Goldfish and Weather/Dojo Loaches

JouteiMike

I have 3 fancy Goldfish, and 2 weather loaches in a 75 gallon tank. Every now and then, especially recently, I see the loaches chase the Goldfish, and seem to playfully nudge them with their mouths and swim all over them. Not quite sure if they are actually biting/sucking the goldies, but to me it just looks like they are playing...I hope. Only visible damage was on my black moor, but it looked like he scraped his side on a rock.

Are weather loaches known to be somewhat aggressive with slower moving fish? Are they known to suck on goldie's slime coats if they are hungry? Maybe I should be adding some other kind of food for them, since maybe they aren't eating enough. I drop Algea wafers in at night for my Plecos, put Zucchini in every few days, and I assume they get scraps from flakes, freeze dried brine shrimp/bloodworms, sinking pellets, and peas that I feed my goldies on a regular basis.

Any opinions?

Lupin

IME, they are not aggressive. Neither do they suck the slime. I very much doubt they would suck the slime considering their mouths never look like suction cups.

Dk

yeah my dojo does that kind of stuff all the time. They aren't aggressive unless its feeding time and the bully their way in for an alage disc. I'm sure your gold fish got injured some other way. If you want to see something really funny my dojo was sitting on the bottom the other day and the farowella landed on him thinking he was a piece of wood. Let me tell ya he got tossed like a bronco rider.

lioness501

i had a loach in with a Goldfish once, im not sure wat sort, he was a coldish colour, and he sucked my Goldfish to death in the end.