Loaches Online Forum

Hello Everyone,

I received so much help from your guys about my 20 US gallon high tank and its stocking. Unfortunately, after one of my two Botia kubotais died unexpectedly, my other one disappeared. I believe he may have made his way into a crevice in the driftwood and died there. I have not seen him in weeks and can only assume the worst.

At this point, here is my tank setup.

Tank size: 20 US gallon high
Filtration: Aquaclear50
Decor: Driftwood, rocks, bubbler
Substrate: Small round pebbles
Live plants: Amazon sword, Marimo moss ball, Kyoto grass plant
Temperature: 78F

Fish stock:

6x Tiger Barbs (Puntius tetrazona)
5x Java Loaches (Pangio oblonga)
1x Kuhli Loach (Pangio kuhlii)
2x Algae Eaters (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri)

At this point, I am trying to re-home the Algae Eaters, and have gotten mixed responses about putting an Otocinclus in my tank once the Algae Eaters are gone. I am worried that the Tiger Barbs will kill it, but am not sure since I have a lot of hiding places in my tank. I really do like the Algae Eaters, but my tank is way too small for them, and ideally when I upgrade my current tank, I could keep one of the algae eaters in my 20 US gallon high and use that as a "quarantine" tank. Thoughts?

Sometimes my Tiger Barbs, although in a group of 6, appear to want to kill each other. I am not sure if they are going to one by one pick each other off until only one is left, but if that is the case, I may consider a different mid level fish for my tank. I absolutely love the Pangio oblongas and am trying to find a LFS that can get 4 more Pangio kuhliis for me since I hardly ever see the one that I do have since he's all by himself.

Anyways, thoughts/concerns/comments are appreciated. Thanks!

yeah, tiger barbs are pretty, but man they can be mean little devils

I like the idea or getting more ottos (they are pretty good at hiding if there are opportunities to hide).

I have a 20L with raspora het, brilliant raspora and kuhli's. I guess I should say pangio, since they are striped, but some are distinctly different from the others.The common thinking is that if you have more of them, you will see them more. Plus, having nonaggressive dithers really helps.
My raspora het are really beautiful, nonaggressive and get along well with everyone else in the tank.
I also have a couple ottos in there,...nondescript little work horses, eating away at algae and algae wafers!

I have my Tiger Barbs in a 30 gallon Barb only tank with Odessa barbs, Cherry barbs and Rhombo barbs.
There is also a red fin black shark that keeps everyone in line
I would not put Ottos in there but I do have Siamese Algae Eaters that are much larger and can take of themselves despite all the barbs in there

Thankfully, my Barbs are only interested at nipping the fins of their own kind and have not bothered my Pangio oblongas or Pangio kuhlii. As for the CAEs, they are still small enough to be peaceful among the other fish. I'm going to try and keep my Barbs happy together, but in the event that they massacre each other, I will be looking for a different mid level fish I can keep in a 20 US gallon high aquarium with my Pangios.

My main priority are my Pangios, since I must confess that those are my favorite.