Hillstream ID help, small vannie photo, feeding question

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:31 pm

These hillstreams were a gift, right now they are in my 20gal Long qt tank.
What are they? Is a group of 3 enough? Will they be happy in a 30 gallon (36x12x16) rivertank setup? New to hillstreams, but they are wonderful.

Sorry about quality of photos. If you would like the originals to help with an ID please PM me.

TIA
Tom

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:44 pm

Look like Vannies... that is Vanmanenia Sp..

If so, the exact species cannot ever be determined, since there are several Vannie species and no good descriptions of each.

Vannies are great, IME they are more difficult to keep than other hillstream species (for more than one reason)....so if you can get a few more and have space for, certainly do, they are not around all them time.

30g is fine....the issue is the tankmates that would not dominate/suppress them too much.

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:18 pm

Mikev, you got the ID correct I believe. They can/will have the 30 gal to themselves, If you have suggestions for tank mates please let me know.

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:49 pm

Could be a Vanmanenia pingchowensis. Either way.......very nice additions!

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/Sp ... p?id=55017

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:02 pm

tglassburner wrote:Mikev, you got the ID correct I believe. They can/will have the 30 gal to themselves, If you have suggestions for tank mates please let me know.

More peaceful hillstreams or Gobies.

IME, these are very shy animals, easily suppressed by more active hillstreams, in the presence of active hillstreams they will tend to hide. Crossostoma's and Cheni's would be bad choices. Gobies are certainly ok. Beaufortia's seem to be ok. Small Gastros very likely too. Never tried this, but I think something like Smithi would actually be fine with them.

30g for 3 fishes is kind of wasteful. Get a few more if you can, a bigger pack is more fun too. If they are not scared by other hillstreams, they can be pretty active too, especially with bloodworms around.

My latest (sitting in a q-tank for 5 weeks, about halfway) will probably end up in a tank of their own.

mikev · Post by **mikev** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:09 pm

Graeme Robson wrote:Could be a Vanmanenia pingchowensis.

Could be...

One thing to pay attention to: the reflective or bright area under the dorsal. It seems to be strongly present in Vanmanenia pingchowensis pictures, in one of the pictures posted above it also appears, but weakly. I saw it with a couple of Vannies I had/have too, but never expressed strongly.

This ought to be a characteristic ... of something.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:21 pm

Very nice find!!!!
Other nice tankmates would be some of the danio species.
How big are these guys? Do you know the original store they came from?

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:33 pm

my cousin got me them from our walmart i'll get more in a few days

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:42 pm

They're about 1.5 - 2 inches long after I reread I saw that question posted.

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:47 pm

Vanmanenia hainenensis also has refective patches on the body.
These aren't that species though, the belly isn't white enough.

I'm gpoing to have to check out my Walmart, but I doubt that I'll be lucky. I know that a Toronto wholesaler has the contract for all local Walmarts. These hillstream appearances in US Walmarts are possibly from a central supplier.

Martin.

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:01 pm

WALMART!!!!

I'm going to have to start checking them out.
I have only seen hillstreams once at Walmart. They were beaufortia and that was several years ago.

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:06 pm

They were labeled as "hong kong plecos" my cousin got them to feed my pleco habit, and started a hill stream habit.
I guess he said they are fish of the month

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:24 pm

Hmmmmmm...heading to WalMart right now!!!

Jim Powers · Post by **Jim Powers** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:28 pm

Well there are none at the local WalMart.
But, after looking at the fish dept. its just as well. This is a brand new Super Walmart and the fish look like crap.
How sad.
I'll check out other Walmarts when I am in other towns this week. The fact that P. fangi were found in Illinois and a Vanmanenia sp. were found in Ohio makes me think that I might be able to find some sort of Chinese hillstream or "Hong Kong Pleco" being that I am located between the two.
However, if I find some in a fish dept that looks as bad as the one at my local store, I'll probably pass.
This reminds me of the time, a few years ago, when Walmart was carrying sids, and no one else had them.

tglassburner · Post by **tglassburner** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:32 pm

The walmart I go to is very clean, they even sell live plants, I even got tetras for 26 cents each, They were "clearance" because they needed the room in the tanks for what turned out to be to be the vannies that i now have. Good thing I got all 15 tetras. lol Now I got nice hillstream loaches too.

How many vannies would you recommend for a 30 gal?

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Hillstream ID help, small vannie photo, feeding question

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