Loaches Online Forum

Hi, everyone! I am new to this site, but not to fish. I have a 20 gal. long with the fish in my signature. I am setting up a 55 gal. rainbow tank. Due to fluctuating tap water ph, I have to age my water and then dilute it with R.O. water to keep the ph in the 7.6 range in the 20 and 29 gal. tanks. I am trying to avoid diluting the 55 gal, which means the ph would be close to or slightly over 8. (8 to 8.2). The temp is currently 82 for the rainbows, I am trying to get it closer to 84 for their preferences. The loach I have is a Leptobotia micronoemacheilus which I have had for close to 1 year without any problems. I have not been able to find any info online on this fish. My question is if I move it to the 55 gal, will it be ok with the higher ph and temp? Thank you for any help anyone might be able to offer.

You have a brook loach which may be able to stand higher pH and temperature, but might not flourish in that environment. I keep four of them in my brook loach tank - great fish, particularly if you end up with a mix of males and females. I believe it's the males that get quite a spectacular red dorsal fin.
I keep mine at pH 6.8 in an unheated tank that does not dip below about 75F.

If this (http://www.hippocampus-bildarchiv.de/img/x57180.jpg) is a brook loach, this is definitely nowhere near what I have. Similar to this (http://store1.yimg.com/I/ekkwill_1889_3701080), but not quite. Apparently the website I did see a photo id on it is not there now. But it was definitely the leptobotia one in the initial post.

What about this:

Similar, but the green stripe is solid green color all along it, and the top has a more mottled greenish appearance. The fins are all almost transparent. I would post a picture, but my digital camera does not have a macro setting, so I can't get a good detailed photo without getting it blurred from being too close.

Hi fishmama,

Does your loach look more like this one?



Emma

Yes, that looks like a match! What can you tell me about it's water requirements?

That fish is Micronemacheilus pulcher (which I think is actually now called Traccatichthys pulcher) a.k.a. 'Beautiful Hillstream Loach'. Mark's recommendations for water parameters/temp are spot on. It comes from sub-tropical waters in China, so prefers slightly lower than average temperatures.

Emma

Hmm. Isn't that the same species as the last picture Mark put up? Is it a male/female difference in appearance? Thanks for the info. Guess I'll have to move him to the 29. It has the same ph and temp as the one he/she is in now, 76 temp and close to 7.6 ph. I just lost a 3 year old cory out of that tank, so it now has 3 rosy barbs and 1 lonely spotted cory. Will there be a personality conflict between the loach and the cory?

No problem with the cory. These loaches mind their own business. Mine get picked on by the other brook loaches - Schisturas, etc... They're really peaceful.

Great, thanks! Now I just have to find a bottom feeder for the rainbow tank that will tolerate the higher ph and temp.