Loaches Online Forum

Hey, I'm new here and came from Belgium and I'm 13 years old
After summer vacation here I get a second tank of 60x30x30 cm and I was thinking to make it a hillstream tank because I love aquariums with rocks and the fish are different then other fish. But I'm a noob at hillstream aquariums so I need some help (I've read already a lot on the website).

- First, the aquarium is the Juwel rekord 600 and have an internal filter. Probably this filter is not good enough for a hillstream so is it better if I put a little pump next to the filter? But I've heard that the food than quickly circulate throughout the tank and quickly get into the filter. So what should I do: an extra pump or not?
- In a hillstream belongs many stones, should I test it on lime? Or may the water be hard?
- I search naturally also fish, so what are good fish for a rookie like me? Easy to care and easy to obtain.
I was thinking of this:

12x Danio Margaritatus OR 10x Danio Choprae
4x Rhinogobius Duospilus (2m and 2f)
5x Beaufortia Kweichowensis OR 5x Pseudogastromyzon Cheni / Myersi
4x Atyopsis Moluccensis

An extra pump would be a good way to get the extra flow hillstreams enjoy.
You could always turn the pump off while feeding or put the food in areas that the flow is not strong, such as behind a rock or piece of driftwood. You can buy rocks from fish stores that would be fine. Do not use limestone. You can test any rock by putting a few drops of vinegar and see if it reacts with the rock.If it reacts, do not use it.
The hardness of the water is not generally an issue for hillstreams.
As for tankmates, I would go with the Danio choprae over the Danio Margaritatus . Choprae live in flowing streams and margaritatus tend to live in lower flow situations. I have choprae in one of my river tanks and have found them to be one of the best fish to keep in such conditions.
I hope this helps.

Thanks for the help!

Hi,
Did you finally set up your hillstream tank.
I have set up my first real hillstream tank last mounth.Its a 70l "tube" (100*25*25cm3). To produce a decend flow I connected 2 hmf (German mat filters) one each sides with a tube. It has a very large diameter of 50mm. On the inflow side I placed a tunze nanotream 6015 and on the other side a hydor pico evolution 1200 for the back flow threw the tube. With only about 10,5 Watts the setup produces a nice strong current threw out the tank. If there is interest I can post some pics and schemes.
By now I only have 2 Rhinogobuis duospilus but I am planning do get more of them. As fare as I know its better to keep these guys in a bigger group with more than 2 males und 5 or more females. In a group like that they tend to be much less aggressive. This would mean that you would have to decide for a group of suckerbelly loaches or the rhinogobius in a smaller tank like yours. A benefit would be that it would be much more likely that one of these fish would breed.

Greetings from Germany,
Skarne