My Loaches and tankmates!

Loaches4Life · Post by **Loaches4Life** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:33 pm

Alot of very nice tanks and loaches on this site! Thought I would share mine.

I do have more species of loachs not pictured.

comments welcome, thanks for looking!

Mad Duff · Post by **Mad Duff** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:05 pm

Are all those fish in the same tank?

What size tank is it?

OneWay · Post by **OneWay** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:10 pm

Nice looking tank and loaches, very nice.

mickthefish · Post by **mickthefish** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:19 pm

the tanks fine but it needs more structure in it for the amount of loaches in your pics.
i've got big reservations for a few fish in your tank, the chinese high fin grows into a 3 ft fish and prefers cold water with a good flow of water in it.
the fire eel even though i like them very much grow into a huge fish, two of my friends have seen one grown by a fishkeeper over here that was 6 ft long and had a huge girth.
the third is what i think a Syncrosus beauforti which will terrorise your other fish.
don't take my opinion the wrong way as your clowns look in great health.

mick

Graeme Robson · Post by **Graeme Robson** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:22 pm

Agreed with Mick, just tweak your tank-mates for the good of the Clowns and your fine for a year or three..

palaeodave · Post by **palaeodave** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:23 pm

Your loaches look in great shape and the tank is nice and big. Gotta second what Mick said though about the Chinese high-fin and also I've heard bad things about chinese algae eaters.

Loaches4Life wrote:

Apparently they become real terrors with age.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:29 pm

Hi Loaches4Life, welcome to LOL.

Most of the clowns look in good shape, but I'd be a bit concerned about a couple that can be seen in this pic (top centre, and possibly the next one down):

Loaches4Life wrote:

Have you ever dewormed your loaches for skinny disease?

Emma

Loaches4Life · Post by **Loaches4Life** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:04 pm

Mad Duff wrote:Are all those fish in the same tank?

What size tank is it?

Yes

OneWay wrote:Nice looking tank and loaches, very nice.

Thank you very much, alot of money went into this

mickthefish wrote:the tanks fine but it needs more structure in it for the amount of loaches in your pics.
i've got big reservations for a few fish in your tank, the chinese high fin grows into a 3 ft fish and prefers cold water with a good flow of water in it.
the fire eel even though i like them very much grow into a huge fish, two of my friends have seen one grown by a fishkeeper over here that was 6 ft long and had a huge girth.
the third is what i think a Syncrosus beauforti which will terrorise your other fish.
don't take my opinion the wrong way as your clowns look in great health.

mick

I do know how big the hifin gets, but 3feet?? I was thinking 2feet tops. Any pics or links to a 3foot hifin, i would really like to see. Again I know how big fire eels get, 6feet are bigger than the ones I seen at the Shedd aquarium so I really am not worried about this fire eel all of a sudden growing a foot in a day, plus i have a 210gallon he can go in. Ive had this fire eel almost a year now, long time and put on a few inches. 1 more time, i know about the CAE, I didnt just buy a bunch of fish without researching them, he doesnt terrorise yet, but he does a great job of cleaning the galss. Thanks for assuming im a noob. As far as decor, I think less is more. My personal oponion and thats the way I like it. Thanks though Mick

Graeme Robson wrote:Agreed with Mick, just tweak your tank-mates for the good of the Clowns and your fine for a year or three..

Thanks for the comment

palaeodave wrote:Your loaches look in great shape and the tank is nice and big. Gotta second what Mick said though about the Chinese high-fin and also I've heard bad things about chinese algae eaters. Apparently they become real terrors with age.

Ive heard that too, thanks

Emma Turner wrote:Hi Loaches4Life, welcome to LOL.

Most of the clowns look in good shape, but I'd be a bit concerned about a couple that can be seen in this pic (top centre, and possibly the next one down):
Have you ever dewormed your loaches for skinny disease?

Emma

The top one did have skinny disease. Only one in the tank. Seems like I have bought quite a few loachs with it. I do have medicating food and copper to put in the tank but it rarly works. I do a 2-3 week QT on all of my new fish.

Thanks again for the comments and concerns

mickthefish · Post by **mickthefish** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:15 pm

sorry mate, i did'nt assume you were a noob, not with the condition of your fish.
there was a couple of threads on petfrd that shown some huge ugly highfins, but it was a while ago. if you joined that forum and go into the search engine it will give you all the threads for this fish.
i must say the fire eel that is 6 ft has had it's own tank from the get go, and is well fed, there was an eel in wharfe aquatics that was nearly 3 ft and the woman that brought it in for resale had put nearly 2ft growth in just over a year.
and i'm sorry i did'nt notice it was your first post so, welcome to LOL.

mick

Loaches4Life · Post by **Loaches4Life** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:21 pm

mickthefish wrote:sorry mate, i did'nt assume you were a noob, not with the condition of your fish.
there was a couple of threads on petfrd that shown some huge ugly highfins, but it was a while ago. if you joined that forum and go into the search engine it will give you all the threads for this fish.
i must say the fire eel that is 6 ft has had it's own tank from the get go, and is well fed, there was an eel in wharfe aquatics that was nearly 3 ft and the woman that brought it in for resale had put nearly 2ft growth in just over a year.
and i'm sorry i did'nt notice it was your first post so, welcome to LOL.

mick

No problem Mick.

Did you say ugly hifins? you meant beautiful didnt you
I did see some that were about 14" online, and man they are neat looking. The Hifin is actually in a 30Long right now, temp is around 78, also have a nice group of geto/rostrata's with him.

here are some pics at the Shedd aquarium in Chicago.

And they had a great group of about a dozen or so clowns, all massive! Biggest one is around the 10" mark.

mickthefish · Post by **mickthefish** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:28 pm

each to his own taste mate, the one i saw in one of the pics looked abnormal in shape with tiny little eye's and not a very nice colour. uuuuck

the clowns at the shedd are pearlers. Emmas got a bigun i think hers is 11 1/2 inches.
i once got offered a pair the female was 13 inches, but i was in to south american fish at the time.

mick

palaeodave · Post by **palaeodave** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:30 pm

Bejing Aquarium: Myxocyprinus asiaticus

Sorry for the super-massive link (if someone clever could make it small that would be great).

how's that?

shari

Loaches4Life · Post by **Loaches4Life** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:37 pm

mickthefish wrote:each to his own taste mate, the one i saw in one of the pics looked abnormal in shape with tiny little eye's and not a very nice colour. uuuuck

the clowns at the shedd are pearlers. Emmas got a bigun i think hers is 11 1/2 inches.
i once got offered a pair the female was 13 inches, but i was in to south american fish at the time.

mick

Can you get Hifins to breed? A guy I had talked to at a LFS claims to have a breeding pair that are around 16" he claims, Ive never seen them but want to!

palaeodave wrote:

Sorry for the super-massive link (if someone clever could make it small that would be great).

Makes me want to put a saddle on the back of him and ride!!

Some pics of my old clown group that I use to have in my 210, before I got into polys/bichirs

I had 23 at this time, 4" smallest, 8" biggest

starsplitter7 · Post by **starsplitter7** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:41 pm

Welcome to LOL,

Glad you found the site. You'll find it is very friendly. One goal is to give information that will not only allow the fish to survive but to thrive. Since people are so passionate about their loaches, you may be able to understand their concern.

Here's an article on HiFins. It's shame because it is a cool fish.
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquari ... rinus.html

I don't see a lot of articles on the Internet, but I have read it in my books. Very large and fade to dull colors. Did you say yours is big and still bright?

When you spend some time on this forum, you will see that frequently newbies post many fish and often mixed species, so you really can't be too upset if people inadvertently may have thought that (especially the oddballs and the clowns -- often newbie posts will look like someone went through PetSmart and pick out one of each oddballfish). I am not syaing you did that. The quality of your clowns shows you know about fishkeeping. (And by the way,) I am pretty much a newbie, only keeping fish four years, but I have learned a lot on this site. It has improved my fishkeeping skills and I am still fixing problems from my beginning.

I have three species of eels, and my Tiretrack grows just by me looking at her.

My peacock and yellow tail luckily stay nice and small. I love my eels.

At my local zoo they are also have exhibits with pet fish species, which for me is super cool. They have a huge exhibit for Clowns, Yoyos, bards and assorted catfish. Really nice. I posted pictures a while back. You can always do a search.

Some members do keep their tanks pretty bare, but the clowns do prefer lots of cover. You did say in your first post that comments were welcome. Good luck. The fish and the tank are lovely.

In the main part of the site, you can find information for treating loaches with skinny. I wouldn't use cpper. There's a list of recommended treatsments and where to obtain them.

palaeodave · Post by **palaeodave** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:51 pm

I'd love to see a full-tank picture if you have one. What are the dimensions?

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