Loaches Online Forum

Well, the good news is that I have built the manifold for my river tank (see pics below) and I have a clear seal SP-1200 powerhead on order from ebay.

The bad news is I went to my LFS the other day and checked their livestock. They have about 40-50 Hillstream Loaches labelled as 'coldwater plecs' (for £2.50 each - about right?) and they are keeping them in a 4x3x2 unheated tank with fancy goldfish. There is no current flowing in the setup as it's one of those tiered systems, like you often see plants displayed in. I tried to get some photos but the camera on Mrs Jays phone wasn't quite up to the task.

The hillies seem to be a mix of Pseudogastromyzon cheni and Beaufortia kweichowensis, they are a little over an inch and a half and some of them have a red edge to their dorsal fins.

I can't wait to 'rescue' some of them and put then in to a more suitable environment.

Anyway as promised here are some shots of my progress to date.

The Manifold in the tank...



Detail of the intakes - they are filter cores from an old Fluval 2



and a test of substrate with a couple of rocks in. will be scouring local streams and garden centres for more this week!
Think I need more pea gravel, or i might just mix in some sand.




I will update with more news when i have some.

questions/queries/comments all welcome.

TC

What are the tank dimensions? Just wondering thats all. lol

Looks nice and can't wait to see it coming along.

Yes unfortunately hillstreams are sold as hong kong plecs or coldwater plecs, real sad.

David

David,

Tank is a 30x12x15

TC

Looking good!!

I especially likes the backdrop. It will be interesting on seeing how Hillie's take to it. I can imagine it will be a big Hit!

Wow, that's a biiiiiiiiiiiiig stone you've got at the back there! No doubt the hillies will enjoy that once coated with a bit of algal growth.

Coming along nicely, TC.

Emma

Very nice!
I've got some of the same sponges on my river tank manifold, and they seem to be doing the job very nicely so far.
Do you have any plans for dithers? As you might be able to guess, i'm a big fan of white clouds

Looking good! That's one heck of a big Salami of a rock you've got there....nice!

Martin.

That's nice! I bet they would never leave that background if it was covered with algae.

Yeah i thought it was about that.

Can't wait to see it's progress!!!!

i find those plastic inserts your using get clogged by debris very easily. tglassburner suggested to go to the pond section at home depot. you can pickup some prefilters about that size that seem very sturdy. I picked up a few for 8$ for two of them. I bought two packs. These look more like the ones that Martin uses in all his pictures. If that doesn't workout for you, then you can get the other ones. I just find those plastic tube inserts need to be cleaned quite often from my experience. If the top is not open and the blue filter material grabs all the debris then it should be fine.


the backround is cool. can't wait to see it in action!

Looking good TC

Hi TC,

Looks like that tank will shape up nicely :-)

I can thoroughly recommend Pseudogastromyzon cheni for the tank, they are a very entertaining species and have given me a lot of joy in owning them.

It is always good to another fish keeper assimilated into the way of the hill stream!

Thanks folks for all your positive comments. I will endeavour to keep you posted on the tank's progress.

FYI..

The big a$$ rock is piece of granite from a beach near Alnwick in the NE of UK. It weighs 7kg and is 15" long and 12" round (think it don't type it girls!)

The background is homemade from an old polystyrene fish transport box carved to look like 3D rocks and then covered in cement/concrete and coloured with paints and then siliconed on to the back of the tank. The manifold will also have a dab of silicone sealant on the corners to help secure it to the glass and to stop it from floating away as the tank is set up.

That's all for now until my pump arrives and I've got a good film of algae on everything, but I'll still be logging on to read about every one else's triumphs and dilemas and of course to check out Ken's wildlife photography!

'Til soon...

TC

Update on my River Tank.

Well my pump arrived from eBay, (thanks for the recommendation Mad Duff), and is installed on the manifold, which seems to be working well.

I have water in the tank, but the pH is still going off the chart (8.5-9.0) I think this is due to the cement that I used in the background, so I’ve done 100% water changes every couple of days for the last couple of weeks to try and get it to settle down.

I have read about the nitrifying bacteria sealing the background and stopping the pH from rising. I'll try and leave the whole tank to cycle and see what happens. If this doesn’t work then I may have to try using a safe clear varnish to seal it off from the water.

Anyway it looks like it’ll be quite some time before I get any fish in there as I want to get the water chemistry perfect before I rush ahead with livestock.

Just thought I’d post so that you know I haven’t given up on hillies.

TC

The cement will eventually settle down, but continue the water changes.
You can do a fishless cycle by adding Ammonia to the tank and the nitrifying bacteria will grow to a very large population before the fish arrive. Then there will be no problem with fish in a cycling tank.