Loaches Online Forum

Pacu are certainly on this 'tankbuster'/ "Why, oh why do they sell them" list

Very interesting! And, yes, it sure scared me the first time I saw the 'dead loach' trick.

I wonder if you could train them to do that on command? I have a dog that will play dead (on her side) on the command "Bang!" A couple of more "Bang! Bang!"s and she rolls over and sticks 4 legs up in the air.

If you suspect that one fish is hogging all the food you can try a few things that might help. Feed more of a variety, including sinking pellets such as the Spectrum foods, or Omega One Shrimp Pellets. Feed the Angels their floating food, and toss in the sinking pellets while the Angels are distract...

If the Ich medicine does not clear the internal parasites, then I would wait long enough to do a couple of big water changes, and run some Activated Carbon for at least 24 hours to remove the last remnants of the Ich medicine. Then treat for the next problem. Not a good idea to mix medicines unless ...

I used the info in the article on some Clowns that were about 1-1/2" long. One was really too thin, the others, well, I could tell they had parasites, but the guy at the store was telling me how good they looked. I lost the littlest/thinnest one during treatment, the others lived and grew fast for s...

Malaysian trumpet snails grow to a little under an inch, but the shell is so hard that most loaches cannot break it open to eat the snail. Some fish learn to suck the snail out of the shell, somehow. I have not seen them do it, but I have one tank with empty snail shells, not broken ones. These are ...

I would be doing a daily or every other day water change. With each water change add a little bit more baking soda. When I have added baking soda I found the 1 teaspoon (5 ml) added to a 30 gallon tank (120 liters) raised the KH by 3 degrees. Translated to your tank, and given that you do NOT want t...

Connect plumbing to the holes with bulkhead fittings. Inside the tank make the pipe from the bottom hole tall enough so it is rather close to the water surface, do not keep it lower. The uppermost hole(s) get the return-from-sump plumbing. This could be connected to a spray bar, or other sort of dis...

Use as many live plants as you can find protected spots for, just do not expect it to look like an Amano tank when you have so much current for the loaches.

Blanch the vegies (not cucumber) 'til they sink: Zuchini, Peas and Green Beans are some of the favorites. The fish prefer the tender inside of the green beans, so slice them lenthwise. Pop the shell of the pea, and the pea will come out in 2 pieces (if it does not get mushy) Cook longer: Baked squas...

I would not try to re-create the tank inside the bucket. Fish will be less stressed in the dark, so this rules out adding plants to the buckets. Harder things that could fall over and knock the fish are also ruled out. The battery powered air bubblers are a great idea. Look into these through aquari...

It reaches a point where you have two conflicting goals, and they are just not compatible. The list of fish and plants in the current set up are mostly the slow moving set up sort of things, and will not thrive if you increase the water movement to the point that the Loaches would prefer. I see two ...

SIGH!
I have GOT to set up a proper tank for these guys!

Sounds suspiciously like they are gobbling the eggs as fast as the Loaches are producing them

Many Rainbow fish do well in the same conditions as the Clown Loaches: Warm, fast moving water. Long tank so they can swim a lot. There are several species of Rainbows, so do a little research. Most will thrive in a wide range of pH and water hardness, but just to be sure it helps to check up on the...