Starting over - Chain Loaches

[fain]

I've had my 60gal for around 2 years now and have a decent group of loaches that I am quite fond of. My problem is that I am looking to move into a second story apartment soon and want a smaller, more manageable aquarium. My father has generously offered to trade his 40gal acrylic tank for my 60gal (heavy) glass tank. Well, my loaches will get too big for that, so I've been waffling on what to do for a few weeks. Just last Thursday however, my store received a new batch of Chain Loaches. We've offered that species for some time, but $10 a pop is a tad much for a college student. Well this new batch is only $5. I've spoken to my co-worker about handing over my current loaches to the store in exchange for these little sweeties and it looks like a go. I'll be taking my kids in today. (I get to screen who buys them )


With new loaches on the horizon, I have a few questions. I know that Chain Loaches will be much smaller than my current batch, and that they are recommended for a minimum tank size of 20gal. As such, my new 40 should be fine, correct?
I have a 200watt heater, should I buy a 150watt, or will the heater I have be acceptable?
The filter will be an Eheim designed for a 30gal tank, should I toss on an HoB for good measure? Or will the filter do alright considering the plant density?
Also, how does this species do with Gourami? I have a few Blue/Opaline mix in my current tank. They are fairly young at the moment, and if I see any aggression on their end, they'll be brought in to the store ASAP. This tank is for the loaches first and foremost.


The tank will also be heavily planted with a large rock and several smaller rock chunks, so that they will have plenty of places to explore and hide while they settle in. The substrate is cleaned playsand with a few pebbles of tumbled aquarium gravel for color. This has been a great home for my Striata and Histrionica for some time. Their tankmates will be 4 Gourami (blue/opaline hybrid), a female betta, a female ram, a clown pleco and 6 flame tetra. When the Gourami get larger, I will be considering dropping them off at the store. It really depends on their temperament. They were not exactly a planned acquisition so I'm not attached to keeping all of them. I am fond of them however, as they were a gift from a customer.

So...does everything look good? My stance is that I can never have enough information, so opinions are welcomed! If you see something that just looks glaringly wrong, speak now!
Thank all!

[NancyD]

I'd go with a second filter. I'm not sure of acrylic tank dimensions but I'm thinking I may add another filter to my 30 inch long tank. Lots of plants seem to inhibit the flow a bit.

You may well have trouble keeping a betta with gouramis, they don't often get along. Blue gouramis tend to be semi aggressive & will be much bigger than the slower swimming betta.

I loved my sids & will have them again...but how big are your striatas? Mine seemed to be very, very slow growing. I got them at an inch or so & after 6 years only a couple chubby females were ~3 inches. I have seen large striata, 4+ inch, I wonder how old they were. In contrast, my histrionica were close to full grown in a year.

I actually kept both 10 sids & 6 striata together in a 4 ft tank if you need an excuse...some of the sids lived with some of the striatas at 1 end, the rest together at the other. There seemed to be 1 very fat female of each in both groups, though there were other sid females & maybe a third striata.

[fain]

Funny enough, my experience was that Striata grew faster than my Histrionica. My Striata were all 3.5-4 inches and started at 2-2.5 when I bought them a year ago. But it took two years for my Histrionica to match them. My betta is getting along well with the gourami, but my ram hates them. I haven't seen them do anything to her, but she is desperate to stay away from them. I'll probably have to give them up soon for her piece of mind. The tank is about 3' x1.5' x 1.5' . My old 60gal was 4' so there is a noticqble size difference. I gave up my Histies and Striata on Thursday and they have already gone to good homes. With the store credit I was able to snag 11 Chains for only $25 out of pocket. I'll miss my kids, but I really wanted a large group of only one species of loach. They are shy right now, but I feel hetter about this thany mishmash or species last time.

I think I will go with a second filter. I have a 20gal. HoB filter that I can use in addition to the eheim. Got a y suggestions for good dither fish? My larger loaches were..well...bigger so they got along well with slghtly more agressive fish. For these kids...I'm thinking tetra or 6 line barbs. Something small and sweet that won't bother them.

[NancyD]

That is funny!

I'm a big rasbora fan, they're never nippy like many tetras & swim higher in the tank than with some barbs (I haven't kept hexazonas). Red tailed (r. borapetensis) & espei are what I kept in my 75g with sids but like you said, a bigger school of 1 species looks better. Good luck...we'd love pics after they get settled.

[fain]

Well I took in two of the larger gourami and my ram has stopped hiding in the filter! Saddly, it will be a bit longer before I can add any ditherfish. The neon tetra that I was looking to buy came down with ich over the weekend. (When the store is closed)I may pick them up later this week if they improve. I'm thinking...maybe ten to go with the eight I already have in another tank. Neons are tiny and I doubt they will bother anyone.

On a great note however, my loaches are out in full force every morning and I have discovered something surprising. There are twelve loaches. Not sure how the last one got in the bag unnoticed, but he did. These loaches are fun to watch. They have recently begun sparring now that they have settled in. No damage, but they spin so much, I'm sure they get dizzy!

[NancyD]

That's good news about the ram & bonus sid, how did you count them? lol. The sids will probably cool off the sparring after a while, it's that establishing a pecking order thing. No hurry on adding dithers, sounds like everyone is out & about...& waiting is much better than ich etc...do you have a quarantine tank? Always good if you can. Wait until the lfs fish are ich free for at least 2 weeks, it can hide in gills & the lifecycle takes a while to complete. Still looking for pics...

[fain]

I'm still organizing my plants, so no pics just yet. As far as quarantine tanks go, I have a five and a ten ready with filters and heaters whenever I need them. Being prepared is part of the game, right? lol And I counted the loaches while they were sleeping out in the middle of the tank. I'm delighted at how well my loaches settled in, my botia took weeks before I even saw a glimpse of them looking relaxed! The dithers can wait, my loaches are happy and I like to weigh my options extensively before every purchase. Think a young kribensis would fit in? He's only about an inch and one of the least aggressive of his siblings. I had a mated pair before with my botia but the male ate a neon and I sent them back to the store (where I later sold them to a friend). I bought them when they were fully grown, but I hear that if they grow up with small fish then they are less likely to bother them. Worth the risk?

[NancyD]

You know, I hear that growing them up together can work, but not IME, if they can eat it they will... eventually. But on the other hand, you can't expect effective fry control, maybe a male will eat neons, maybe not. I'd go with bigger dithers if you're set on krib(s). Pretty breeding machines, females more aggressive than males, I don't remember if we kept just 1 of either sex but females are smaller but less docile, might be some betta danger.

Are the neons full grown? The so-called "jumbo neons" might be too big for snacks, the tiny "feeder neons" as we called them, were edible by bettas for a while, surely by kribs. Adult cardinals are a bit bigger but also can ship small. Higher body fish, like some of the rasboras or larger tetras like adult rummynoses but not nippy like serpae, could be nice. Take your time...you don't "need" dithers right away, your fish are happy.

Good deal on the QT, it's your best defense, always.

We don't need perfect tanks to have pics (nagging emoticon) lol. That said, I don't know how to post them, lol, do as I say, not as I do (or don't).

[fain]

I moved the neons that I already had into the tank. I must say, the effect is delightful! The tank is so full of activity with this new school that the krib would be too much. Once I get the fry net with my male halfmoon betta out, there will be pics. I love photographing them, but the fry net...not so much. He is going into the tank that the tetra came from, but I need to prep the tank for him. Fewer sharp edges and whatnot. And for the record, my neons definitely count as "jumbo" neons. XD. Turns out there were 11, not 8. Guess the hid well in the old tank.