Loaches Online Forum

I have enjoyed this site and forum for the last few days,there is so much quality info in here. You people are so supportive of each other that I had to join your group. I have found your links and photo's facinating . Emma your store and tanks are so nice .Martin, the river tank is spectacular. I see plenty of regulars here and with so many people posting such good responses to questions I look forward to sharing my experiences with my loaches and listening to and reading yours. I have 7 tanks in my basement with a capacity around 1000 gallons, 4 large and a couple small with a 70 separate . All my filtration is bio stacks, 2 large home-made and a couple of Rena XP-3's with a 36 watt UV on one and air sponges in each tank. I currently have around 30 Botias and other loaches with some mid water schools and other fish. My oldest fish is a rapheal cat thats about 15 yrs. old My oldest and biggest Botias are three Macranthas about 5 years old and 5-6 inches long not counting their tails that spend their time in a 4" PVC pipe with a full grown Ornate Bichir. I look forward to meeting all of you on line.......Tinman

Hello Tinman.
It sounds like a great set-up you have.
I'd love to see pics of your tanks and fish.

welcome, sounds like an impressive setup you have. im hoping to see pictures in the future

Hello Tinman, Welcome to Loaches Online!

Hello ChefKeith , Rubix and Graeme. Thank You for the Welcome. I would love to show you my set-up but my pics are not near the benchmark set by this site. My set-up is for grow not show as it is in my basement with home-made tops and lighting but the fish don't seem to mind. I will post a few pics tonight after work. My avatar is one of my fish sold to me as a "Golden Loach" who is about 3.5" at about 5 years.

Welcome to LOL, Tinman.

Hey, don't worry about your photo quality. Not all posters here are expert photographers--I'm certainly not. Feel free to share your photos---I know we will enjoy seeing them.

Hello and welcome Tinman! Sounds like you have a really nice set-up going on. Glad to have you here and looking forward to some PICS, and don't worry at all...mine are never great, but we like to look all the same.

Take care,
Kris

Welcome Tinman. Yes we would love to see pictures.

Your avatar is Sinibotia robusta.

Martin.

Welcome!
All pics are good pics!

Hi Tinman, welcome to Loaches Online. Hope you enjoy your stay with us. And show us some pics!

Emma

Thanks for the Welcome from everybody.Thanks for the ID Martin I am excited to meet so many Loach crazed fish tamers. I snapped some pics of my system and put them on Photobucket . Here is a link http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t26/ ... medtinman/
I welcome comments and questions from you all. Tinman

Nice looking tanks you have there! Wish I had the room to do something like that.

Nice looking fish and fish-room. How come you have no substrate in your tanks? Loaches love to dig about in sand.

Emma

You have great pictures, tinman.

I enjoyed looking at all your loaches. I especially liked the markings on the clown loach in the picture titled "3 macracanthus and 13" ornate bicher."

Thanks for sharing.

No substrate lets me maintain a clean aqaurium over the long term. I used to lose fish off and on for no reason . I can maintain my tank easier this way and I don't suffer from fish loss except rarely now . Some like my weather loach need something and I have tried little bowls of sand but they don't enter. When I used substrate my loaches used to team up as a flight and roll all the rocks in their mouths for fun and food so I am aware they like it.I would lose expensive plecos with gill infections and decided it must be a clump coming out of the substrate occasionally and getting lodged in the gills then getting infected. I just feel the risks of substrate outweigh the benefits.Plus I get a little more water in my system without the rock. My little tanks upstairs have a fine sand that keeps the waste product from entering and sinking so all is not bare here in Kansas. My separate tank I am going to try some plants and may be pulling some substrate back out of storage for that.I think I have 200-300 pounds in containers washed dried and put away of all sizes.