Post
by Diana » Wed Sep 19, 2012 11:03 am
Kuhlies are so lightweight for their length that it does not count like any other 4" fish as far as bio load. You can safely stock more than you might think (compared to most other 4" taller, fatter fish) without a problem.
Bioload is based on the mass of the fish, not the length. Length is easier to look at, though. But fish use oxygen, produce ammonia and CO2 and so on based on their whole 3 dimensional body, not just the one dimension of length. When you are comparing bioloads produced by 2 fish that are the same shape, just different sizes you can say something like this: Well Fish A is twice as long as Fish B, so it is also twice as high and twice as wide. So fish A has 8 times (2 x 2 x 2) the bioload of B. But when the fish are different shape (Like Kuhlies compared to almost anything else) that math does not work out the same.
My Kuhlies might be the same length as my younger Clown Loaches, but the Clowns are probably 3 times as wide, and 4 or more times as high. There is no way I could stock my Clowns like I stock the Kuhlies. The Clown Loaches, the same length as the Kuhlis need 12 (3 x 4) times as much consideration for oxygen, ammonia, CO2 and so on.
Yes, I have seen them (Cory and Kuhlie) playing.
I have the black (brown?) Kuhlies and Bronze Cories in a 40 gallon breeder.
The Kuhlies like making loops, mostly around the north end of the tank. Up a corner, loop near the top of the water, then down the north face. The Cory was doing a sort of mirror version: Up in the same corner, but make the look across the west face (front of the tank). About the same size loop, too. They took turns.
38 tanks, 2 ponds over 4000 liters of water to keep clean and fresh.
Happy fish keeping!
They are adorable.