Loaches Online Forum

Well, its so hard to catch loaches even in a small tank. How does one catch loaches in the wild?

I will be with a team of hobbyists going on a collection trip around some parts of western ghats. A previous recce trip has found Lepidocephalus sp, Schistura sp. along the route.

Would like to know if members here have any inputs on catching techniques, type of nets suitable etc.

Hi Random2 , though I've never been loach collecting , there are a few techniques I've heard of such as creating dams i.e little areas in the streams created by using stones to create little pockets of water , and then lifting the rocks to see what lies beneath .

Thanks piggy4,

Had thought of making an enclosure using nets. But your idea seems better. If conditions suit, will try this out.

Good luck , I suspect you will end up employing a few different methods ? should be fun , please let us know how you get on , you never know you might even catch a few nice cyprinids also ?

Regardless of any catch, Im sure it will be fun. Actually still more than 15days to go. And will definitely share what I learn and see.

And yes, trying to get as much information as possible on catching techniques as places wont be alike. General idea is that water will be shallow but some places have rocky bottom and some are sandy.

For hill-stream style gobies (several spp) we find a riffle, put the net down-stream, then remove a bunch of larger stones and shake them about in the water. Anything in/under the stones ends up in the net.
Should work very well for hill-stream and Pagio-types.
Problem: some species swim upstream when disturbed, some down. You only catch the down-stream and less-strong swimmers.

Best bet: an electroshocker.
Little ones cost >15G (US) and usually require about 10 pages of paperwork and permits, but they are (if used properly) non-lethal and work very well. The stunned capture reduces stress and allows higher survivorship in transport.

If you've got time (overnight?) a small Antillian Z or Heart trap of welded steel and fine (soft) mesh might be good. Put in refugia pipes/bamboo of diameter appropriate to what you'd like to catch and bait with a few raw prawns wired to the interior mesh.

Two method that work best for me:

First, already mentioned in the above post, large net, put it down the riffle, then start kicking the rock disturb the whole thing as much as possible, then see what end up in the net.

Second, dive down with snorkel gear and a small hand net, spot your target and try to catch them one by one. I've recently prefer this method. Camera in one hand and the net in the other. Watch them in nature as much you wants, take some pictures, and if you feel this is not enough, you can decided later if you want them to go home with you or not. Nothing beat that!!!

Nonn wrote:Watch them in nature as much you wants, take some pictures, and if you feel this is not enough, you can decided later if you want them to go home with you or not. Nothing beat that!!!

Thats just teasing Nonn

andyroo, I dont think I have time to get electroshocker. And im not sure I would like to use it. Nothing against it, but im not comfortable till I research its usage.

Regarding the overnight option, It wont be possible in this trip as we will be covering lot of distance in just couple of days. But got another trip offer this morning which will be in May and will definitely try it out.

One problem here is, we dont get any fishing stuff in major cities as not much goes on here. So most of our equipment has to be DIY.

Nonn, Good pointers there. Regarding watching them in the wild and taking only whats needed, I totally agree. Im pretty sure we will see some Barilius and I love those. But wont be bringing them home (I already have them here ).

Thanks both for ideas. Will list out all suggestions and will report back on what worked out well.
1. Long net enclosure
2. Rock walls
3. Electroshocker
4. Antillian Z or Heart trap, refugia pipes/bamboo with bait - [overnight]
5. snorkel gear + hand net

In a promising spot a 10 minute soak-time for a trap/pot should show results. Overnight soak tends to allow complete consumption of bait, followed by either escape or predation. Loaches are bright enough to figure it out and get away.
It's the kind of thing you throw in while either sampling in the area or having lunch.

Thanks andy,

That 10minutes is definitely possible. Will start work on making a net. Got some information from - http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/X2590E/x2590e07.htm Will try to build on those lines.
Please do let me know if you have any design ideas or photographs.

Looks good. Here they call the heart trap an arrow-head, but same-same.
Get the frame made up of 5mm rebar (reenforcing steel). Any little welder should be able to bang something workable together for very little money. Steel will be tough and will sink and be stable in the fastest current. Then mesh it on your own according to target species. Keep whole thing small or it will get very heavy/cumbersome.
Snorkel to find the best set-spots.
Have fun. Post photos.
A

Thanksn a ton.

Good thing that I posted this query. Supposed to go to the welder tomorrow for few wider hand nets. Will get this done as well.

Just updating this thread for adding our experience catching loaches -

We mainly caught 3 types
L. thermalis - These were caught in the nets mostly by accident. Mainly when catching barbs.

N. anguilla - Relatively smaller ones were found towards the bank and were caught using dragnets. One of our members found a much easier and pretty accurate method -

Hold a hand net on the sandy bottom and when the loaches are close by, kick the sand from the opposite end and lift the net. This when repeated be others yielded some consistent catch.

Schistura sp. - I think for this it has to be plain luck. We had walked through the same place quite a few times and there is no way these can be spotted.

Only method seems to be just drag in some amount of gravel from flowing water and check that up.

These places are very shallow with just couple of centimeters in water level and with varied sizes of rocks.

There was not much time to get a trap made.