Loaches Online Forum

I've been waiting for 2 Occelatus to finish off my tank for a little while now. My 48L tank is currently home to 3 Cheni and 1 Occelatus. But something is on my mind and I could just do with your thoughts on whether adding 2 more Occelatus is a good idea. The reason being the Cheni are quite boisterous and often chase each other around the tank which I understand is their natural behaviour. The little Occelatus I have is adorable and just potters about minding its own business it is an absolute joy to watch but is often disturbed by the Cheni's behaviour, they do chase it about quite a bit. I'm beginning to wonder if the chasing around could be too stressful for the 2 Occelatus I've been considering adding? The current Occelatus doesn't at all seem bothered by their behaviour it never tries to hide away or anything, it just swims off and carries on it business elsewhere. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Oh also I saw some strange behaviour a couple of days ago from my Cheni which I've never observed before, one was laying straight on top of another one, the one underneath wasn't putting up a struggle to swim away at all which I found really bizarre as they usual swim away from each other. Is this usual behaviour for Hillstream Loaches?

That behavior sounds like "topping" and may be a prelude to spawning.
I have found that some cheni males are much more domineering than others. Most of the time, other hillstreams can deal with it fine. Just make sure you have plenty of flat stones and hiding places so that there isn't constant fighting over a prime spot. Also, you might want to put food in more than one place so that the chenis won't run the others away.

Hi Jim

Thanks for your reply, yeah there's plenty of hiding places and their fed like you say, the current usually distributes the food around the tank which helps and when I feed courgettes etc I usually put a couple of slices in to save them falling out.

Pleased that the unusual behaviour could be spawning, thats what I was hoping

Do you have any views on adding more Occelatus?

I guess I didn't make that clear but I was refering to adding more ocellatus in my previous post. They should be okay provided there is enough room in the tank and plenty of hiding spaces, etc.

Sorry Jim

After reading your reply again I now realise I wasn't reading it properly

I'll add a couple more slates and smooth stones when I get the newbies just to be sure theres enough prime spots.