Could this be why kuhli loaches are reported to hide so much?

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MultipleTankSyndrome
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Joined: Thu Sep 30, 2021 11:07 am
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Could this be why kuhli loaches are reported to hide so much?

Post by MultipleTankSyndrome » Sun Nov 06, 2022 9:16 am

I have seen topic after topic from many members on the loach forum about how their kuhlis (striped and black, it may well be different for the rarer species) are often hiding and mostly or only come out at feeding time. This was what I had noticed from mine until they became always active when I moved them into their final and present tank, which is pretty much the exact opposite of the common feature of their setups and mine in which kuhli loaches hid, as well as also largely opposing this site's recommendations.

The common feature in question is a low-flow tank between 25-28 Celsius (therefore, an environment not particularly high on oxygen), as per the recommendations of this site. Whereas my kuhli tank, as touched in the thread about it, is a high-flow (although it has large calm areas, the kuhlis don't have issues with the flow), high-oxygen setup with a temperature of 20-21 Celsius.
In fact, it doesn't have nearly as much shelter as recommended (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=632&p=5051&hilit=cruel#p5051) - the lights are reasonably bright, there's a good deal of open bottom area, and I would consider the shelter ample to abundant instead of copious.

Based on having that setup for my kuhlis, although I certainly do not believe my impressions are widely applicable absolutes (as Nancy always says, every tank is different so no right answer for everything), I get the following impressions about this site's recommendations:
-The high temperature and low oxygen may be causing the kuhlis to hide and be less active than at cooler temperatures with more oxygen, similar to how pike are less active during the warm/hot summer where they are found.
-The low flow may also be causing then to be less active, as when there is flow, they have something to exercise against/burn off energy with unlike a low flow environment. An apppropriate analogy here might be that in a swimming pool, a swimmer would probably be more compelled to swim vigorously if it was a wave pool or river pool.

TL;DR: From observing my kuhli loaches, the species may be more active and do better when treated essentially like hillstream loaches instead of like this website's recommendations.

Even though I touched this shortly in the mentioned thread about it, I felt this deserved its own thread. Hope this helps those who did not see me touch it earlier, and for those who have seen me touch on this topic of temperature we have had good discussions.
473 liter - pictus catfish, smallscale archerfish, planned pumpkinseed sunfish
110 liter - green neon+cardinal tetras
473 liter - roseline sharks, striped kuhli+black kuhli+Burmese loaches, zebra/weather/neon kuhli loaches (planned)

NancyD
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Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:17 pm
Location: SF bay area,US

Re: Could this be why kuhli loaches are reported to hide so much?

Post by NancyD » Mon Nov 07, 2022 1:02 am

My experiences with 2 species of pangios were different than what you saw. I had 8? p. semicincta in a 20g long plant tank. They were very mellow & 2 often hung out in floating plants at the surface...to the point I could reach in for a water change, or just to check on their health without them moving away unless I touched them. We all freaked out then, lol.

Then I moved them to a 4ft tank & added 6? p. oblongas. The semis stayed very mellow & would wait near their room's doorway under plants until I came along mostly for feeding. The oblongas were always very active, "dancing" up & down & across the tank. Feeding time or water changes always hyperactive, never calm for long. & never "people friendly" or scared, they just ignored me in their busy way. Neither hid in a shy way nor did they interact with each other species.

I thought the oblongas would calm down but I had them for at least 2.5 years. No change in their behavior, maybe just a bit slower "dancing" or not, hard to remember. The tank had fewer floating plants, stronger filters & brighter lighting so my "upper strata" semis stayed lower in the shade of 6-8 inch crypts but weren't shy either.

The 20 long had dark Eco Complete substrate & 2 smaller AC filters (20 or 30s). The 4ft 40g had pretty small grain (#1) almost white pool filter sand & 2 AC 70s I think. Enough to blow the sand around at the returns. I had a heater in both tanks but set low 70Fs in winter AFAIR, no heat in summer but higher 70s.

So my pangios were not particularly shy but with different activity levels & behaviors in the same tank. Not what I had expected but still fun fish. Of course the semis were my favs of the 2 but I "knew" them for almost 10 years until I had to move far (sniffle).
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