Loaches Online Forum

Yesterday I went out to the local fish store and was stunned to find they had a large selection of Syncrossus Berdmorei. I came home and read everything on these forums on the species and diagnosed myself with MTS fever. So today I went out and bought a new tank and filter and and some wood and cinderblocks from Home Depot to construct a stand with.

Then off to the fish store where I double checked the markings to make sure I knew what I was purchasing and I came home with 8 Syncrossus Berdmorei.

They are about 2-2.5 inches. I'm keeping them in a 40 long with near 500 gallons / hour of flow. I seeded the bio filter from another tank. And since I threw this together quickly the tank is bare bottom at the moment(I hope to get some sand in there by next weekend). Right now they just a few nice sized pieces of drift wood, some slate stone caves and some java fern bunches for decoration.

So far they've been very active and curious, and they are eating, which is always good. I've also placed some peat in the filter to help get my PH down under 7 (out of tap it's usually a bit above 7).

I'd be interested in any advice anyone can give me on keeping this species. Last night I read a lot of conflicting information about this loaches aggression level towards it's own species and other loaches, and even other fish. So any first hand experiences would be appreciated.


Thanks,

Tigers are very nice, especially the berdmorei. Would be nice to see some pics of the tank when you've got some sand in it.

I only have one that is about 7"
king of the tank
other loaches
large modesta, skunks, eos and robusta.

Firstly i'll apologize for the hazy nature of the pics below. My wife and I seem to spend all our money on fish and aquariums and not nearly as much on photography equipment. And these little guys move so fast.

I ended up not going with sand, not yet. My father came by with a pretty large bag of gravel. Some time ago he wanted some white brown gravel but couldn't find any. But he could find bags of yellow and brown mixed together. So he bought a few bags and sorted them. So now I have the yellow.

The long term plan (next 4 months) is to get these fellows into a 6 foot tank with my 8 Arulius barbs.

Today they started exhibiting a little territorial aggression towards each other. Just a little chasing here and there. The larger ones chasing the smaller ones out of the preferred hiding places, under the wood and in the little rock caves.

I also dug out a Koralia 850 gph pump and placed it in the upper left back corner, mostly blowing along the top back portion of the aquarium. I have a smaller Koralia 240 gph in the front right. Plus the power 300 gph power filter on the right. All this is creating quite the variety of currents in the tank, which the loaches do seem to enjoy.

Whole tank


Best shot we got of actual fish


My wife said she'd borrow her sisters camera and try to get some better shots.

Nice tank! What kind of plants do you have?

Hi Shark, I'm sure you will enjoy these interesting Loaches ,you seem to be treating them just fine , though the Syncrossus group as a whole are a little on the feisty side ,Berdmorei are probably the least aggresive of the so called Tiger Loaches !

In order to bring them into peak condition I find a good feeding of chopped earth worms does the trick ,but they will eat most of the frozen dry and live foods really !

As with most fishes in this group you will get some that are more dominant , so the more hidey holes the better , as for tank mate's the Puntius Arulius should be ok as you have bought a group of Berdmorei ,so they will be more interested in their own species ,only at feeding time they will come close , so just spread the food a bit so the smaller weaker one's get enough to eat .

I have a group of 7 Berdmorei ,2 beauforti ,4 Mortleti [skunks], and four Scaphognathus [barb like fish] and they seem fine !

You will enjoy these Loaches ,they are fascinating creatures !

Andy.

Thanks for the comments and suggestion,

All that I have in there at the moment is Java Fern. It grows so fast in my 75 gallon jungle that we're pulling large bunches out all the time.

Since the pictures I've added 7 pieces of bamboo to serve as caves and sight barriers. I count 18 total hiding places for 8 fish. I hope to get out this weekend and forage some more bamboo and maybe a nice stump or something wooden I could use in the tank.

I also put a bubbler just below the flow from the power head on the left. So now we have thousands and thousands of little bubbles flowing around the tank. I think they'll appreciate the extra O2

Yesterday we had quite a bit of chasing and a bit of biting, mostly involving who gets to sit under the drift wood, followed by several hours of everyone hiding.

Today they're much more active, even boldly sitting out in the open on top of the drift wood. There are groups of 2-4 searching among the pebbles for bits of food and sometimes everyone swims to the middle of the tank to frolock together. Not much aggression, just a few suggestions from the big guys. Nothing more aggressive then my Kubotais display.

So far feeding has consisted of frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, mosquito larva, chiclid pellets, and a mixture of omega one veggie and regular flakes.

Very nice. Sometime, I'll get some of those.

Nice pics Shark !

Since the last set of pics....

I had noticed one of the smaller guys had some bone structure visible behind his eye/gill and he wasn't growing. When I originally purchased these loaches I treated with Jungle Labs Parasite Clear. With this skinny situation not improving after a few weeks I treated with levamisole. I've completed 2 treatments and will preform a third one this weekend. And i'm happy to report that the skinny guy is no longer so skinny that I can see his bone structure.

I've acquired a real set of lights for this tank, so I no longer have a desk lamp sitting on the hood.

I found the arrangement as it's shown in the pictures above wasn't providing enough breaks in sight lines and defined areas for 8 of these loaches.

I have 2 which are much larger then the others, 2 that i'd call mediums and 4 small loaches. The dominate loach was claiming all the area under the wood and the open area to the left of it. The other large one was claiming the two pieces of bamboo to the far right and the small stack of slate near it. Some of the smaller ones were able to find refuge in a few pieces of bamboo. One actually was perching on top of the suction cup attached to the power head on the right. Some just kept moving to avoid the larger ones or swimming in the current to avoid being chased. The larger loaches seem to take patrolling their territory very seriously. And there's no lack of clicking and activity, but i haven't seen any injuries.

I've separated the two pieces of wood (so no one loach can have both) and added quite a few more pieces of bamboo. I think in the above pictures I have 6 pieces. I'm up to 10 pieces now and I'll forage, cut, and boil a few more lengths this weekend. I've added another small piece of driftwood in the middle of the tank and have stood some of the larger pieces of slate up on end to provide some barriers. I've arranged the plants around the wood so it blocks sight lines from loaches perched under the wood. I'm hoping this will reduce the area that the larger loaches are claiming. I've also been trying to work the hardscape so it's more vertical. This way the dominate loaches can patrol the bottom while the smaller guys can find shelter above them.

Of course the long term strategy is to get a 125+ gallon tank for these fellas by summer. There have been a couple of 210 gallon tanks on Craigslist for absurdly low prices recently but I've resisted jumping at them. Trying to save every penny for the up coming home purchase.

I've found a lead on a near by park where I can acquire some large river stones which I plan to use as decor in the future tank. Although that task will have to wait until warmer weather arrives. Here in Maryland they're calling for more snow tomorrow night.

One of my long term worries is these fish won't get along with a BN pleco and/or a Siamese Algae Eater. I have a large one of each which I plan to keep in the future tank.

I also picked up a trio of these. First time I've had them. Also just got a 6" Syncrossus Beauforti. The Tigers seem to be more available right now.

ewurm,

How large of a tank are you keeping them in and with what other kinds of fish?