Can anyone give me some care information for Horsehead loach

[kuhliloachfan]

I went to menagerie (a pet store in Toronto) and was going to buy some friends for my kuhlis but instead I saw they had a 5" horsehead loach. So I had to get him. You know how it is.

But I don't know anything about them. I do have the excellent Loach book which many people on this forum contributed to. I'm going to read through and look for tips on this type.

He's only happy when he can bury himself, I have small non-sharp gravel which he likes to be buried in, but I am considering whether or not to switch him to a tank with a mostly-sand substrate that has small piles of gravel. He tends to eat the gravel though and it comes back out behind his gills. I assume he must be getting something to eat, the tank has a couple of kuhlis and a gibbicaps pleco, and they eat sinking foods (larger algae tab for the pleco, smallish loach tablet for the loaches).

Any tips on care, preferences, and observing behaviour? He spends most of his day (90%) buried, and feeds about 10% as far as I can see. He seems to like to eat and then eject gravel, I have not yet observed him eating the sinking foods I feed him.

Thoughts on his tank size? He's probably 5" long, and he's in a 20g? Should be in a bigger one? He doesn't seem to swim around the tank at all, unlike my clowns and kuhlis, he's the most reclusive.

W

[Ashleigh]

Hi kuhliloachfan,

I have five of these little beauties in a 4ft along with a few Vaillantella species.
Five inch is a good size, usually we only see them about in the UK at three inches if lucky. I personally would opt for a slightly larger tank-length more so than anything; I have noticed mine zip around the tank at great speeds when startled.

As with all my tanks, I have opted for sand. With Horseface loaches, I would from personal experience recomend a fairly fine gravel/sand substrate as they are a constant burrowing species, and certinally would appreciate it

For feeding I feed a range of crushed pellet and flake foods, cyclops, brineshrimp, lobster eggs, dalphina, glassworms, and the occasional bloodworm.
When I first got mine, it did take them a while to feed, just keep an eye to make sure its eating now and again as Im sure you've noticed, they arn't a species that is visible most of the time-it can be quite difficult to keep an eye on the health, mine sometimes come up onto the pieces of bogwood I have sitting about in the tank-they do look a bit out of place when they do that

Have a look at the species index for any additional info http://www.loaches.com/species-index/ac ... rorhynchus


Ashleigh

[starsplitter7]

All 7 of mine (I might have 8, can't remember), came out last night and it was a site to see. I haven't seen that many in a while. I had the tank light on, but the room light off, so they couldn't see me. My smaller ones are out frequently, but my big ones, I am lucky to see their eyes. Mine live with Kuhlies, Eel Kuhlies, Oblanga, Pygmy Cories and guppies. I absolutely love them.

They do sift sand through their gills to eat, and they seem to really like flake. I feed all sorts of stuff, but the Horses go after the flake. The Kuhlies go after the shrimp pellets. I feed a variety of frozen and freeze dried foods. My tank is half sand and half gravel, and the Horses absolutely prefer the sand. Easier to bury in and sift for food.

I would certainly get a herd of Horses and Kuhlies. The more the merrier.

At my LFS, they had a Horse tank, and when they thought it was empty they disassembled it, and started to clean it. When they started to remove the gravel, they found a happy, healthy 8" fat Horse Faced loach that had been hiding in the tank for a year. They never saw him, and didn't know he was there.

Last night I saw my Eel Kuhlies that I haven't seen in 4 months.

[helen nightingale]

Tanja, what was going on last night to bring everyone out? that must have been really nice to see

just out of curiousity, how do you get enough flake down to the bottom for the horsies? i havent kept guppies. my rasboras will eat a ton of flake so quickly it doesnt have a chance to sink. they are incredibly greedy

Kuhliloachfan, i hope you enjoy your new horsie. they look fascinating

[starsplitter7]

Tanja, what was going on last night to bring everyone out? that must have been really nice to see

just out of curiousity, how do you get enough flake down to the bottom for the horsies? i havent kept guppies. my rasboras will eat a ton of flake so quickly it doesnt have a chance to sink. they are incredibly greedy

Kuhliloachfan, i hope you enjoy your new horsie. they look fascinating

I don't usually have the tank light on so late, and because the loaches didn't see me come in the room, they didn't hide. My Kuhlies and Oblanga are almost always out especially if there is food.

The guppies in this tank are boy feeders and very small (3/4-1 inch). I drop in different types of food, and all the fish go wild. I have shrimp and snails for clean-up. But the shrimp are more likely to steal the food faster than the guppies. When the guppies grab a piece of flake, they tear it and pieces drift to the bottom and the HFL suck those down. The Cories (I have a couple Skunk Cories in there too) help finish off the food.

[Blue]

I used to keep horsefaced loaches. They're so fun to watch even if they try to bury under substrate.

[kuhliloachfan]

I have had him for some months now. He's not always underground. He spent the first three or four months almost constantly under the fine gravel. Then he came up once or twice a day. Now that the other more aggressive fish are gone from the tank, he's much more personable. He's out for feeding time. He's figured out that a few hours after the sun gets up, the tall shadowy form of the food-bringer appears, and he gets snacks. He also spends about half of the daylight hours visible now, and spends lots of hours doing the geophage thing (eating gravel and expelling it out through the side slits in his mouth) to get food. Is that normal or does doing that for hours mean I'm not feeding him enough?

K.L.Fan

[Diana]

If he does not look skinny then you are feeding enough. Fish that are healthy will pretty much always be looking for food. In nature they do not find very much food in any one place, and must keep looking. They maintain this behavior in the aquarium, even if you do not see any food for them in the substrate. The bottom feeding fish may be finding some last remnant of food that had fallen. Overfed fish might not be so active.
You could try feeding an algae or carnivore wafer, and see if he wants to work on that. Wafers are hard, and do not fall apart very fast, so he will be getting small bites of food for an hour or more. I feed these sorts of wafers about twice a week.

[Andy]

Hi Folk's,
I got given two of these Loaches around ten week's ago and i think i've seen them three times since .They were given to me by a neighbour who was dismantling his set up so i dont know how old they are but there both around four inches long.I keep them in a 160ltr tank with a school of twelve Tiger barbs' and Five Frisky Cory's.There's plenty of wood and plants in there and it has a sand substrate,which i would think is essential for this species?Mine seem to like it..
Because i so rarely see them i too was worried about feeding but last time i glimpsed them they looked a lot fatter than when i got them so they must be finding the food when i'm not looking .I feed the tank grade 3 red crumb,De shelled Pea's,Frozen Bloodworms,Frozen Mussel or Prawn and the odd bit of Flake.
My two seem to be incredibly shy fish,they dont like me looking at them at all!They do come out during the day but as soon as i go anywhere near the Tank they'll dart off at an amazing speed then plough into the sand like a stinger missile,very panicky.Then they'll pop a peeper out of the substrate to keep a eye on me .

Great forum by the way!
Andy

[kuhliloachfan]

I have been feeding those wafers about 1x or 2x a week too. They work them over pretty good. Everybody has a go at it, and they push it around the tank, until it's gone. Much fun. Cat likes to watch them do that. For some reason, the Loaches are my cat's favourite fish. The weather loach and horsehead loaches, because they are long and pencil like, and move fast, seem to entrance him.

W