Loaches Online Forum

Hey Fran.

How's you and the fish doing. I am so used of coming back and checking out the news here that the lack of updates...should be a good thing I hope

All the best to you. No need to answer

I've had some success catching my clown loaches with a jug, cornering and herding them into it. That way they also remain in water and are not as stressed.

Mine spent the first few years almost on their own in a leaf litter tank. I could always see them browsing the leaf litter and they'd dance late in the evening when lights are off or early morning. Then that tank gushed down on the floor. I lost one kuhli, found it dried up later. The remainder went...

In fairness, I would not add clown loaches as both your tanks are not suitable long term. Also, I found out that when my clowns got older, they definitely destroyed all plants. They'd generally damage the leaves by biting them but it's enough to put the plants in distress, algae issues resulting fro...

A very sad end too. I bet his demise got you in a lather! (terrible I know).

Well, you can tell. I still remember it as if it was yesterday I was very angry

The story happened decades ago

Also, they often hide when their owner enters the room (much like my male Bristlenose does unless I am super slow and quiet) and so can remain unseen for much of the time. In my very early fish keeping career I kept a cold water loach which was caught in the local river. He was some character. He'd...

He,he. I'd say you're the only person that gave that fish such a chance, so 23 years is unheard of really. In fairness, I always felt sorry for them. They have their place too in a suitable setup, like any other fish.

Yes, you can. It is safe for loaches.

I can’t believe the nearly complete healing of the silver dollar.

Well done Fran. It is a great achievement to have these fish at 10 years of age still going strong, testament to your dedication to them and hard work.

The silver dollar has totally healed. I can't believe it myself either

Really sorry to hear that Fran. These things happen unfortunately and a lot baby clowns I see in my local shop are already sickly.

The silver dollar is looking really good now. Amazing stuff.

Thanks Bas. Anecdotal evidence points to the same, slightly higher conductivity in fish tanks compared to nature is beneficial to those same fish. I am not saying it applies to every black water fish species but I remember reading a blog on keeping kuhli loaches some long time ago. After keeping the...

That is, after using a softener, the water is worse then is was - for soft water fish. So I can summerize "Don't use a softener for keeping fishes" Well said. Black water is very low in conduticity, but has dissolved a lot of not conductive material - that is the osmotic pressure is higher than one...

Mine is pretty consistent. It's varied 40ppm max over the years.

Apologies for the confusion Basil. My water is very hard, TDS is around 300-ish right now out of tap. The lowest it's been is 275ppm....

Mine is pretty consistent. It's varied 40ppm max over the years.

It's normal for it to creep up. As long as you control it down to a range you're happy with, then its fine. Controlling the TDS is same as controlling the nitrates. If you keep the TDS in your desired range, the nitrates will also stay low. They go hand in hand, only TDS includes other build up as w...