Loaches Online Forum

i lost two pangio oblongatas and i have no idea why... i immediately cleaned the tank... all perams were perfect... any ideas? they had been very active and eating earlier this week and currently the three remaining are swimming all over the place in their cleaned palace with the puffers. i had a puffer die and i'm thinking that if the little kuhlis ate him he could have poisoned them? not sure, any ideas help! also... will the other three be okay? i'm adding two more once i can find more that are big and healthy... thanks in advance

DPs can be really aggressive little fish, even more so than some of the larger puffers and especially if maturing and in breeding mode.

Any chance they may have stressed the loaches? I've known folks who had DPs chomp onto and hang onto much larger fishes fins. I wonder if intraspecies aggression led to your puffers demise. I do doubt that the DP poisoned your loach.

Eric

You state that you have a puffer tank. A puffer tank it should only be. You can not expect a community tank with keeping these.

the kuhlis showed NO signs of fin nipping and i have never had problems with these little guys. one puffer who died was always fighting with the other male i had two males and three females now i have 1 male and 4 females. the other kuhlis are fine, but i'm still concerned... it's not the puffers since the kuhlis showed no signs of being eaten...

New kuhlis of any species do not come with guarantees of health. The rule is that if they look AT ALL unhealthy, avoid buying them. If they look like good stock, buy several and keep them in quarantine for a long while in a smallish tank.

Only when they appear to be truly established should you consider moving them from tank to tank.

Kuhlis undergo the travel experience from Asia to here with probably less comfort than most loaches. Their biology is different enough that this is the probable cause of high kuhli mortality.

Aside from - or because of - the stress of travel, they are highly susceptible to ammonia at any level. They may enter a stressful change in water hardness or pH. And they may arrive carrying critters that will kill everything.

That said, once they are established, they are tough guys and good value in the right tank. As Graeme points out, we like the kuhlis enough here on LOL to keep them on their own right, and supply a tank that best suits their needs. While they can survive for years and years in a community tank, it might not be the best approach - or maybe more contemplation of a good community that suits them should be given. Pufferfish and kuhlis clash in my opinion, but it is only my opinion.