Loaches Online Forum

Hello All! I have had my 3 Kuhli's for about 8 months or more and I noticed about a month ago that one of my Black/Chocolate Kuhli's was getting fat. I assumed it was just thriving. However....the Khuli is now twice as wide as my other two, having a triagnular appearance when looking down on her and "her" belly is very rounded! I was thinking she might be gravid, which I know isn't all that common for captive Kuhli's. So last week I added some Watersprite to the tank. I also fed green peas in case it was consitaption. She is acting perfectly fine....still comes out and swim around looking for food with the others. She looks perfectly healthy, minus the bulging belly. Also, they were not fed all weekend while I was away and her belly stayed the same size, so I don't think it was from over eating.

I did notice two things yesturday....one being there are some things stuck to the Watersprite that look like eggs, but they are cloudy and maybe a very light tint of greenish brown, not the emerald green I have heard described as Khuli eggs. And her belly seems as swollen as always.
The other thing I noticed was that one of the fish defecated and it was larger than usual....about the size and shape of guinea pig poop actually. I don't know which fish it came from....just like I don't know where the "eggs" came from.

My tank is a 30 gallon, filtered by a 30-60 Aquatech. The temp is 75-80. I add NO chemicals to my tank, except for an occasional squirt of NovAqua, but that is only if I am using water straight from the tap or if I have a stressed fish. I also add a powdered PH neutralizer every couple of months if the PH gets below 6.4...but is usually around 6.8 I actually don't test perameters very much as I tend to over doctor the fish if I pay too much attention. I find they do better if left alone. Generally, I use aged water at room temp, and do a 5 gallon water change every week or so. I have Watersprite and lots of large natural rocks, with small rocks for substrate. Everything else is plastic! I feed flakes once a day, one Hakari Algea wafer every couple of days, and frozen blood worms occasionally at night. Lights are on a timer from 10am to 9pm. I have lots of green algea but it is contained to the plastic tanks and 5 Otto cats keep it under control. I also have 2 neon tetras, 2 hatchet tetras, a snail, and 2 cory cats.

Here are some pics of the Kuhli...None of the "eggs" unfortunaltey.



You can see in the picture of the fat Khuli laying next to a normal sized one, that she is about twice the size.



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Hi wolfeyed,

Have you seen this article on a successful spawning of the black kuhli (Pangio oblonga)? It might be of interest: http://www.loaches.com/articles/breedin ... io-oblonga

Emma

And for comparison, to show just how large some Pangio species become when gravid, have a look at these pics of Pangio sp. 'panda':

Normally


Heavily gravid


Emma

Oh that poor fish! And I thought mine was bloated. She is about 1/2 that size...so it looks like she could have a ways to go yet. Poor uncomfortable looking little girl...LOL

I did read the article, Emma....it just didn't help me very much with my questions since I haven't seen fry....just bloated bellies. I think at think point since she is acting fine I am just going to sit back and watch to see what happens.

I did put some fine nylon netting over my filter cap today, too keep any potential babies from getting sucked in. Also it rained so I did a 5 gallon water change, lowered the water level a little just so the plants the "eggs" are on wouldn't float over to the filter and get chewed up, and then I made it a little dark and stormy looking in there. Leaving the water level low means the dual filter is splashing away at the surface alittle, similar to rain. Monsoon season anyone?? LOL Maybe they will get the hint.

It would be neat to have babies, but I will just be happy to know they are all safe and happy!

wolfeyed wrote: I add NO chemicals to my tank, except for an occasional squirt of NovAqua, but that is only if I am using water straight from the tap or if I have a stressed fish. I also add a powdered PH neutralizer every couple of months if the PH gets below 6.4...but is usually around 6.8 I actually don't test perameters very much as I tend to over doctor the fish if I pay too much attention. I find they do better if left alone. Generally, I use aged water at room temp, and do a 5 gallon water change every week or so.

Ph adjusters add kH minerals so that the pH will be more buffered. You really should monitor the kH (and the TDS) if you're adding those minerals. If those minerals are allowed to build up and a water change is done, it could result in osmotic shock or even death to weakened/older fish.

With water changes being just 5 gallons every week or so it would be hard to guess what the real water parameters are. I probably could estimate them with a computer program I have though, but I don't think you'd like the results because things can get bad over time when water changes are under 20% weekly.

The pH could be dropping because the bio-filtration of the nitrifying bacteria are using up the carbon in the kH buffers.