Loaches Online Forum

Remind me, did you have the algae eater in with the smaller fish? I had one in a 55 with 14 danios. There's one left. That SAE was enormously fat...There were no clowns. The remaining danio is now in with the clowns skitching around as normal. They ignore him totally, even at feeding time.

mistergreen wrote:watch out for rosey barbs. they can behave like tiger barbs.

I have had tiger, green, cherry, rosy, albino and one other type of barb I can remember the name of and I will tell you that the tigers are the worst. My rosy barbs were not agressive at all, but my favorites were the cherry barbs, they are smaller but not agressive. Barbs are beautiful, but some of them are nippers bad.

Good luck,
Kris

i love the cherry barbs the most but most of the ones the lfs had were very small. i want em at least an inch long if i get em. the cherry barbs play alot in groups. that is why i like them so much. i had some albino tiger barbs that would do flips in the waterfall, they were some of the most entertaining fish i have had. the albinos were much more mellow but i love the tigers bc they are funny to watch. they will just sit completely vertical and it looks like they are looking str8 down. its funny.

what about angel fish? will those work well with loaches. my gf loves the angels and always wants them but i can't stand those fish. but gotta make here happy.

shari2,

yes i did. but the algae eater wasn't eating the danios. i left the danios in the tank with the pleco after i removed the loaches. i only lost one fish in over a year in that tank and it was a small fish that got stuck in the filter. i found the body as well. when the loaches eat the fish, i find no bodies anywhere. and they dissappear overnight. i went from 10 danios to 2, two different times with the loaches. they have a sweet tooth for those danios. i see my pleco being aggressive mostly to cories but nothing ridiculous. the pleco usually hangs out with the smaller fish but when it comes to eating time, he has no competition bc the smaller fish eat flake food. i actually found the danios in packs of 10 or more aggressive like tiger barbs. they would attack other fish and mal them.

dj loach,

if i put 10 danios in the tank right now. in 3 days they would be gone. i promise you!

maybe it is my particular loaches. who knows. i have read that other people don't have problems. i only have the problems with fish any smaller than an inch. if there are any tetras, neons, or any other fish and danios in the tank. they will eat all the danios before they eat the other fish. i pretty much fed them danio steak for quite a while until i got sick of buying them. i like danios, but they don't last in my loach tank. in my other tank the danios are fine.

poeticpyro wrote:FYI... clowns need a bigger tank...if you plan to keep them full-term.

yes i mentioned that above. im still deciding. i don't have room at this point but right now it is in my head. only problem is i have spent so much on tanks im not sure if a bigger one will fit my budget or my apartment. its cramped enough right now. but if i do get a bigger tank i want to do it right. i have been reading about these river tanks and i think that may be the way i want to go. something more natural with more wood stumps and things like that. at this point i may have to wait a bit before i can change the tank. a buddy of mine has 30 gallon he is going to setup and i am not sure if i should change a few of the fish or not. its all being tossed around in my head at the moment.

helen, im going to try i had to work late last night. it probably won't be until the weekend that i can run any tests.


loach tank roll call today
same as above minus 4 tiger barbs. we changed em out. at this point if i find any larger cherry barbs i may get a big group of them. the only sad thing about the cherry barbs is if one of their companions goes, the other one usually dies as well.

ph and nh3/nh4 tests results for two tanks


loach tank

nh4/nh3 test= .6

ph=7.0


30 gal tetra tank

nh4/nh3 test=0

ph=7.0

LoachOrgy wrote:yeah, i didn't think they would eat them but when the danios sleep they sit at the top of the water. i think they would be easy prey at night. thats usually when they dissappear. i went through a good 17 danios before i stopped puttin em in there lol....no bodies were ever found....

Yes, I am sure this is what happens. I have seen one of my clown loach and my tiger botia chase after my dither fish while they are asleep. The whole school jusp panic. During the day, the ones that live and the loaches are all fine.

Vancman,
Do you have any pics of your 120 river tank? I'd love to see them...

start a new thread...
sorry for the OT--don't want to hijack your thread

i love the tigers bc they are funny to watch. they will just sit completely vertical and it looks like they are looking str8 down. its funny.

It may not be so funny, actually.
"Head standing" is actually an indication of a problem with your fish. It indicates loss of control over equilibrium or buoyancy, frequently associated with gas accumulating in the abdominal cavity or subcutaneously in the peduncle region (in front of the tail). Do you notice it after a feeding more often?

You may want to look into 'swim bladder disease'.

i saw someone had gourami i believe they are called. how do these do with loaches? shari, i took the barbs back to the store.

sorry, guess I missed that...

i got 8 cherry barbs in pairs to replace the tigers. i don't recall the loaches ever eating the cherry barbs even the babies.

one thing about this head standing. it seems that they would only do it sometimes and for a minute. no longer. i am not sure, but all of the tiger barb i have ever had did this. i thought they were playing. i used to have a few albino tiger barbs that would do flips over and over in the waterfall. it was hillarious.

shari2 wrote:Vancman,
Do you have any pics of your 120 river tank? I'd love to see them...

start a new thread...
sorry for the OT--don't want to hijack your thread

Hi Shari, here is the thread for that. I also used video to show the movement.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... highlight=

wow those fish look really happy!

LoachOrgy wrote:wow those fish look really happy!

Thank you loachOrgy . It is a good idea too to reply about those vdo's on that thread