Loaches Online Forum

Any clues as to this guy's species name?


I thought he might be an SK01 except his stripes are thinner and he seems to have more than the profile picture. The markings on his face aren't reticulated, but then is that something that might develop with maturity?

He's been in our tank for 3 months now and is quite active but I worry that I'm not getting enough food to him. I have his rocks in rotation with those in another tank that is better at growing algae. I've also seen him eat zuchinni and give him some of that weekly, but he doesn't seem to be as enthusiastic for it now as he once was.

The profile suggests spinach, kale and blood-worms - any tips on feeding these to him? In particular, getting the blood-worms to the bottom of the tank for him? With the greens, should I be giving him the stalk part or the leafy part?

He shows very little interest in Hikari Sinking Wafers (with the corydoras on the front). Should I be feeding him the Algae Wafers instead?

Kylie

I have some very similar, dare I say that this is a G. zebrinus?

Hi kb46,

Not to sure on the id-Martin would be best at that but for feeding mine, I just drop in frozen foods once defrosted and mine come onto the gravel and actively feed as soon as the food goes in. They also feed on sinking pellets and theres also a receipe;

http://www.loaches.com/articles/home-co ... n-fishfood

which I follow with my own little extras that is smeared onto a couple of rocks twice a week before water changes-its a little messy, but they feed really well on that. Mine took a little while to get to grips with the new foods but once they noticed they eat basically anything that is put into the tank.
Hth


Ashleigh

It looks as if it might be zebrinus to me, but I couldn't be for sure.
I would recommend that you get some rigid tubing from your local fish store. Try to find tubing about the diameter of your index or middle finger. Cut the proper length to reach the bottom of the tank.
You can put the thawed bloodworms and brine shrimp into one end and use it like a feeding tube to get the food to the bottom. I have been doing this for years. I even have some hillstreams that will feed directly from the tube.

What I ended up doing was using a sort of rough (just not smooth) smallish rock and pasting some frozen brine shrimp right on it.

Defrost the cube of shrimp on a paper towel to absorb a lot of the water. Take out a rock (is good to try and use one you see them on), pat it dry, paste the cube of shrimp over the surface of the rock and put it back in the same place, slowly, so it doesn't fall right off. It works best if the rock isn't in the direct flow from the powerhead or it does blow off all over.

It took mine about 5 days till the second I removed the rock they were all in position to get to it first.

He probably is the closest to the zebrinus, now I look again. I always thought his stripes were too close, but perhaps it's an age thing.

Ashleigh - love the link, and the food looks pretty tasty (for fish ) I do have to admit that I don't spend that much time preparing food for my human family. They are sure to get mighty jealous if I start the cordon-bleu thing for our cold-blooded family. Mmmm... can see myself whipping up a fishy feast in the kitchen at 2am so I don't get caught out...

Jim - so just drop the bloodworms in the top of the tube and they settle at the bottom, right? I have some suitable tubing at home so shall give it a try tonight.

Shari & Ashleigh - Do you think blanched spinach will rub into the rocks in a similar way? I will give it a try and let you know...

Sucky won't know what's hit him. He's actually my 5yo's fish, hence the imaginative name

Kylie

Jim - so just drop the bloodworms in the top of the tube and they settle at the bottom, right? I have some suitable tubing at home so shall give it a try tonight.

You can do that, I suppose.
I actually stuff the bloodworms, and/or brine shrimp into a length of rigid tubing that is about 1 cm diameter and put my index finger over the other end.
I put the tube into the water, food end first and remove my finger.
This creates a suction pulling the food and tank water into the tubing. I put my finger back over the end of the tube and put the into the area I want the bloodworms and brine shrimp. I can then let the bloodworms or shrimp come out of the end of the tube onto the tank bottom.
With a little practice this is ever easy to do.
Remember when you were a kid and probably played with drinking straws, pulling liquid up the straw by placing your finger over the end, putting into your drink and removing your finger? Its basically the same.