Loaches Online Forum

Hi Everyone

I am new to this site but have been visiting and reading up on loaches for a couple of months now. There is a wonderful amount of info here. I have a tank with chipmunk Botias, Khuli Loaches and a plecos. They are lovely little guys and great fun to watch.

I also have a tank of fancy goldfish with a couple of hillstreams, and I would appreciate some advice from you on them. When I first got them, the hillstreams didn't look happy at all, and I was sure I was going to lose them. Your site provided a lot of info and I made some changes to my tank setup and the hillstreams are now doing great. One of the changes I made was to stop using aquarium salt, which I was using at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 5g water. However, I think the goldfish would do better if I returned to using salt. Will this be a problem for the hillstreams? They are doing so well I don't want to knock them back again, but salt is such a good tonic for goldfish.

Thanks very much
Sandra

Goldfish with Tropical Fish: For best results do not mix tropical fish. Do not mix fancy goldfish with channel cats or koi. You will be able to provide the proper feeding, and tank conditions only in a goldfish specialty tank, and you will be rewarded with healthier fish.

This is from a webpage with goldfish info and I agree with it. Get a own tank for either goldfish or hillstream, don't keep them together.

Mmmm...

In the UK hillstreams are usually sold in the fancy goldfish section with the advice to keep them with fancies.

Oh well, never mind, I will just have to give it a try and see how the little guys do.

cleobelle wrote:Mmmm...

In the UK hillstreams are usually sold in the fancy goldfish section with the advice to keep them with fancies.

Oh well, never mind, I will just have to give it a try and see how the little guys do.

It really depends on where you purchase your fish from. Most ill-informed stores will keep these together. I would strongly recommend you read this >> http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstr ... -fast-lane

cleobelle wrote:Mmmm...

In the UK hillstreams are usually sold in the fancy goldfish section with the advice to keep them with fancies.

Just because that is the what the shops do doesn't make it right , the hillstream loaches do not like the more still water conditions that the goldfish like and the goldfish will not take well to the fast flowing conditions that the loaches need. If you cant dedicate a tank to both species it would be best to decide to keep one or the other.

You said you have reading up on loaches but have you read this article about hillstream loaches:
http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstr ... -fast-lane

I recently bought a group of hillstream loaches from a local shop that were been kept with goldfish, mine went into a river tank with lots of flow and have thrived the rest of the shipment perished in the inadequate conditions that the shop was keeping them in

It depends of the hillies but some of them are cold water fishes?
But I wouldn't keep any fish with goldfish.. They're quite messy.

fancy golsfish and hillies have almost diametrically opposed needs - which people have already said, so I won't go on.

but I would like to add that as far as I know there's no real reason to routinely add salt to goldfish tanks. you also have to be really careful about how much you add because it's very easy for salt levels in the tank to creep up and up.

just my 2c.

Hi Sandra, and welcome to Loaches Online.

Unfortunately, this seems to be an all too common scenario with hillstream loaches in many uneducated shops. This LOL printable poster might be of some help if you wanted to speak to the livestock manager of your local store/s and give him/her a polite nudge in the right direction : http://www.loaches.com/articles/Hillstream%20Flyer.pdf

Emma

temperature wise, they like the same sort of setup.

HOWEVER, hillstreams like/need current. Goldfish won't be able to take it, especially the fancy varieties. Fancy goldfish have delicate fins and their fins can't take the high flow rates advised for hillstream loaches.

So I won't keep fancy goldfish with hillstreams.

Another problem with keeping goldfish and hillstreams concerns competition for food.
For a short time, I had a goldfish and hillstream in the same Q tank. The goldfish would not let any food at all get by. Fortunately, the hillstream did lots of grazing on the ample algae growth.
The bottom line is, hillstreams just can't compete with goldfish for food. They will lose every time.