Loaches Online Forum

Hi Everyone,

I have finally gotten around to posting some pictures of my tank and some of my favorite loach pictures. Enjoy!


A frontal view of my tank (almost fully converted to real plants).


A frontal view of my tank with mostly fake plants. Note, the Black Skirt Tetra is now living in a friends tank with 4 other Black Skirt Tetras.


My CAE behaving for now.


Plangio oblonga playing slinky. Sorry for the scratched glass.


Pangio kuhlii and Pangio oblonga shoaling together (...I think).

That's a nice looking setup!

Your loaches are beautiful.

Have you considered floating live plants, such as hornwort or anacharis (elodea) to add to those which are planted in the substrate? I really like the way your tank looked when you had the fakes in it, primarily because of the vivid green floater. It framed your visual scenery in a really nice way, and live floaters will do the same. They're really easy to maintain -- just let them float in the water at the surface, and trim them back a bit if they grow too profusely. Maybe a few more live plants will help fill out the open space. Looks a little sparce right now, but maybe when they grow bigger the scene will be fuller.

Java moss is also a nice floater, and since you have a prefilter sponge on your intake tube, there shouldn't be any problem with pieces of it going up into your filter.

Just a couple of suggestions -- the planted version looks a bit barren, right now, compared to the other.

-- Dojosmama

THx for posting!

Dojosmama wrote:Your loaches are beautiful.

Have you considered floating live plants, such as hornwort or anacharis (elodea) to add to those which are planted in the substrate? I really like the way your tank looked when you had the fakes in it, primarily because of the vivid green floater. It framed your visual scenery in a really nice way, and live floaters will do the same. They're really easy to maintain -- just let them float in the water at the surface, and trim them back a bit if they grow too profusely. Maybe a few more live plants will help fill out the open space. Looks a little sparce right now, but maybe when they grow bigger the scene will be fuller.

Java moss is also a nice floater, and since you have a prefilter sponge on your intake tube, there shouldn't be any problem with pieces of it going up into your filter.

Just a couple of suggestions -- the planted version looks a bit barren, right now, compared to the other.

-- Dojosmama

I completely agree. What I didn't like about the fake planted tank was that I felt the tiger barbs didn't have enough room to swim around, but I do want a similar effect perhaps with a less bushy look. Unfortunately, anacharis is a super invasive species here in the city of Merced, and although its widely available, I don't want to contribute to the local problem of it wiping out our natural aquatic plant life in our creeks. I will look into the Java moss and hornwort since those aren't invasive here. I will probably have to order them online since my LFS has such a limited selection of aquatic plants. I will have to order some plans online, probably through liveaquaria, but its kind of expensive in my opinion. Any other reliable sources for ordering aquatic plants in the US?

Foster and Smith, and Pet Solutions both have printed catalogs as well as online. You can request one free, I believe. They sell aquatic plants, but you have to ask specifically for the aquarium catalog for F&S, because they also put out a separate one for ponds. Unless you'd like to try some pond plants in your tank ...

-- Dojosmama

Dojosmama wrote:Foster and Smith, and Pet Solutions both have printed catalogs as well as online. You can request one free, I believe. They sell aquatic plants, but you have to ask specifically for the aquarium catalog for F&S, because they also put out a separate one for ponds. Unless you'd like to try some pond plants in your tank ...

-- Dojosmama

I have looked at Foster and Smith, but the shipping is kinda pricey in my opinion. I will look into Pet solutions though. Thanks!

You can also get plants from other hobbyists depending on what you want. Check plant & fish forums or join a club. I'm in a plant club, SFBAAPS, & there are others in CA. I'm not sure where Merced is as far as driving distance but SVAS meets in San Jose (monthly) & BAAPS (locations change) could be worth checking out, clubs are fun.