Loaches Online Forum

Hi, I've joined the forum in hopes of learning more about my weather loaches. I have a pair of goldens, they are such characters! Ive read that they're hard to breed in captivity, but I apparently triggered them to spawn without meaning to. I thought the eggs had been eaten (they're in a 55g community tank) but then one teensy tiny baby loach appeared! He's now 2 inches long and growing very quickly. Meanwhile, Ma & Pa Loach are at it again! Since I can't spot the eggs to remove I'll keep track of the date, in hopes of removing potentially hungry tankmates before the next batch hatch out. Does anyone have advice to help me keep more babies alive this time? Thanks!

WOW!
That is so cool!
Any pics? It would be great to learn (if you know) what happened to motivate the spawning.

Yes, Glenna, I do have a few pix. Not very good ones, but better than nothing!
That blur is baby loach the first day he ventured out in the open
Baby again, all of 1 inch long
Mama loach & tankmate (Oops! This image got cropped in the posting process, sorry!!)

Here's what I think what caused them to spawn: They'd been in a coldwater environment, sharing a 55g with a BNP and white cloud minnows. Then I was given a tank that was already overstocked. So I moved some giant danios and cory cats from that tank in with the loaches, and increased their heat to 78. Also did a big WC at that time, and smaller ones fairly frequently the first couple weeks, as I was concerned about overloading the 55. Within a few days of increasing the heat, they were "dancing" and twining around each other! I later read that the ones living in rice paddies and shallow streams in Asia will spawn right after the monsoon flooding, when their water is both warmer and fresher than it was previously.
This time there's been no dramatic change in temp, but outdoor temps have been milder this week than before so the house has stayed warmer too. Also I got delayed doing a WC this week, so did a bigger one than usual. That seems to be all it took to set them off again. Now if I can just grow the little ones up!!!

so cool, congrats!

That's really neat! Congratulations! I agree about removing predators (and who wouldn't want to eat such tender young fry?). Otherwise, making fry food available for them, and putting pantyhose or a sponge filter or something over your filter intake so the babies don't get sucked up would be worth considering. Good luck!

Thanks, NancyD and SgtMajWiggles. I'll keep you informed as time goes on. But just one more question: How long should the eggs take to hatch? I thought I had that info in my Ultimate Aquarium book, but can't find it now!

Congratulations!
Its always good to hear first hand experience of the spawning of any loach species!!

Update: I haven't noticed any new babies, but then I didn't the first time around either. I did add a sponge over my filter intake, and have been very, very careful to check all plants carefully when I have to rearrange uprooted things during WCs. Meanwhile the original baby has gotten big enough to be quite bold, he's right out there with Ma & Pa at feeding time, and is now 3 inches long and about 1/4" in diameter. I'm waiting to see if any more miraculous hatches have occured, but I think I may be destined to hatch only singletons. In my other tank I have female platties with a few male guppies, well now there is one solitary baby plattie as well! It's really pretty funny, I was careful to choose females only to avoid being overrun by livebreeders, but even there I end up with One Baby Fish! Still, it's all pretty interesting!