Loaches Online Forum

I picked up three Hypergastromyzon mixed in with a shipment of gastros. I'm not sure how they will do as I have heard they are a bit more delicate than gastros. I put them in a tank with a few small gastros so we shall see. So far they are very active and healthy looking. There were some other odd looking gastros in this shipment so I will probably go back and get them if these do okay. Wish me luck!!
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hy ... n-humilis/

Nice find Jim! Look forward to pics of "odd looking gastros".

i have found my Hypers to do very well in a tank with gastro. they tended to blend in with the other gastros, and actually seem to be a bit hardier than gastro. i was away for three weeks and had my mother watch my tank for me. i lost half of my population, mostly losing gastro (around 5) and only lost one hyper.

during my move from texas to florida, i lost 2 more gastro and 0 hyper.

i have humilis, what did you get?

@plaalye: I'm really not sure what those gastros were. I almost got them too, but thought that I would let the store keep them for a week and see how they do before I buy them. They were small and appeared to be a dark green with cream/white stripes. One had some orange red in the middle of the tail. They may be zebrinus since that it what I am am seeing more and more often, but there was something different about them. There was also a lone scitulus in the shipment. Hopefully, they will still be around next week.
@ The Skinny Chef: These appear to be humilis. I have not seen them eat yet but they seem active and get excited when food (bloodworms and brine shrimp) are put into the tank. They also seem to be grubbing around on the glass, rocks and plant leaves a bit but not like gastros do. I am not sure if they are all still alive as I only see two at a time and there are plenty of places to hide in this tank. The gastros are treating them like other gastros and they don't seem to be that shy. Did you ever see yours graze on algae?

Did they look like these Jim?
http://www.gunpowderaquatics.net/gastro ... siloetron/
I don't think this is a positive ID. They also had hypergastromyzon at the time so possibly from the same supplier. Don't leave them in the store! Stores rarely take sufficient care of gastros IME and they only go downhill.

Could be. I need another look at them. This store does a good job with hillstreams and I thought they would small enough to avoid sale for a few days.

jim, i have noticed mine eating algae, at least it appeared that way. i haven't seen them eating it off the glass so i can't be positive, but i have seen their little heads moving as if they are eating algae off rocks, and i think a anubias leaf could be wrong.

in my community i have noticed that some days the humilis are out and very active, or just out, and other days they don't really come out of their hiding places. i can't figure out the cause of the moods yet. i have noticed that since the gastro pop decline they are becoming more active.

I just saw one of the hyper eating a bloodworm!
I hope the other follows soon and that the one I haven't seen is still around.

Just saw all three!!

just checking in to see how your babies are doing? i just fed blanched cucumber to mine and it reminded me i should check in on yours.

Mine are doing fine. Thanks for asking. I see all three most of the time now and have seen them feeding on bloodworms and brine shrimp. I have never tried blanched cucumber for any of my hillstreams so maybe I'll give it a try. I usually use spinach leaves steeped in boiling water for hillstreams but only my sewellia and pseudogastros will eat that. How do you prepare the cucumbers.

its not really blanched. when i do it, i boil it until you can see the sections (or so its very soft). i have had better luck when i cut it lengthwise than in rounds. when i do cut it in rounds i'll cut a couple in half so they are half moons.
my sewellia are usually the first to eat it, but i have seen gastro on it, not sure about about hyper.

my sewellia has become aggressive with all my hypers and gastros he chases my viriosus when food is in the tank, and my hypers any time. sad day!

That's odd that he suddenly became aggressive. I have Sewellia with gastros and they do tend to dominate but most of the time its tolerable. You might try putting food in several places in the tank. That works for me.

That's weird. My gastromyzons tend to hold their ground when the sewellias try to bully them. Add more hiding places or rocks so that they can get away for the sewellia. Good luck. I hate seeing fish chase each other too!