50cm hillstream with stiphodon , what loaches should I take?

[senne76]

Hi,
I have an empty 50cmx30cmx30cm open aquarium and i want to make a hillstream aquarium of it.
I have 1 eheim hang-on filter (350 litres/hour) and a eheim pump (1000 litres/hour but I can make the flow slower with a button)
With the Stiphodon percnopterygionus as main occupant , how much males and how much females should I take?. Does anyone know some nice fish for in it (gastromyzon,beaufortia,sewellia or other loaches) ?I'm thinking about the Tanichthys micagemmae as schooling species? Or something else?
Does anyone have some tips for making aufwuchs?

Greetings,
Senne

[senne76]

What about this?
1 or 3 males 2 female Stiphodon percnopterygionus
Maybe a male and a female stiphodon rutilaureus if the percnopterygionus aren't agressive
2/3/4x Gastromyzon sp /Hypergastromyzon humilis/… or another loach?
6x Tanichthys micagemmae
and maybe 1 male 2 female Schismatogobius ampluvinculus

[senne76]

Do you think this is possible? Or do I need to take less fish?

[Jim Powers]

Since this is a new setup, I would wait and add the fish a little at a time and see how things work out. All the fish seem like good choices but I would recommend putting the white clouds in first and letting the tank get established and allow some algae to grow before adding any hillstreams.

[senne76]

Thanks , There are already some brown algae on the outflow of the eheim liberty , so I don't think that it will take a long time before the algaes are in the tank.
How much male stiphodon percnopterygionus should I take? And how much Hypergastromyzon (I think I better take these instead of the gastromyzon because they are smaller) ?

[Jim Powers]

I have no experience with Stiphodon percnopterygionus so I am not sure what there requirements are for space and tank mates.
Since this is a small tank, I would recommend you just put hillstreams or gobies, not both. Maybe 3 or 4 hillstreams?

[senne76]

The Stiphodon percnopterygionus is 3-3,5 cm big , and they are peaceful against other fish as far as I know
This is from seriouslyfish:

Can be kept in a community provided tankmates are chosen with care. Peaceful, similarly-sized species which naturally inhabit well-oxygenated streams such as Tanichthys, Microdevario or smaller Danio species are the best choices for the upper levels, but we’ve also seen members of this genus being maintained with various characins, small poeciliid livebearers and freshwater shrimp like Neocaridina spp.

Other bottom-dwellers can include small loaches from genera such as Gastromyzon, Pseudogastromyzon, Barbucca or Acanthopsoides, and in high-turnover set-ups obligate torrent-dwellers like Annamia, Homaloptera, etc. Avoid those that feed aggressively e.g., many Schistura spp.

Larger fishes are best omitted entirely although in big tanks it’s possible to add a few non-predatory, surface-dwelling ones. The majority of cichlids and other territorial fishes inhabiting the lower reaches such as should be avoided entirely though. Stiphodon spp. only appear to be loosely territorial when breeding so several can be kept together if sufficient space and suitable foods are available, and other stream-dwelling gobies such as Sicyopus, Sicyopterus, Rhinogobius or Schismatogobius spp. also make good companions.

Though males aren’t necessarily gregarious females tend to exist in loose groups meaning a single male with two or more females is the recommended minimum purchase. Females of different species will group together but males appear able to differentiate between them.

[shuwae]

When I had stiphodon percs in my tank, the males were very territorial to other males and females. Even though they are small, they need space to get away from each other. They ignored other fish but not their own. I agree with Jim that you should get either the gobies or gastromyzons as both are territorial, especially kept in a small space. I even had a gastromyzon chase/fight my sewellias in the tank they shared.

[senne76]

Ok I won't take the gastromyzon or hypergastromyzons
I think that's also beter because the tank is open so they might crawl out of the tank.
Oh and it is no White Cloud Mountains , it is also a Tanichthys but not the Tanichthys albonubes , it's the Tanichthys micagemmae , they are smaller

[Jim Powers]

I knew which white clouds you meant, I keep Tanichthys micagemmae also.

[senne76]

They are nice fish , aren't they? Do they like the stream?

[Jim Powers]

I really like them. They seem to like a good current flow, but not as much as danio choprai or Chela dadiburjori

[senne76]

Yeah, unfortunately this tank is way to small for the active danio choprai or Chela dadiburjori.
Can I take more Tanichthys micagemmae or is 6 enough in such a small tank?

[Jim Powers]

I think you would get better schooling behavior with this species if you would have 8.

[senne76]

Ok then I will take 8 of them ,thanks.
I can't wait till I have them , the tank is already running a month with some fish from a friend of mine and he will come pick them up soon