Loaches Online Forum

Darren,

D'you mind me asking what you are a student of? What is your course?

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Martin et al, I've been keeping a couple of Borneo morph (http://www.loaches.com/markings.html) CLs, one for nearly two years and the other only a few months. I brought home two new last week of Sumatran colour morph, and noted substantial differences, not only in colour pattern of ventral anal fins...

Open water feeding fish seem to have no drama with terra cotta pots. But Plecostomus, little gobies and red-tail black sharks (grazers) were 80% dead and 20% quite unwell by the morning. Whatever the toxic affect, it didn't damage any loaches or anything that didn't direclty ingest particules from t...

This seizure and destruction of fish brought to the authority's attention in good faith by a ligitimate (and obviously responsible) collector is excessive... but justifyable. It will, however, force the trade underground such that it remains entirely unregulated and unrecorded, and potentially more ...

Emma, Many/most of what i've seen on that list has serious potential for invasive impact and should be controled. It is too bad that government must paint with such a broad brush, but even as a loach collector myself this sort of thing is a necessary evil in modern conservation. Now the question is:...

Folks, But the UK is chokka with imported rainbow trout already. At what point do you stop calling it an ecosystem and just call it a zoo or an aquarium? That was to be taken a bit tongue-in-cheek... Invasiveness is a serious problem to biodiversity all over the world, and Mark, i'm sorry, education...

Mikev,

Thanks.
I will ask the vet for the pig-wormer powder. It's probably pretty common if it's so inexpensive.
You suggest generaly medicating the tank over dipping/soaking (what, 5 minutes soak-time?) prawn bits in the mixed (watered) medication?

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Gmaddox, In Uni. i had a nice big second hand set-up, but good bottom gravel was hard to come by in the city and i had no cash to buy. SO, we put down a light layer about 2cm thick and planted the plants into 6 and 8 inch terra-cotta pots with sand/loam soil with plenty of peat, covered over with a ...

Mikev, levimisole: what is the trade name? What is the active chemical? ie: is it going to be restricted for import, or can i ask the doctor next door for the generic/human equivelant and get the dosages per gallon on-line? Do i treat the tank or the fish(quarantine)? I suppose that if one's got it ...

Empty the tank to change the substrate? Are you running under-gravel filtration? How big is too big for substrate gravel? When you say barbs, do you mean the bone spines under the eye or the actual flexible/flesh barbels/wiskers around the mouth? If it's been a year and this is the only problem i wo...

I've kept clowns since my youth, and currently have a fine pair (will add more when i find them: rare in local shops) I've had one for 18-24 months, and he's grown no more then 1cm in that time, adding no more then 25% in length (small, 3-4cm to begin with) The other i've had since Feb, also small a...

Then you've also got fork-length: from nose to the middle of the tail's fork. Used in fish with, well, forked tails.... like botia style loaches. Used as it's not uncommon for an end or both ends/tips to be damaged in capture or parasitizm/predation. Plus it's just nice and easy in the field.

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Mikev, New fish passing within or over a few weeks without major symptoms: this sounds like how reef marine fish die when they've been collected using cyanide. Find out about the original source including methods of collection. Chemical stun-agents in collecting would greatly facilitate the live col...

the "stripey men" as the wife calls them (clown loaches) eat offensive amounts, particulalry when a big shrimp dies or i find an ant's nest in the potted plants or when they root out a big snail. They don't get fat... or even grow much for that matter... but for the golf-ball bellies, which go away ...

What are the copyright etc... aspects of putting these papers/linking/accessing these papers (and others on the Loaches) directly on this website?


Andyroo