Here is an interesting article about the poor dyed fish:
Botia modesta (Blue Botia). When you buy this species, inspect it carefully if it seems to be an unnaturally bright blue. Various dyed fishes are such a commercial success for the Singapore export market that this "modest" but stylish fish is being injected with blue dye, or more likely merely dipped, to make it more saleable. Look close: dyed fishes don't show their naturally silvery bellies. Recent web reassurances to the effect that these Botias are not dyed to render them more glamorous are misleading, at least for New York LFS, where I have seen the tinted fishes myself. Painted B. modesta that have also been "hormonized" are listed in Singapore-based export price schedules, for example, not to single out some single offender, at http://www.ppaquarium.com Color-injected fishes are also exported from Thailand, available to wholesalers at http://www.jedaquarium.com/products.html (scroll down to 7.Color Fish).
B. modesta and the closely similar B. lecontei are two of a complex of very similar species, that is, if they are all genuinely separate species in the first place. Gunther Sterba, Freshwater Fishes of the World, 1967, illustrated line-drawn figures for each, with contrasting body shapes; my fishes correspond more closely to the more elongated body and flatter ventral outline that Sterba associated with B. lecontei. Their body color does vary, perhaps reflecting a more or less aggressive mood or their state of health (dark meaning well and feisty). Perhaps varying tints also reflect the geographical population they came from. True B. modesta range from a gunmetal silver blue to a faintly mauve blue-gray, but an artificially-enhanced "blue" will fade over a period of several weeks. Fin coloring may naturally range from a yellow-orange to a good strong brick red. B. lecontei is specifically marketed from Singapore as "yellow-tail blue Botia," on the website of P and P Aquarium World Trading ( http://www.ppaquarium.com). Steven Grant had an article at the late www.notcatfish.com, "The Botia modesta complex" getting into the minutiae of rightly naming this group of species from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I hope he'll find a way to upload this article again. Looking at Grant's photos of various preserved type specimens, some with rather vague information about their original collection areas, makes you wonder how sure anyone could really be, working from photographs and museum material alone.
I have a pair, bought at the same time out of the same shipment, and one has fins that are markedly more yellow, the other noticeably more red. So I'm skeptical. But Mike Ophir, who should know, wrote a Botia article in Aquarium Fish, Sept. 2000, recognizing B. modesta as more compressed in the body, less elongated. He says that as they mature, B. modesta become increasingly aggressive and territorial. Uh-oh. Though my pair periodically throw a lot of gravel around in their hidden hideout under a log, I must say that I haven't seen real intolerance yet. Mine come out late-- unless there are blackworms-- and forage together. The books often say that Botia modesta will be glad of a little extra warmth, around 77-82°F, and Mike recommends even warmer water (a temperature of 82°) and pH slightly on the acidic side. But my B. modesta kept at 75-78° seem less irritable than his description of a species that he calls "not the most peaceful" Botia. Is there a connection? Are my cooler fishes less hyper?
Botia modesta reach 25cm (9¾ inches) in the Sanasomboun district of Laos, where they are abundant in shallow side reaches of the Mekong and in small tributaries. They head upstream in December-March, where they spawn in May and June, returning downstream in June-August. So, as far as trying to spawn them in an aquarium, I figure that even after you've grown them to sexual maturity, and though you may be able to get them feeling restless with water changes, how can you satisfy their urge to migrate before they spawn?
Botia modesta will grow slowly beyond 5 inches; I've heard reports of ten-inch B. modesta in captivity. And they'll live for years. They are social, like Clown Loaches, but some fish-keepers have reported gang wars with Clown Loaches. They haven't been spawned in the aquarium, I don't think. I find these to be among the shyer, more noctural Botia. I made the mistake of buying one, which hid listlessly for a week before I added a well-matched second, which came from the same shipment. A stirring competition for a coconut shell hangout ensued, with head-to-tail shimmying and side-to-side body slamming. The new intruder wasn't evicted til after five minutes of struggle that left both fishes panting. But each fish was stimulated by the presence of the other and would take any opportunity to occupy the other's territory if it was momentarily abandoned. After a few weeks the two took up residence together in a hollow artificial log, where they were rarely seen. After a couple of years the two were moved to roomier quarters in a 20 gallon long. They live together secluded under a log in a thicket of Java Fern and come out late in the evening for some gravel-digging and high-speed chases.
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/fishes/loaches.shtml
Botia modesta (Blue Botia). When you buy this species, inspect it carefully if it seems to be an unnaturally bright blue. Various dyed fishes are such a commercial success for the Singapore export market that this "modest" but stylish fish is being injected with blue dye, or more likely merely dipped, to make it more saleable. Look close: dyed fishes don't show their naturally silvery bellies. Recent web reassurances to the effect that these Botias are not dyed to render them more glamorous are misleading, at least for New York LFS, where I have seen the tinted fishes myself. Painted B. modesta that have also been "hormonized" are listed in Singapore-based export price schedules, for example, not to single out some single offender, at http://www.ppaquarium.com Color-injected fishes are also exported from Thailand, available to wholesalers at http://www.jedaquarium.com/products.html (scroll down to 7.Color Fish).
B. modesta and the closely similar B. lecontei are two of a complex of very similar species, that is, if they are all genuinely separate species in the first place. Gunther Sterba, Freshwater Fishes of the World, 1967, illustrated line-drawn figures for each, with contrasting body shapes; my fishes correspond more closely to the more elongated body and flatter ventral outline that Sterba associated with B. lecontei. Their body color does vary, perhaps reflecting a more or less aggressive mood or their state of health (dark meaning well and feisty). Perhaps varying tints also reflect the geographical population they came from. True B. modesta range from a gunmetal silver blue to a faintly mauve blue-gray, but an artificially-enhanced "blue" will fade over a period of several weeks. Fin coloring may naturally range from a yellow-orange to a good strong brick red. B. lecontei is specifically marketed from Singapore as "yellow-tail blue Botia," on the website of P and P Aquarium World Trading ( http://www.ppaquarium.com). Steven Grant had an article at the late www.notcatfish.com, "The Botia modesta complex" getting into the minutiae of rightly naming this group of species from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. I hope he'll find a way to upload this article again. Looking at Grant's photos of various preserved type specimens, some with rather vague information about their original collection areas, makes you wonder how sure anyone could really be, working from photographs and museum material alone.
I have a pair, bought at the same time out of the same shipment, and one has fins that are markedly more yellow, the other noticeably more red. So I'm skeptical. But Mike Ophir, who should know, wrote a Botia article in Aquarium Fish, Sept. 2000, recognizing B. modesta as more compressed in the body, less elongated. He says that as they mature, B. modesta become increasingly aggressive and territorial. Uh-oh. Though my pair periodically throw a lot of gravel around in their hidden hideout under a log, I must say that I haven't seen real intolerance yet. Mine come out late-- unless there are blackworms-- and forage together. The books often say that Botia modesta will be glad of a little extra warmth, around 77-82°F, and Mike recommends even warmer water (a temperature of 82°) and pH slightly on the acidic side. But my B. modesta kept at 75-78° seem less irritable than his description of a species that he calls "not the most peaceful" Botia. Is there a connection? Are my cooler fishes less hyper?
Botia modesta reach 25cm (9¾ inches) in the Sanasomboun district of Laos, where they are abundant in shallow side reaches of the Mekong and in small tributaries. They head upstream in December-March, where they spawn in May and June, returning downstream in June-August. So, as far as trying to spawn them in an aquarium, I figure that even after you've grown them to sexual maturity, and though you may be able to get them feeling restless with water changes, how can you satisfy their urge to migrate before they spawn?
Botia modesta will grow slowly beyond 5 inches; I've heard reports of ten-inch B. modesta in captivity. And they'll live for years. They are social, like Clown Loaches, but some fish-keepers have reported gang wars with Clown Loaches. They haven't been spawned in the aquarium, I don't think. I find these to be among the shyer, more noctural Botia. I made the mistake of buying one, which hid listlessly for a week before I added a well-matched second, which came from the same shipment. A stirring competition for a coconut shell hangout ensued, with head-to-tail shimmying and side-to-side body slamming. The new intruder wasn't evicted til after five minutes of struggle that left both fishes panting. But each fish was stimulated by the presence of the other and would take any opportunity to occupy the other's territory if it was momentarily abandoned. After a few weeks the two took up residence together in a hollow artificial log, where they were rarely seen. After a couple of years the two were moved to roomier quarters in a 20 gallon long. They live together secluded under a log in a thicket of Java Fern and come out late in the evening for some gravel-digging and high-speed chases.
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/fishes/loaches.shtml
