A few loach questions

[CathyGo]

I was at PetsInc. today to get some guppies and saw some fish labeled "Lizard Catfish". Now I don't normally buy fish without researching them but since the guy said they wouldn't get much larger and wouldn't eat my fry I went ahead and got two. So now that I've figured out that they are loaches I was wondering if they would bother my two large snails and snack on my guppies fry. I was also wondering what these guys eat and if there's anything species specific that's important for them to have. I give my fish frozen everyday. They are fed cyclops morning and night for the fry and juneviles to eat. At night I give them an additional feeding of 1/4 a cube from the frozen Freshwater Multi-Pack that Hikari sells. Some bits are small enough that the juneviles snack on it but mostly the large adults get it. A lot just ends up the gravel. I rotate the foods so they never get the same one two days in a row. I really like these guys but if they won't work in my tank I'll take them back to PetsInc. and tell the guys what they are really called.

My second set of questions is about Horsefaced Loaches. I work at a PetSmart and I'm not really clear on whether they absolutely NEED sand or just smooth gravel is fine. They get frozen food everyday at the store but would they take any kind of sinking food in a home aquarium?

[Tinman]

IMO sand is better . Gravel is never needed in an aquarium unless specifically required for a fishes needs and I have never came up with one to have it and I have several solid reasons against it.It is only there to make people happy with the look much like wallpaper in your house.It is a huge amount of work besides. I consider gravel detrimental to any fishes health because of the very problem you stated, stuff (all kinds) gets between the particles and then accumulates and affects water parameters, Sand on the otherhand has particles so small stuff stays on top. I only use sand substrate and then only when required by the fish. Gravel is for the yard. Your store has a whole row of it ,such a great deal ,here buy a bag of rocks. I consider gravel a marketing ploy and a high profit item for a store ,not essential for fish. Many others disagree

Post a pic of the fish in question to a hosting site like photobucket then post a link here and you will get an ID on your new fish from the contingent here

[CathyGo]

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/homaloptera-smithi

I think this is what they are.
As far as the gravel goes I have the smaller smooth pebbles in my tank. I find the gravel at PetSmart to be very rough and has lots of sharp edges. PetCo has some nice smooth gravel though. To tell the truth I hate the ugly gravel I have in my 55 and I'm just looking for an excuse to go to sand. Bare bottoms just accumulate visible crud too fast for me.

[Emma Turner]

Hi Cathy, and welcome to Loaches Online.

If you do indeed have a Homaloptera species, which often come with the 'Lizard Loach' nametag, you'll need to increase the flow rate in the tank quite dramatically. Have a read of this article which goes into detail about the needs of hillstream loaches: http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstr ... -fast-lane

As you can see, they have very different requirements to 'standard' tropical fish. Your guppies will not be able to handle the current, so it would be a case of choosing between them, and then altering the set-up if you go for the hillstream loaches.

You might also want to print this off and take into PetsInc so that they can start giving out more accurate advice: http://www.loaches.com/articles/Hillstream%20Flyer.pdf

Hope this helps,

Emma

[CathyGo]

Thanks for the info and the caresheet. I've decided to take them back to the store. I put them in a spare ten gallon where it's a little cooler than my big tank. The 55 runs low to mid 80's all summer so I figured that was way too high for them.