Loaches Online Forum

Hi, I'm new here. I've been very fond of the kuhli loach for a very long time, and about 4 months ago set up my first aquarium in decades. It was going to be a planted tank but I found some kuhlis at the LFS and could not resist. Sadly, only 3 survived of the first 12 I got. Then I could not seem to find any more and I know they do best in larger groups.

A couple of weeks ago, I found Gold kuhli loaches in anther LFs and grabbed 9 of them. So far, they are doing very well. The golds are younger, very active, and since they've been in the tank, the first 3 I had are more active and I'm seeing them more often.

I was just curious whether the two can interbreed ?

For now, they're in a 30 G tank, with a number of different shrimp, including Ghosts, Whiskers and 3 kinds of Fan shrimp, snails and some danios . I don't think any of them are old enough to reproduce as yet, but am curious if pangio species can cross breed with each other.

I'd still like to get more of the pangio loaches but they seem to be harder to find lately. I do like the gold ones, they spend a lot more time out and about where I can enjoy watching them than the other 3 do, but every time I feed microworms, they all show up and start hunting for them with enthusiasm.

I am somewhat hopeful I may one day succeed in breeding them, though I know it's not the easiest task.

There are several species of Pangio available, but I am not sure which if any can interbreed. They will probably get along just fine with each other as tank mates without breeding.

Perhaps with luck one day I'll find out if they can cross breed. Though I would be best pleased if I could find some more of the black/orange banded type and keep them separately, I must say the Gold ones are quite charming and they certainly all get along with each other quite well.

Anyone know how old they need to be before breeding is even possible ? The ones I have I think must be fairly young, not more than a few months old at this point. I know they can live for a fairly long time, I had one that was 9 when I had to give him and his tankmates up, due to lack of time to care for them once I got into college. They all went to good homes, fortunately.

sometimes the golden form of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus called "golden kuhli loach". If so, they don't interbreed.
Are you sure your "golden Pangio" are really member of the genus Pangio? A pic would be nice

Cheers,
Thomas

Thomas wrote:sometimes the golden form of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus called "golden kuhli loach". If so, they don't interbreed.
Are you sure your "golden Pangio" are really member of the genus Pangio? A pic would be nice

Cheers,
Thomas

Actually, now I've looked at the species index, I am not sure they are in the pangio family, though they seem to get on splendidly with my 3 other loaches, which I believe are Pangio kuhlii. I really should get pics of them too, just to be sure that's what they actually are.

Until I joined this forum, I hadn't a clue just how many kinds of loaches there are ! And I'd never heard of a gold khuli loach before I ran across these guys in a LFS. The store had them labeled as Gold Khuli Loach. I thought they must be a species I hadn't seen before. Things have changed a lot since I last kept fish, some 40 years ago. I just got back into fish keeping about six months ago.

The Gold loaches certainly have a very slender,serpentine body. To me they seem a bit more rounded than flat sided. They appear to be a bit over 2 inches long, though it's hard to tell, they never pose in a straight line ! They have a very thin horizontal stripe along the middle of the body that is darker than the main body colour. Main body colour is sort of like tarnished brass.

I am trying to get pictures, but they are so darn fast it's been impossible to get a decent shot that shows the fish clearly. Plus the tank is just inches from a window and the back lighting from the window makes it hard to get decent pics of anything in there. I'll work on that, and on pics of their 3 friends too.

Karen

Hi Karen,

You can take a look at the caudal fin, at Misgurnus it is outside rounded. You can see what I mean on this pic.


Pangio have always a bit concave caudal fins, at least (as I know) never convex.

Thomas