Loaches Online Forum

Hey everyone,

I do not have the funds to set up my river tank at this point in time (maybe in a month or so). So here is my plan for the next week or two. I just want to run it by you guys to see if it is a good idea.

I currently have my guppies in a 30 gallon tank that has a 36" x 12" foot print. It currently has a 40 gallon HOB filter with a sponge over the intake (so it will not eat guppy fry) running at one end of the tank and a 40 gallon sponge filter running at the other end of the tank. As of tomorrow, the tank will have been running for 2 weeks, all of which the guppies have been in there (see my "wacky tank levels" post for further info). The levels have been holding steady for the past week at
nitrates: 5ppm
nitrites: 0ppm
ph: around 7.5
kh: 80
gh: 180
ammonia: 0

In a 10 gallon, I have 1 b.striata, 1 b.almorhae, 3 p.oblonga, and 3 otos. I want to perminately move the otos and the kuhlies into the guppy tank in a week or two. However, I was wondering if it was ok to move the botias over to this tank (so they have more room to roam) while they are waiting for their very own river tank and buddies. Is this a good idea? I want to utilize the 10 gallon for 5 hillstreams that I currently have in a 5.5 quarentine. I can easily convert the 10 gallon into a mini river tank because I currently have a filter attachment on a Aquaclear 20 running in this tank. All I would have to do is run some piping under the gravel between the filter attachment and the powerhead. I think that this would be a better situation for the hillstreams then a 5.5 with a 10 gallon HOB filter. I have been told they thrive with strong current and sort of languish without one.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,

Just a note, the tank levels in the 10 gallon are the same as the 30 gallon.

Short term, I see no problem The only thing I would be worried about is any guppy fry and the tails of the male guppies. Im almost certain your B.almorhae will find it hard to resist-B.striata dont seem to be to fussed with dithers in my experience, although a single specimen might play up

Ashleigh

I used to have the guppies in the same tank as the loaches (back when I had one kuhli and one oto. Both the oto and the kuhli looked very stressed being on their own that I wanted to get friends for them (they were both skinny and off color). These guys have since fattened up and look very happy. My almorhae and striata have bonded somewhat so I left them as singles.

Neither the Almorhae or the Striata have acted up around the guppies. They pretty much ignore them (although I used to have 3 large feeder females that I nick-named "the b*tch fish" because they constantly picked on everyone in the tank, males included. They since died and all my new guppies are fairly peaceful.

Another question, even though it has been two weeks since I started this tank, the levels have been stable for a week. When is the earliest I can move these guys?

*sniff* one of my hillstreams died. It looks like he had Columnaris. I started the others on Maracyn Plus to try to try to get rid of that or any other nasties they may have.