Photos of your Loach tanks

[sthomas048]

Hello,

It would be cool to see some photos of your Loach tanks and setups. Im in the process of planning for my first tank and would benefit from seeing how other folks keep their Loaches. Esp Kuhli tanks !

C'mon get uploading ! Thanks.

Stephen

[loachmom]

Hi Stephen,

Here is a picture of my 30 gallon kuhli tank. It is 36 inches long. I have 9 striped kuhlis in there. There is an Aquaclear30 on the tank and a sponge filter in the right hand corner.

During the day, the kuhlis usually hang out in the grey fake rock on the left. In the evening they come out and swim and look for food. I'm awake every day at 3:30 AM, so I get to watch them by the light from another room.

I don't have a sand substrate, but my gravel is very smooth. I'm considering changing to sand soon, now that I have most of the cherry shrimp moved to a 10 gallon tank. The cherry shrimp were so numerous that they coated the gravel.

I'd like to have more foreground plants. I have some crypts started, but they are growing slowly. There are also anubias and java fern, plus 3 fake plants.
I have coconut shell caves and broken pieces of coconut shell that the kuhlis like to hide under.

Sorry my picture is a bit blurry.

Here is a picture of the coconut cave that my husband made with tiny kuhli size openings. The center hole now has a piece of gravel wedged tightly in it so none of the kuhlis will get stuck.

[bslindgren]

I have two tanks, which both have kuhlis. Because they are only 33 and 55 gal, respectively, I hope to upgrade to a 120 gal some time next year (necessary to accommodate my clown loaches anyway). My 33 gal in particular is probably overstocked by any measure, so I try to compensate by frequent partial water changes, but this is not an ideal or sustainable situation of course.
The 33 gal is a planted tank which contains Pangio kuhli, along with four clowns and 10 kubos (and some dithers). The kuhlis really like the thickets of Cryptocoryne. The photo is several months old (and not very good - I'll try to get a current one to replace this one), and the plants are much more vigorous now. This tank has a gravel substrate.



The second tank has few plants (Most of what you see in the picture is actually the background, not real plants), a sand substrate and has about 6 Pangio myersi along with 10 zebras and some dithers. I have kept this tank lightly stocked because it is a fairly nbew setup, so I don't want to overtax it. The kuhlis hang out in the rock pile at the right hand part of the tank.



In both setups the kuhlis are out quite a bit - I would probably favour the planted setup if you want to see them a lot, though. In the 55 gal they essentially come out to feed, but hide the rest of the time, whereas in the 33 gal you can spot them pretty much at any time.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hi sthomas048,

Welcome to LOL!

Take a look on my tank here:

My loaches tank

Also watch a video on my signature

[Mark in Vancouver]

You are admired and envied, Marcos! You have to get some new photographs. Even one feels like a party.

[capeldrae]

This is my khuli tank.

[loachmom]

I think it should be noted that kuhlis have actually bred in Brian's (capeldrae)
tank. I hope to someday be able to say that about my tank.

I think I need to make a rock pile such as bslindgren and Brian have...it looks very kuhli friendly.

[Dirk_H.]

Hello,

pictures of my little tank:

data:
1 1/2 feet x 1 feet x 1 feet (50cmx30cmx30cm)
Filtersystem is a selfmade filter "HMF" in a corner = Hamburg's matts filter with a "airlifter" (Luftheber ?)

Light also selfmade.

For Beaufortia sp. (in the shop they were named Psyeudogastromyzon cheni, but this is wrong!) and nine or ten Tanichthys albonubes











Best regards
Dirk

[Marcos Mataratzis]

You are admired and envied, Marcos! You have to get some new photographs. Even one feels like a party.

WOW Mark. That are nice words!
Many thanks!

some fresh images:






Hope you enjoy!

[capeldrae]

Sorry about the quick post last time, but I got called away before I could add words to the picture.
I started this tank about a year ago, the ocupants were 6 pangio oblonga along with a selection of danio's, neons, cherry barb's, pleco and silver shark's. I know that the tank is to small for the plec and silver shark's,but thats a differant story.
Over the coming month's I added more khuli's {the stippy ones} whilst removing the other fish. This tank now houses the 6 original pangio's plus the baby pangio {sorry I can't take a clearer picture than the one I took at the time} and about 10 strippy's
I also found that they prefered to hide out in the rock's rather than the bog-wood.Ialso added some leaves, which they love rooting about in.
So a while back, I dropped the water level by about an inch every time I did a water change, and adjusted the temp up a little until thy were living in about nine inches of water and 80 degrees. I reversed the process and added more leaves and put in a little more flow. The tank has now got 15 inches of water,temp is 78 degrees, a lot of leaf litter and an extra powerhead. This is as near there natural envoirment that I could replacate. I intend to run the tank like this, as long as the khuli's are happy at the present set-up, for about a month then see what happens.

[sthomas048]

Thanks guys.

Loachmom, your tank is pretty much how i have wanted mine to look when its setup, i had this idea about lots of driftwood pilled up together at the rear of my tank, lots of gaps between the peices for Kuhlis to hide in/under. I love the coconut caves

Bslindgren - Im petrified of planting my tank ! I will buy some plants such as Java Fern grafted onto the driftwood to start with, i do want a fair amount of greenery on display, i know Kuhlis love it. Il get some moss in there too.

Brian - you have had success with breeding Kuhlis ? Wow, thats amazing. Is it true that they use floating plants to lay eggs on to ? I would be in heaven to see baby Kuhlis. Apart from the Java Fern mentioned above, i also will put a small amount of floating Salvinia Auriculata on the surface.

What has surprised me looking at bslindgren, Marcos, Brian and Dirk's (everyones) beautiful tanks are the abundance of rockery and the apparent preference of smooth rocks as a Kuhli chill-out area. I have had trouble finding smooth round rocks to place in my tank. Anyone know an online shop in the UK that sells them ?


Lets see more photos, im hungry to see Loach tanks !

Stephen.

[sthomas048]

Brain,

Your post is fascinating. I enjoy learning about the original habitats of Kuhlis (and Loaches in general). Id love to create a idyllic biotope for them, their natural environment as you say. You mention the preference of rocks over wood in the tank with Kuhlis. What sort of leaves do you place in your tank ? What size is your tank ? My tank is about 50cms tall, so you would suggest that about 15 inches depth of water is a good idea to encourage breeding behaviour ?

Found a webpage that mentions some details about breeding -
http://www.geocities.com/wtaf2000/kuhliloach.html

Im sorry for lots of questions Brian, but as i say i find the habitat of Loaches as interesting as the Loaches themselves. Im a nature geek.


Stephen.

[capeldrae]

sthopmas048,
Can I just say that the khuli that was born in my tank was probably just a fluke and nothing that I done.
As for floating plants I had/have none in my tank, the leaves I use are oak and beech, but can I just add that I've only been using them for about three months. The round stones that I'm using are from Focus, but any garden centre sells them.
Thanks for the link you put up, don't have time to read it tonight, going out to watch the football, but will read it first thing tomorrow. there was another link to bio typeset up, but I don't know how to do a link to it, but it was in a recent thread.
Right away to cheer on my team in the Champions League.

[bslindgren]

Im petrified of planting my tank ! I will buy some plants such as Java Fern grafted onto the driftwood to start with, i do want a fair amount of greenery on display, i know Kuhlis love it. Il get some moss in there too.

It's all a matter of preference I guess. My plants weren't doing great, but I fertilize them now (just a bit once a week) and they look really healthy. There are a few Cryptocoryne in the 55gal tank as well, but not that many. I'm going to try some Java moss pn those roots in the 55 gal as well.

[capeldrae]

Just as I get my khuli tank set up how I wanted it, along comes a much appriciated suprise, 48"x12"x12"


Oh well back to the drawing board, have to build a stand and hood so may be after Christmas.