Our loaches

[JonasBygdemo]

I thought I'd share some pics of the loaches me and my girlfriend have in our two tanks. The bigger tank is a Juwel Lido 120L. and the smaller one is a Juwel Rekord 60L.

In the 120L we have:
5 Angels
3 Bala-sharks
7 Platys
1 Pleco
3 Spotted talking catfish (Agamyxis Pectinifrons)
3 Kuhlii-loaches

And in the 60L we have:
11 Platy fry
1 Sewellia Lineolata (aka Alien!)
1 Small ancistrus

Not a whole lot of loaches, that I will admit, but I will buy a 400L~ tank with Clowns and Polka-dots pretty soon. Just need money and a place to set-up the tank.

The conditions for the Sewellia is probably not the best, but we've tried to make it a little bit better by adding an air-pump, and lowering the temp to about 24-25*C. It became more active with the air-pump, and even more so with the bubble-curtain (or whatever you want to call it), and I have read that they like a lot of oxygen in the water. I'd like to put in a small powerhead as well, but we're getting a betta soon, and I don't think the added circulation would make it a happy betta

Enough talking, here are some loach-pics (and some other fish as well):

Kuhliis are HARD to photograph!


The two new ones with their stress-colors on during the cupping


Alien was by far the easiest fish to get out of the bag. I just put down my hand and he clinged on to it




I have to put up some pics of our Agamyxis Pectinifrons. The biggest one (aka Knorris) is 9cm (~3.5") long, and the smaller ones are about 5cm (2"). I think they're one of the cutest, if not the cutest, catfish available. They rocket around the tank in search for food, and there have been some fighting between the smaller ones and the pleco over algae-wafers. No damages on any fish though, just some competition.


The new ones during cupping.


The 60L tank


Our small ancistrus. He loves to play in the air-bubbles, so we named him bubbles.


The 120L tank

[PASoracco]

some good looking tanks and fish in the future you might want to consider a smoother/smaller substrate for tanks that contain loaches who like to burrow and hide like kuhlis. also, give the sewellia some big smooth river rocks to graze algae off of and he'll be a happy camper. throw some rocks in a bucket full of tank water outside to grow algae if your tank doesn't make enough light to do so on its own.

[JonasBygdemo]

some good looking tanks and fish in the future you might want to consider a smoother/smaller substrate for tanks that contain loaches who like to burrow and hide like kuhlis. also, give the sewellia some big smooth river rocks to graze algae off of and he'll be a happy camper. throw some rocks in a bucket full of tank water outside to grow algae if your tank doesn't make enough light to do so on its own.

Thanks! The Kuhliis and the Sewellia wasn't planned when we started the tanks, and we are beginners with fish-keeping. I will definately have sand as substrate in my future loach-tank. Too bad that winter is coming here in Sweden, the bucket of water might freeze if I leave it outside How about if I fill a bucket up with tankwater, put in some rocks, and a bright light over it? We don't have any algae in our tanks (except some brown on the backwall of the 120L), so some algae is a good idea. He doesn't seem to like wafers though...

[PASoracco]

algae growth will do better in warmer water, so a bucket indoors under a lamp, or by a window would be the best way to go. keep us posted how the new inhabitants are settling in

[zenins]

Kuhliis are HARD to photograph!

I like this photo

Thanks for sharing

[JonasBygdemo]

algae growth will do better in warmer water, so a bucket indoors under a lamp, or by a window would be the best way to go. keep us posted how the new inhabitants are settling in

We're doing a waterchange this sunday, so I'll try it out then. We've bought some rocks to grow algae on, and we're hunting down a strong light to put in there.

I like this photo

Thanks for sharing

Yeah he's a cutie! They like the shells for hiding, but recently we haven't seen much of them




Unfortunately, my girlfriend just reported that almost all of our fish in the 60L tank is gone. 3 platy fry, and the Sewellia is left. I'm soo bummed right now.

[JonasBygdemo]

Just want to update you guys on our fish-situation. The small tank is running again, and we've cleaned EVERYTHING. Pump, filters, gravel, heater, plants, etc. and now the pump is circulating. After another water-change and some Nitrivec (filter bacteria), I guess we can start to put fish in again. One of the surviving platys is probably inside one of our catfish's belly right now, since she accidently dropped it in the tank, and never managed to catch it again.

Other great news is that our green platy is giving birth right now, so we're getting more fry!

[JonasBygdemo]

We've tried to grow algae on some rocks for a couple of days, but nothing seems to work. We've had them in a transparent plastic box with a light maybe 5cm above the waterline, but to no avail. We've tried both tap- and tankwater but no algae. Is there something that can be done to speed things up?