Maybe not YoYo Loaches?

[Fishman Dave]

Fighting like that occurs more often when they don’t have a large group where a true hierarchy can be formed with the largest female running the group and generally keeping others in check and overseeing disputes.
Another very similar botia when young is eos and many of the young ones are bought thinking that they are modesta as they often have the blue body colour and faded red fins, however they are not as tall fish, with slightly shorter fins and only grow to around five inches. These are a little more solitary and a lot more “fighty”.

 

[tiger15]

Sounds like I might have eos instead of modesta as the behavior fits the description. https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/07-carp-like-fishes-1-loaches/yasuhikotakia-formerly-botia-eos/ Both would be sold as red tail Botia in US. I start to wonder whether my berdmorei is truly berdmorei as there are many Tiger loach look alike. It has red fins but the body pattern is slightly different from the OP fish.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Modesta has 9 dorsal fin rays and eos has 10 or 11 so if they were to stay still long enough you should be able to tell.
Also same often here in the uk, sold as red fin botia.

 

[Midwater]

I think the most obvious difference is that Eos are nice looking proportionate loaches and Modesta are battle tanks.

 

[A201]

I agree, Modestas are thick and powerfully built. Although physically similar to Clown Loaches, the Modestas are much more athletic.

 

[A201]

Hey guys, my LFS has a group of five juvenile Berdmorei Tigers in.
They weren't killing each other like mine did years ago.
I've got a 65 gal. tank available and thinking about trying to raise another group. I still have a solo adult Berdmorei in my display tank.

The store also had three good sized Angelicus Botias in stock. They were pricey. $24 a piece.

I've seen the Angelicus for sale online for a little over half that price. I've never bought fish online. I suppose shipping cost is pretty steep.

Any opinions on buying the Berdmorei Loaches, and is the $24 LFS price for the Angelicus Botias a fair price as compared to buying online.

 

[Midwater]

Angelicus, is that the one that got renamed as Kubotai? They have always been a bit more expensive than similar loaches, but I have never really liked them. They sort of get dirty spotty as they get longer, and do not have the pleasing shape of other loaches.

I would get the Berdmorei.

 

[A201]

I think the chances are better this time on successfully keeping a group of Berdmorei. During my first attempt to raise a group of them, the dominant male Berdmorei harassed his siblings to death.

This time I've got a much bigger hardscape as well as having the Modestas.

The Modestas keep my solo adult Berdmorei in check.

I'll go back to the LFS in a few days and try to buy all five of the Berdmorei.

Surprisingly the Berdmorei were much cheaper than the Kubotai botias.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Over here in the UK the tigers have become harder to get hold of and the kubotia have always been a higher price than most other botia other than Sidthimunki which also ask high prices. That said, both usually max around £12

 

[A201]

Tigers aren't offered for sale very often here in Oklahoma either.
Neither are the Modestas.
YoYo's are the most common.

They want a little over $10 U.S.
for the Berdmorei, which is relatively inexpensive. Of course they are only 1.5 inch juveniles.