Loaches Online Forum

I have 9 kuhlis now in a 30 gallon tank. They are so happy. Previously they had been in the clown loach tank, and I hardly ever saw them. They stayed holed up under driftwood and coconut shells. When they did come out for food, I could tell that the current was blowing them around. ( Emma warned my about this.)

Today, they are out and about in the daytime, hunting for food, and draping over things in the tank. I can tell that they like the lower current. I have a Penguin 350 BioWheel on the tank.

Last night, I could see them by the light from another room. I saw at least seven of them swimming in the water column and doing laps. That made me smile.

So how many kuhlis can go in a 30 gallon, if I have only about ten other dither fish?

I read some other threads about this subject, and it seems that I could at least double or triple my number, but I want to be sure.


Thanks

Which species of dither fish are we looking at loachmom? 10x1 inch specimens?

If so then a good group of 20-24 should be fine with regular water changes and maintenance.

Thanks Graeme.

I should have specified what size fish. I was thinking of going with cherry barbs which are larger than 1". So maybe I should just increase my kuhli group to about a dozen.

You could still keep a group of 16-18 Pangio's with the Cherry's.

That's good news!!

Now, one more question....what if I wanted to add some cherry shrimp to the tank? Would that change things?

I think shrimp would be fun to watch.

Revised with 14 Pangio's, 10 Cherry's barbs, 5 Cherry shrimp.

That should look a wonderful tank.

Thanks Graeme, again.

That should be perfect!!

good luck keeping only 5 cherry shrimp! We started out with 3, and a couple of months later we're up to approximately 40-50. They breed faster than we can farm them out to other tanks.

Your cherry barbs might eat the babies though. We have ours with kuhlis and hatchetfish - no one's aggressive enough.

Thanks zmo63,

That's something to think about. Maybe I could work a deal with a local pet shop that would like to buy my excess shrimp.

If you can produce good, really red shrimp I doubt you'll have much trouble finding takers.

I miss my little guys



Martin.

Hi Loachmom, personally i'd leave the dither fish out ! whilst the coolie's are alone , or with other inoffensive loaches , i.e. Lepidocephalus's, or perhaps some of the more placid Nemachelius, you will see more of them .

piggy4 wrote:Hi Loachmom, personally i'd leave the dither fish out ! whilst the coolie's are alone , or with other inoffensive loaches , i.e. Lepidocephalus's, or perhaps some of the more placid Nemachelius, you will see more of them .

You know, piggy4, today I removed the Zebra Danios from the tank because they were hogging all the food, even the bottom feeder pellets. I just said to the kids that maybe we should just have shrimp and kuhlis in the tank. Thanks for your input. Already the kuhlis are swimming up the corners and doing laps. I think they are happy to see the danios gone. That's the first that we've seen them swimming like that in broad daylight.



Martin, your shrimp picture is beautiful. I can hardly wait to get my own. Thanks.

them zebra danios are greedy, good move ousting them

ive got a 36 inch 30 gallon right here next to me with nothing currently in it yet. ive got the kuhli itch, now i just need to locate some

Rubix wrote:them zebra danios are greedy, good move ousting them

ive got a 36 inch 30 gallon right here next to me with nothing currently in it yet. ive got the kuhli itch, now i just need to locate some

I hope you find some, Rubix. You won't regret it. They are a fun loach to watch!

Loachmom, at the moment i've got a 2ft tank waiting for a nice group of Coolie's, i'm using peat in the filter, hopfully creating a nice soft water enviroment , will see how this works !