Botia histrionica and planted tank

[oeuf55]

Hi,
I make a heavely planted tank and I wanna put a little group (5-7) of botia histrionica or a colonie of fancy catfish in it .
For choossing , I want some information on the behavior of this loaches:
-is it damage the aquascape
-what is his favorite place to hide
-is it active during the day or the night
-is it delicate
-is it digging for in the sand to find food
-is it very social

My tank is a 76 gall or 288 liters ( 47x16x22 inch (or) 120x40x50 cm )
It have a 16x20 inch ( 40x30 cm) whitout plant were they can dig , the rest of the tank completely planted and dark.
I can hide a lot of flower pot or coconut in this area.
I got a filtration 317 gal per hour (1200 liter) filtration put that not making move the surface of the water.
The filtration brew only the ground.

-Is a colonie of botia histrionica can be happy in my tank.

Excuse me for my poor english, him a quebecer and him not speaking english well.

[newshound]

start reading --
http://www.loaches.com/

[Mark in Vancouver]

Bonjour, Oeuf55. Welcome to Loaches Online. If you can find B. striata, I think they would be even better for a planted tank. And they look great in small groups. They are also very peaceful compared to other loaches.

I don't think they would damage the aquascape, either. You should consider getting several pieces of bog wood for cover. Consider getting pieces that have a wide, flat side. The loaches will take cover beneath this, where there is maximum shade.

For a densely planted tank, you will probably need a lot of lighting, which may cause the loaches to hide more during the day time. But in the mornings and evenings you will see lots of your loaches. I would avoid plant fertilizers and aim to plant in such a way that you can still vacuum out the poop that will collect.

You will have to do regular water changes - usually 25% once a week or more, to maintain healthy loaches. It is worth all the work!

Good luck. Let us know how it goes!

[oeuf55]

Thank Mark, for your construtive critique.

I choose the botia histrionica because it is the only one I found that fit whit my tank and my projet.

My hardscape is esentially mineral. I got two bigs verticals rocks
( everything relative ). I can put some tiner rock suport to them and form cavern. But I can put wood in this tank because my water need to be clear and put wood whit rock rarely make a good hardscape, in the
idea of densely planted tank of course . I will hide a lot of flower pot behind the plant.

My tank is only light during 10 o'clock and 22 o'clock
I usually wake up at 7 o'clock and at this hour the sun light up the tank
,so I can surely see them during this time.

I don' t think I will need to use fertilizer for the phosphate or for the nitrate because fish of the size of a botia will already do the job for me . But I will use fertilizer for the oligo and macro element .

The water flow of my filtration is near the ground put the poop in suspension for a more efficient fitration and get the nutriment everywhere in the tank. The botia will surely do this too. I will try to put mor space between the plant for better circulation of the botia neer the root .

For maintain densely planted tank, you need heavy water change
to renew nutriment. Fortunately for me , my water is already full of nutriment so I will save on the fertilizer.



Now the questions:
- how botia histrionica can I introduce in my tank?
- My ph is 7.6 , my total hardness is 9 dh and my kh is 7 dh,
should I use some rain water to soft this or it is ok?
- The respiration of the plant during the night won' t asphyxiate the loache because.?
-What can I do against this?

[brett_fishman]

if its a 76 gallon you could always go with yoyos or zebras..

Yoyo Loach
Zebra Loach

both of these fish get 4-6" in size (10-15 cm) so you could have 8-10 in your tank with some other fish..

i'm not sure about the plant resperation (i dont have live plants)

hope this helps,
brett.

[Mark in Vancouver]

For a 76 gallon tank, you should be able to stock up to 10 or so. Other people here may agree or disagree on the number, but that's a good size tank. The trouble with B. histrionica is that they can be feisty - not violent, but they can have territorial fights.

I can see you don't want to add wood, so maybe you can arrange the rocks to form some very tight-fitting caves. These fish have very delicate skin, so you need to avoid rock surfaces that are rough or pointed if you can. The key is to provide several spots that get little or no light so the loaches can hide.

Your pH is a little bit high, I think, for loaches. You should aim for a neutral pH of 7.0 or even more acidic than that: 6.5 - 6.8 in that range. You should consider adding a bit of rain water - if it is easy - to make the water soft. You must remember that these fish come from jungle streams where the water is soft, acidic, and constant.

Also, you will need to add some current to the tank, both to simulate river water flow and also to aerate the water. If you have a power-head positioned near the surface, so that the surface of the water is agitated (so it shows ripples), you will be safe. If you think the tank will have so many plants that the oxygen level will be in question, consider adding an airstone or bubble wall. Something to add oxygen that will also keep the water in motion.

The really heavily planted tanks, like the Amano-style tanks, have extra CO2 added. If you're planning something like that, loaches might not be the best fish to choose. But if you have adequate water movement, it should work. The challenge may be between providing the plants with enough CO2 and the fish with enough O2. I think it can be done, but you may need to experiment.

[mistergreen]

i have 3 b. histrionica in my measly 29 gallon(US) planted tank.. they seem to be doing fine. They fin nip my rainbow though... But if i have more than 3 they would keep themselves entertained. They are active by day and like to hide sometimes. I couldn't find one of mine for 2-3 days.

they nibble on young sword shoots but that's all the damage to plants that i can see. If you throw in a piece of cucumber, they'll be happy.

I have a little DIY co2 thing. My co2 is 9.5 ppm with 6.8ph, 2kh. I plan to raise the co2 up to 10 - 11 somehow (i'm having a little issue with algae).

With my amount of fish, I still have to dose nitrogen & potasium. Phosphate is fine with the help of the fish & their foods.

oh, the current is fairly strong for a planted tank. It's to keep the fish happy.

[oeuf55]

I want to make a ' low-tech' planted tank wiht no nutritious soil, no CO²
system, no incredible light and no paludoous plant that need all this thing.

I dont want to make ripples , because I wanna keep the natural Co².
This technique is for homogenize the water flow and for keep the co².
I can make strong current but I can' t make too much ripples.

-I plan to add a motor head, which water flow did you recommende,
knowing that I already have a real water flow of 280 g/h?
-Should I make a more powerful water flow in a no plant zone?

[mistergreen]

your low-tech idea limits you to only a handful of plants like java ferns, java moss...

you have to think that in nature, things aren't confined in a 75gallon environment. Things are in balance in nature. In a tank things are not in balance, so we have to add certain elements to make plants grow, like dosing fertilizers, adding co2, lights et al.

the fish can only provide certain things to the environment that the plants can use.

[oeuf55]

Lot of plant can grow without all ' High tech' thing like 3w/gal of light
or nutritious soil. This type tank need a rigorous choice of the plant,
in my case I choose only pure watery plant like camboba furcata and easy paludous plant like anubia.

The watery plant principaly absorb nutriment by the leaf, so a good liquid fertilization is needed and also a good control of the nutriment.

My techinic of filtration reduce the loss of co² naturaly produce by fish
motor head to make a little more current.

[mistergreen]

good luck. let us know how it turns out. You might have issues with algae since your CO2 will be low.. The nutrients will be used up be the algae instead of the plants.

ps.. if you consider this tank low-tech, you might find some insights
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/125tank.html

i wouldn't use potting soil though like she did... sounds like more trouble than it's worth... I'd recommend schultz's aquasoil.. it's better than plain gravel or sand. it's $7 for a 10 pound bag... cheaper than gravel sold at the pet store actually.