Loaches Online Forum

hello folks, Im new here, I have been a loachaholic all my life but it was not until very lately that I am able to properly keep some, but so far, I only have my favorite kind, kuhli loaches, 5 of them in a 53 Gallon heavily planted tank with 11 cardinal tetras, 7 corys, 1 laaarge SAE, 1 female thick lipped gourami and a few ottos.

, kubotai botias are my second favorite and I just saw them for the first time ever in person in my LFS yesterday, almost bought some on impulse but I decided to read more first, and so far, I think its not the best idea to add kubotais here, so Im posting this just to confirm what I suspect and to put an end to this voice in my loachaholic brain telling me to get the kubotais haha

Im afraid of many things, first the kubotais not liking my kuhlis which give me lots of greta moments of fish-watching since they are not shy at all and will even come to me thinking its feeding time when I approach, the SAE ignores them, but he doesnt ignore my corys for exemple, thats another thing im afraid, my 4 inches lonley SAE trying to bully the kubotais (that are almost the same size as him as being sold here) and the kubotais getting back at him and killing him.

and last but not least, 53 Gal, corys, sae, kuhlis, ottos,... already enough bottom dwellers I guess???


all coments are welcome! Thank you in all in advance

regards

Guido M. Netto

I will just say, consider the size of your tank, the water parameters for all your fishes - if they are ALL ok with them, ( for a start ). If those two are OK, go to next step...

well as for the parameters,

stabilished tank, acidic ph (6,6 / 6,8) low GH and low KH (dont remenber the exact numbers, I dont test gh and KH water at home)

0 amonia and 0 nitrite, temp at around 80F

I think they are ok for kubotais, but the size considering the already existent fauna is what concerned me, Im pretty much sure I will have pass on them... maybe I will get more kuhlis or try to find other big SAEs to make company to my beligerant little fellow who keeps bullying the cories at feeding time, and bullying the albino cory all the time.

Hi,

I keep both Kuhlis and Kubs, and there never was a problem between them. Kubs simply don't care about Kuhlis.

Now, some Kubs are aggressive. One of my eleven is, he attacks other Kubs and Yoyo's. So an attack on the SAE is remotely possible, but not likely.

One thing about Kubs I've learned: they often come with internal parasites, so if you get them, deworm them asap. I lost a couple of my original Kubs before learning this lesson.

Your parameters are fine. I _think_ you can squeeze a few Kubs in.

Hi Guido, and welcome to Loaches Online.

I would recommend a separate aquarium for the Botia kubotai. This is not because of the water parameters (these are ideal) but because B. kubotai will appreciate a lot more current in the water than the kuhlis, which prefer calmer waters.

Hope this helps,

Emma

thank you very much, Mikev, Ded1 and Emma,

so well, yeah, my kubotai fever will have to wait till a get a new tank, probably bigger. I didnt buy them, I ended up buying a checkboard cichlid instead lol, now this tank is complete for me. my kuhlis are so well adapted they browse all over the tank all day long, no matter what time it is, or how bright it is they are always out playing with each other and browsing the substrate and plants even though I have lots of plants, bogwood, artificial caves and rocks to hide I can always see them whenever I approach the tank. I surely wouldnt want anything to go wrong with that. soon I will update this topic with pictures of my kuhlis, to confirm species ID and well, just to show off lol

Feel free, we look forward to the photos!

Emma

those are my 5 kuhlis at feeding time











and a lil video too
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaJq01nkyQ

Nice kuhlis!

I _think_ the patterns are sufficiently irregular to classify them as P.Kuhli's...