Chinese banded loaches

[Mamba]

Hi All,

I'm new to the forum but am looking to enlist some help please if possible from the Loach experts.

I bought 6 small loaches sold as "Chinese banded loaches" from my LFS. I'm having trouble first of all photographing them!! They move like greased lightning and any time I point the camera they move as I push the button so all you get is a blur!! LOL They do seem a little photogenic!! LOL

I have looked through the description of types you have on this site. It is very hard to be accurate as to which exact loaches they are but I have it narrowed down to either Sinibotia Pulcha or Robusta. I possibly may have a mix of both I don't know. I will try and get a decent picture but for now all I can do is to try and describe them. Most of them are mostly gold as their base colour. One has thin vertical dark bands. The others have thicker vertical dark bands with a thin gold line going from the lower section of the body almost to the top of that thick dark band. This looks very reminescent of proper Tiger Stripes rather than just bands.

Sorry for the naff descriptions but can anyone help? Just going from the descriptions on the site I have them in the wrong PH range and at the wrong temperature!! I've reset the heater to 22 degrees celsius.

All i'm looking to find out is whether anyone has any experience of these so I can get pointers as to how best to care for them? Any and all advice, hints tips etc would be very greatly appreciated!!

[Jim Powers]

Pictures would help. I have kept Pulchra but not Robusta so I can only give advice for that species.
Pulchra is very easy to keep. They like clean well oxygenated water with some flow and good oxygen levels. They are a bit shy and not aggressive and like to have numerous hiding places. You can provide those by leaning pieces of slate against the back and side walls of the tank or even on the substrate. Driftwood is good too. Just be careful that there are not holes in the wood that the fish could get wedged into.
They eat a variety of foods including frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and pelleted foods.
Also, mine had a habit of trying to swim into the filter outlet and would sometimes be found inside.
If you haven't already, check out the following link from the species index.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pi ... de-stripes

[Mamba]

Thanks mate, I finally got a couple of pics of one of them, the single loach that I think is a 12 banded chinese loach although. He or she is definitely the most inquisitive of them. Apologies for the poor quality pics. What do you reckon?

They are in a hospital tank as you can no doubt tell. It just has an undergravel filter. Water conditions are generally good save for the lack of space and water-flow. I will be getting the 4ft tank as soon as possible and with that a few more of these too as I saw more in my local LFS.



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By pbi at 2012-08-07

I may have just had bad luck with the other one when it and another were in with my fancy goldfish, perhaps that one was uncharacteristically aggressive?
My local LFS said they had problems with some of the fish they had in with the Chinese loaches ngwere with. I have six with one misbehaving Mollie and six Tiger Barbs. They all seem to be getting along fine and dandy.

[Mamba]

Got another pic of two of what looks to be a slightly different Chinese banded loach to me. Are these the same exact species as my previous pics, the markings are definitely different.



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[Jim Powers]

They all look like Robustas to me. From what I have heard of them, they are a bit more aggressive than Pulchra.
Pulchra is more elongated. Robusta is the only member of the genus that has this compact body build.

[Mamba]

Cheers Jim, I think you're right from the looks of things.

Barring the species description on this site there doesn't appear to me to be very many of us that keep Pulchra and Robusta loaches.

I like the idea of pioneering so to speak but I must confess I had hoped that I would have the safety net of someone that had these before. Just concerned that I don't mess up, that's all.

I must admit I do like the idea of trailblazing a little and doing something a little different. At least I won't need a big tank set up as space is definitely a premium at the moment!

Do you mind me asking what sort of size tank you have for your more peaceful species?

Mine are odd, I have the Tiger Barbs and a single speckled Mollie and they don't bother any of them. It's possible one was just overtly territorial. I will have to be very careful what fish I add to the tank. I've noticed also that they spend most of their time in the plastic plant I have, they don't hide in the cave/rocks I put in. I do like them, they spend most of their evening chasing each other about. It looks territorial but there doesn't seem to be any real physical aggression as yet.

Perhaps they don't like the wide open space of an LFS aquarium. My Fancy Goldfish tank was pretty spartan that way when I had two of them in.

[Jim Powers]

I don't have any pulchra now. Mine all have died off over the years. I kept them in a 29 (US) gal tank and they did fine, but I would always recommend a larger tank with more floor space.

[Mamba]

Ah, sorry to hear that.

I'm looking at a 4ft x 1ft x 1.5ft tank in the first instance. 140 litres / 37 US gallons I believe.

How many did you keep at any one time in your 29 Galloner? Did you have a community tank set up or was it specifically set up just for them?

[Jim Powers]

It was a community tank of sorts with some golden wonder killies and some other small loaches. I usually only had one or two at a time of the pulchra. As for how many you can keep in that tank, that would depend on how many other fish you had. The one inch per gallon rule is not a bad rule to use.

[Mamba]

Very true!!

I just looked up the Killifish, they are very nice, your set up must have been a very nice one to look at and for the fish obviously.

I'll be very careful and will update on progress with them. Cheers for the help Jim, much appreciated mate.