Hillstream question

[tglassburner]

On another forum I'm on there is a discussion going on.

This was said:
"I have kept butterfly plecos and they do not consume algae, they might accedentally consume some when they try to eat organisms that live in the algae. I feed my fish mostly live food. Daphnia magna, black worms and mosquito larvae. Real hill stream loaches gorge themselves on this live food but never eat algae. Their sucker is used to maintain position in fast flowing streams not to eat like real plecos. After 45 years of fish keeping I do occasionally know what i am talking about.

If you look closely you will see that the so called butterfly pleco has a large mouth when it opens it up to gulp down a an insect larvae of even a small fish. I don't know how this thread got so far off topic. cling fish are not butterfy plecos but they are preditors as well."

How accurate is this?

All mine seem to do is eat algae and things on the glass at feeding time they hardly move or ever seem interested in bloodworms, blackworms or any other live/frozen food.

[mistergreen]

Mine does forage for bloodworms... I'm going to go out on a limb and say, like most loaches, they're omnivorous.
So I'd imagine they'd eat, algae, vegetable matter, and insect larvae which are pretty common in a brook stream environment.

[Diana]

It has been my understanding that Hillstream Loaches are not specifically vegetarians, but generally are looking for the meatier foods that are living in the algae. They will eat the algae, but also eat other foods. There are many species of Hillstream Loaches, some may have more specialized diet than others.
The way they cling is not the same as Loricariads, with a sucker mouth, it is more an arrangement of the fins that leaves the mouth clear and available for eating other foods. The mouth is usually down on the rock (or glass) so the flow of water is directed over their back and to their sides, and not allowed to pass under their belly. This is a hydrodynamic issue so they are not washed away in the current.
Loricariads (Pleco, Ancistrus, Otocinclus and others) can be seen hanging from the glass, held in place only by their sucker mouth. Their fins are shaped and angled to help them stay there in a moderate current, but they are not as specialized as most of the Hillstream Loaches. Their fins do not form any sort of suction cup effect. The food choices are similar, though. Some Loricariads specialize in algae and the microorganisms that live in the algae, other Loricariads are more omnivorous, and require meatier foods, some actually eat wood. (Wood eaters are usually found in somewhat calmer water where fallen trees are not washed away in the seasonal flooding.)

[tglassburner]

I guess I should clarify more, It's more the fact that some are claming the hillstreams ie. beaufortia are predators.

[mistergreen]

I can see them hunt insect larvae. There are a few here with hilly tanks.. Can you do an experiment for us and throw in live daphnia or brine shrimps?

[bullisbm]

I don't know if you consider them preditory. I know mine like live blackworms sometimes but I don't ever see them stalking them.
I really only see them eat them when I put some in the tank at feeding time.


I have;

Sewellia lineolata
Beaufortia kweichowensis
Gastromyzon scitulus
Gastromyzon ocellatus

I think opportunist is more in-line.

[Cup]

I'm sure everyone has seen their ballitorids rasping on the front plane of the glass. While this serves to show that they are probably to some degree, obligate limnivores, they obviously also seem to enjoy meatier foods (i.e. catfish pellets, whatever). Anything that so blatantly forages like a awfuchs browser probably is one, and thus, not an exclusive predator.

[Jim Powers]

I had several other species of hillstreams in the same tank with spawning
P. chenis and L. disparis and never noticed any fry predation. The only hillstream I would think could be considered predatory would be Homaloptera smithi. While I never have witnessed it, I could imagine them preying, to some degree on fry.
Many of my hillstreams do, in fact eat algae, as well as the organisms on the algae. They also go nuts over frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms. Pelleted foods are also taken.Therefore, I would go with the opertunistic feeder label too.