River tank stocking / Sewellia temp. Questions

[Gary Herring]

I have a river tank 30"x15"x12" with Aquaclear 402 and manifold etc, set up with the help of the excellant information i have found on this site and forum. Thanks! Filtration is a fluval 105 external (as well as powerhead intake foam obviously), with a big pump feeding air to 3 airstones totalling 12".
The tank has been running for about 6 months and is home to 6 long fin WCMM's, 2 Beaufortea k. (2" TL), 5 Gastromyzon ctent. (1" - 1" 1/2 TL), and since last sunday 2 gorgeous Sewellia lineolata (2"1/4 TL) from Emma's shop in Peterborough. Long trip, but definatly worth it, even though the missus thinks im nuts ("200 miles.... for FISH!?!!!", etc,etc,etc).
So, my Questions are 1) The tank has plenty of hiding places ,etc, but is it slightly overstocked?, and 2) Is my tank temp of 21-22c ok for the Sewellia's? They seem more than happy, but since buying them have read here that they may need more heat than other Hillstream's. What does everyone think? Any advice greatfully received!

[Martin Thoene]

Hi Gary and welcome to Loaches Online.

Yeah Swindon is a bit of a haul up to Crowland for sure!
Tell your wife about Cybermeez travelling from New York to Toronto to pick up 10 x 99c Pangio cuneovirgata from me and the 200 miles will seem like quite a sane little drive

Your setup sounds perfect IMO, but I would say it's now fully stocked.

I would love to know how your Sewellia interact with the other fish because I'm keeping mine in a seperate tank (there's details in a thread below), so I don't know how they behave with other species. Amongst themselves they seem to be constantly rushing at one another. Very protective of their own private space.

By the way.....your Gastromyzon ctenocephalus is that this fish?



If so, they are actually G. ocellatus.

Martin.

[Graeme Robson]

2 gorgeous Sewellia lineolata (2"1/4 TL) from Emma's shop in Peterborough. Long trip, but definatly worth it, even though the missus thinks im nuts ("200 miles.... for FISH!?!!!", etc,etc,etc)

Nothing wrong in that, Gary. I'm also planing a 400 mile round trip to Emma's store in a couple of months.

Oh, Welcome to LOL.


Graeme.

[Emma Turner]

Hi Gary,

Welcome to Loaches Online! I'm sorry that I didn't get to meet you last weekend (I don't work weekends any more). It sounds as if you have a great hillstream set-up, and I hope that the Sewellia are settling in nicely.

With regards to temperatures, there was some debate about this a while ago, and I think some people felt that due to the particular area they are collected from in Vietnam, the temps may be slightly warmer than for other hillstreams. Others may like to comment on this also.

At work, the system they were living on is about 26-27 degrees at this time of year. Our River Tank at home, runs at a similar temperature to this at around 25-26 deg. This tank contains 6 Sewellia lineolata, 8 Schistura balteata, 4 Mesonoemacheilus guentheri (new additions), 10 Eirmotus octozona, and a few Amano plant shrimps.

Emma

[sophie]

2 gorgeous Sewellia lineolata (2"1/4 TL) from Emma's shop in Peterborough. Long trip, but definatly worth it, even though the missus thinks im nuts ("200 miles.... for FISH!?!!!", etc,etc,etc)

Nothing wrong in that, Gary. I'm also planing a 400 mile round trip to Emma's store in a couple of months.

do you fancy coming via Birmingham and giving me a lift?

[Gary Herring]

Thanks to you all for your replies and warm welcome, you have definatly put my mind at rest a little. My tank and its inhabitants are doing great, but those two issues were concerning me slightly so its good to have such helpful and knowledgeable advice to turn to.

Martin,

My Sewellia's also chase each other round the tank, but interaction with the other species has so far been pretty limited. They seem to totally ignore the Gastro's even when they are in close proximity to each other, but their has been a couple of minor quarrels over stones, etc, with the Beaufortia's, the smaller one of which gives in and finds another stone, but the larger Beau (my first hillstream, Eric!) stands his ground.
On the subject of the Gastromyzon's, the fish i have are what used to be known as punctulactis. In fact, i have a mixture of ctent's and scitulus in new money terms. (Yours in the picture is absolutly stunning by the way).

Emma,

Would have been nice to meet you, never mind, perhaps next time!
The Sewellia's have settled in very quickly, and have been active and food searching pretty much as soon as they were introduced. They are very healthy and energetic, which in itself is compliment to how they are looked after in their time at your shop. (Wish i could say the same about other LFS's).
As for temperature, as they seem happy i think i'll leave the tank unheated for now. Should start waming up soon anyway, spring cant be too far away. Tank temp ranges from 21c in winter to 26c summer.

Thanks again!

[Graeme Robson]

do you fancy coming via Birmingham and giving me a lift?

As long as it's defiantly not Alabama!

[Emma Turner]

Hi Gary,

I also should have mentioned earlier how pleased I am that your Sewellia have gone into a 'proper' River Tank set-up! It is always nice to know that the fish we have nurtured since import have gone to a good home.

Would love to see some photos of your set-up at some point, as would others on here, I'm sure.

Emma

[Martin Thoene]

On the subject of the Gastromyzon's, the fish i have are what used to be known as punctulactis. In fact, i have a mixture of ctent's and scitulus in new money terms. (Yours in the picture is absolutly stunning by the way).

Gary, are you interested in seeing any of the scientific papers on these type of fish? I have a good collection of pdf files now. If so, I can insert links into a post.

Martin.

[Gary Herring]

Thanks Emma, they'll certainly be well looked after - they are my pride and joy! What were you feeding them on by the way? Im giving them algae every other day, which is speed-grown in a seperate tank, and frozen bloodworm or brineshrimp. Is their anything else that you noticed they particularly enjoyed?
I hope to post some photo's next week.

Gary, are you interested in seeing any of the scientific papers on these type of fish? I have a good collection of pdf files now. If so, I can insert links into a post.

Martin.

Yes please Martin that would be great, any further information on these fish is definatly welcome. And why is it by the way, that so little is known about them by the aquatic industry? I've yet to find a book with more than a passing referance on Balatorids, and most fish shops in this country hav'nt got a clue, which unfortunatly leads to them getting dumped in with goldfish and being called stupid names like 'butterfly plecs'. It really makes me mad to think how many of these fish end up languishing in the bottom of kids goldfish bowls, suffocating to death . I was sold my first hillstream loach by my LFS who told me they were called 'stone suckers' and would be perfect for cleaning the glass in my goldfish tank. Morons! I mean, they would'nt sell a brackish fish to a freshwater tank, would they, so why so much ignorance of the requirements of these particular fish?


PS sorry reply took so long, my only access to the net is at work

[Emma Turner]

Hi Gary,

It sounds like you are feeding them well! In addition to the algae that we deliberately leave on the sides, back, and decor of the hillstream tanks at the shop, they were getting a mixture of frozen foods including white mosquito larvae (loaches love this), brineshrimp, daphnia, and cyclops. Plus they also seemed to go for a surprising amount of dried foods, some of which were primarily put in the tank for other fish in the first instance. This includes JMC Catfish Pellets, which most loaches go crazy for.

When I add small frozen foods (such as cyclops) to the River Tank at home, some of it must be drawn onto the sponges on the manifold, as not long afterwards, the Sewellia seem to enjoy rooting around on them, looking for little bits of food.

Glad that yours have settled in well!

Emma