am going to be waiting abit i cant realy drive into the city now that i have an order for them throo the small shop in my small ass town cuz its a town where every one nos each other the pet store guys a friend of mine and my best friends cousin is dateing him as well ....there are okay times i guess the guy will sell stuff cheap to me some times give me stuff free this is the first time i have tryed geting fish throo him i dont think i will next time oh i was saying the pic looked cute on the other page

 

[The-Wolf]

All is well, unless what Wolf is describing is simply the sexual dimorphism.

I had considered that point but dismissed it based on the fact that, although some animals in the animal kindom do have such a large size difference between males and females, it is very rare to find such a difference in fish.

for now I will stick with fishbase and go with yoyo and reticulated loaches being two entirly different species,
untill a recognised icthyologist does some dna research into this matter,
all is conjecture and we as aquarists should assume that what we are buying will reach 8" so that we can provide a suitable enviroment for them.

 

[Fizban]

out of intrested here what loach did we work out was bigger the yoyo or the zebra loach and what size dose the zebra grow too?

 

[The-Wolf]

B.striata maxes out at 4"

 

[mikev]

If you don't mind, lets get back to yoyo's in a few days.

I'm in the process of moving mine to a new tank where I can finally look at them and measure the sizes. My yoyo's were obtained at identical size of about 1" in January, and include 3 "standard" and 2 "abnormals". The advantage is that I know how they looked when young, I think yours came to you as already grown ups. Untfortunately, moving them this is a slow process: it took me 3 hours to catch the second yoyo today, and I was too exhausted to try to catch one more.

all is conjecture and we as aquarists should assume that what we are buying will reach 8" so that we can provide a suitable enviroment for them.

Not sure this is right. The *average* adult size is probably still 6", this is what one should be planning for.

 

[TammyLiz]

I keep mine in a 55 gallon tank and only plan on moving them out if they get more than 6 inches. Right now, they are all growing at different rates and some are still tiny but I think they are all going to retain their yoyo pattern, so it may work out fine to leave them in there.

 

[mikev]

Mine are being moved out of a 29g tank which is certainly not OK for 5 3"-4" yoyo's...they grew way too fast.

One particular difficulty is that the driftwood in the tank has a cave inside, large enough to hold the yoyo's, three similarly sized Kubotai's and a 3" BN. Any time I approach the tank with the net, all of them run into the cave and I have to wait an hour until they come out....

 

[deni]

I bought three yo-yo loaches at the beginning of the year. Two have retained a definate yo-yo pattern and are now around 2 and a half inches long. The other grew really quickly and is twice the size of the others, also its pattern is changing as it gets bigger, looks more like dark bands with swirls in between.