Loaches Online Forum

getting this fellow probably tops it.

(Sorry for the photo quality...it is less than 0.5in)

Here is the story: the store here got a large shipment of them, about 4 weeks ago. The fish was very small and very skinny, not the kind one should be exporting.

Most of them quickly perished.

This time I managed to convince the store to give them a couple of drugs and feed them... well, in fact I went there every couple of days to make sure they are fed something appropriate.

So the dying stopped, the survivors seemed stable for a couple of weeks.

But the problem remained: it was obvious that no one will ever buy them, and their survival chances at the store were very slim. Given all the time and effort already spent on them, not much choice.

I ended up cycling a tank for them and taking them all... that is 7 out of 40 shipped. All are very small, still very skinny, all appear to be females (or too young for the male rosy color to show up).

We'll see what happens... One bad feeling I have is that the tank will uncycle, the bioload is next to nothing.... maybe I should get them a white cloud or two...

The price tag, incidentally, was $5 for all.. these are the cheapest loaches I ever bought... The cost of transportation to keep them fed was considerably higher.

Looks like the free vannie I got yesterday.

Erm, what is that? Sorry, the picture is.. well, blurry.

tglassburner wrote:Looks like the free vannie I got yesterday.

I have a feeling is that the free vannie you got may be a goby... (which does not make the fish any less interesting...).

These are Rosy Loaches, not that you can find any Rosy color on them.

mikev, It definately don't think it's a goby, It looks and acts like the vannies,it's just tiny like the one you have pictured, look at my Hillstream ID Help thread and look for yourself, although if it is a goby, will it be ok with the vannies, or should I remove it?

I was only guessing based on this pic:
http://www.windsorcomputer.net/fish/smallvan1.JPG
but of course you see the fish so you know better.

If it is a goby, it is no danger to them, I have one with the latest set of vannies, and it hides (from them!) most of the time.

I just went and looked, I think you are correct, it does not have the rear fins like the vannies, although pattern is similar, it is not in the current like most of the vannies, What kind of goby do you suspect? I would like to properly house and feed it.

tglassburner wrote:What kind of goby do you suspect? I would like to properly house and feed it.

White Cheek Mountain Goby, almost certainly a female. Make sure that you feed some frozen shrimp+bloodworms, vannies may survive without meat, but goby would not.

Make sure that you feed some frozen shrimp+bloodworms, vannies may survive without meat, but goby would not.

I feed this twice a week, I also feed Mosquito Larvae

http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/508.htm Is this the goby of which you speak?

If its a white cheeked goby, it should do fine with the hillstreams. As mikev said, they will eat brine shrimp and bloodworms but not prepared foods. I have kept this species with chenis and gastros for a few years now.
By the way, I have gotten all of my L. disparis as contaminants in white cheeked goby shipments.

PS to the Rosy Buying episode:

I meant to get some other fish to keep them company, but the species I wanted looked infected with a nasty thing... the other choice was to get a couple more Kubotai's, who were obviously healthy and been there for a while.

So the question came up: will a 2" Kubotai eat a 0.5" (or smaller) Rosy loach?

I did not chance this, but remain really curious...

...

and, no, the fish does not have a cheek tumor, it is just a bad photo

PS. Interestingly, two of them seem to develop a pinkish color now, only hours after being placed into my qtank.

Same temperature, same food as in the store (I gave them frozen goods), the only difference is massive current (the tank was meant for hillstreams, not just them) and O2.

How are they now, Mikev?

Graeme Robson wrote:How are they now, Mikev?

Unexpectedly, alive and *very* active.

Much more active than at the store, where they were trying to hide in an empty 15g tank...quite successfully too, I was checking on them all the time and did not realize there were seven, not six And much more active than the larger ones I have in another tank here, my original group hides in the plants, making it impossible to even count them.

Now, these guys play with the powerhead, swim around, chase each other, and no hiding ideas at all.

Real fun to watch.

Pictures please!