Loaches Online Forum

I went into my favorite lfs the other day and they had sewellia again. This time they were all in the 2-2.5" range. I picked out two females (2 and 2.5") and one large 2.5" male. Unfortunately, I noticed what looked like a wound on the large female that I had not noticed when I got the fish. I started treating with antibiotics, but the fish died a couple of days later. The other fish look and act fine but I am continuing the antibiotic for its full five day dosage (today) as a precaution. These fish will live away from my other sewellia in my original river tank that has been refurbished recently. Hopefully they will find this as romantic a setting as my original chenis and L. disparis did. We will see. The tank is very lightly stocked, with my only concern (as far as fry goes) being the two very large H. smithi that reside there. The other residents are one large specimen each of beaufortia, S. wui, and G. scitulus and a shoal of gold white clouds. There are thick clumps of java fern all over the tank and lots of hiding places, so any fry would probably have a good chance to survive. I'll be keeping an eye on this tank.

Congratulations!

(& Condolences ... It surely seems that with hillstreams even the fish that looks good occasionally dies on you at the beginning. Does not seem to happen with normal loaches... Really irritating...)

But why not put all of them in the same tank? More chances of breeding, I'd think, and more fun to watch?

Good luck, Jim.

Jim:

Which store did you find them at?

I've been looking for some in the Chicago area, but everyone looks at me like I'm from outer space when I ask...

I hate to do the mail order thing, so a road trip might be in order.

Thx,

Kevin

Congratulations Jim! Now if you'd just find your camera and start snapping again!

Emma

mikev: The main reason they are not all together is space. A side benefit of having them in two different tanks is that I can watch them whether I am at my computer, or in the living room watching TV

Emma: Yes I do need to dust off the camera or even better, get a new one.

grizzlyone: I got all of my sewellia at the same store. Its called Aquarium World in Lafayette, Indiana. Not a bad road trip for you, maybe about three hours down I65 from Chicago. I would definately call first to see if they still have any. They only had three left after I got mine last week. However, they have had them three times so they might be able to get more if they know someone will buy them.

Jim:

Thanks a bunch. I talked to Doug at the LFS and he's going to email me when he gets more in and then I'll take a road trip down that way. Thats will give me time to get the tank set up...I liked his attitude, he said that he usually keeps them for a bit after they come in to make sure they are eating.

I'm working on the plumbing for the river tank now and I've already got two external cannister filters that have been cycling for months on two other vastly overfiltered tanks. I need to pick up some river gravel and I have some bigger river rocks I'm sure they will like.

This will definitely be a nice christmas present. Thanks again for the info


Kevin

Kevin, you might want to think about sand instead of gravel. When I moved my Sewellia, I went over to sand and they seem to love it. They'll flutter along the sand digging around for anything hidden in the surface. Their fins kick up little clouds of it. Quite interesting to watch. Emma has hers with sand and of course they've been breeding, so must be comfortable.

The natural habitat doesn't actually feature much more than solid rock:

http://community.loaches.com/articles/s ... -aquariums

Martin.

Martin:

Would I be ok going with the "coal slag" that I have in my other tanks then??

I have the coldwater tank with the dojo loaches and they seem to love it. Many a times I'll find them completely buried or buried with just their eyes out of the substate.

Its a little heavier than sand so if the dojos stir it up it settles pretty fast and doesn't get sucked into the filters...

Plus its really cheap. i can buy a 100lb bag for $13. I was just worried if I have a strong current that I might have issues.


My other thought after seeing the photos was to just lay the pipe in the bottom of the aquarium and encase it in the "great stuff" foam and sculpt it into a smoothish rock-like bottom....with a few real rocks to keep everything down....

decisions, decisions...lol



Thanks for the info.

Kevin

I'd think that if you laid a path of rounded rocks or pebbles along the sand/slag under the powerhead outflow, that should keep it from blowing away. Also you'd have a nice rocky area for them to scuttle about on.

'xactly Shair. My two powerheads exit straight onto rocks. Mainly because the fish like to sit in the flow. I have no issues with fine playsand.

I'm not sure what you mean by "coal slag" Kevin? What's the chemical makeup?

Martin.

I use coal slag in my planted tanks. Its essentially black sand like you see in a LFS store. Its actually used as an abrasive in sandblasting. Its PH neutral, looks nice and works very well as a substrate in planted tanks. It's like eco complete without the nutrients.


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caga

If you go to the above yahoo group, you can see the planted tank on the initial page uses it as substrate. If you look in the photos section, there is a section titled "Chris Michael Tanks) to see what it looks like. I'll get some pics if I have a chance.


I've been using it for about 6 months and its worked out fine. Its about $13 for 100 lbs. Its mentioned in the krib site as well.


It comes in varying grades, I use the medium grade (1240).


I posted previously...the Dojos love it. I was careful for the first couple months to check daily to see if there was any damage to fins or barbs, but no problems showed up and it really looks nice.

The plants seem to like it too


Kevin

I'm glad to help, grizzlyone. Doug is a great guy and will take care of you. They have good quality fish and the people who work there are knowledgable.
I'll be in there tomorrow myself. Its only a two hour drive for me.

Sounds good to me Emma has black sand in her River-Tank with the Sewellia. Excellent price too!

Martin.

As long as it's round
Loaches love the ground