Loaches Online Forum

Ever wondered what 150 Vaillantella maassi would look like? Wonder no further!...........

Just arrived tonight (sorry for poor quality pics, these were taken very quickly in the semi-darkness) :








Somehow I managed to negotiate a deal to bring some home with me (heheh!) and so I have a scoopful of them in the 3ft tank that used to be my river tank and which I was planning on setting up for the baby weather loaches. But needs must and once I knew these were on their way, I set the tank up with black sand, lots of bogwood, almond leaves, plants (which I haven't actually planted yet, they are just floating around at present) and used mature water and an Eheim cannister taken off of the clown loach tank (have replaced that with a new one).

I am hoping that once these are settled in there will be no way back and then I can argue a case for another tank for the weathers. 3ft was never going to be large enough for them long term anyway!

Here are a couple more pics taken in what was an even lower light situation at home:





It was a case of trying to focus on the tank trim (silver) and then moving the camera upwards to where I thought the loaches were - hence the missing tail etc. Apologies for water marks too.

These were actually collected from central Borneo, so the supplier tentatively calls them Vaillantella cf. maassi. He reckons that all previous exports of V. maassi came from Sumatra. These look the same to me, but better pics in a few days should tell us for sure. This is a species that has never been before collected in such quantity. All look to be active and healthy.

Emma

OOOOOOO!

I see some fine documentaries coming our way.

How lovely!

Wow! Salivating....

WOW!!
Its nice to be reminded of what they look like since my lone specimen has gotten so reclusive.

Wow is right.

Thats very impressive

Surprised Grahme hasn't posted yet

More Maassi Well this is a rather fine day !

Emma can you please pm me with a price please??

Ashleigh

Doesnt Vaillantella cinnamomea come from Borneo? Can't picture it in my head and am at work so can't look at my books. Is Vaillantella cinnamomea similar in pattern to maassi? - Scrap that, just found the description and it doesnt have the bands across the top of the body and has a brown body.

http://www.fish-isj.jp/publication/pdf/40/404/40404.pdf

Wow!

No words to comment this :). Hope one day they will be available in Poland :/.

Regards.

A couple of nice pics of one of the new additions lazing about in the plants (which I still haven't planted and are still floating):







The average size of these is 9-10cm TL. Is the above specimen definitely a V. maassi and is just not displaying the dorsal surface stripe because it's still settling in? Or is it V. cinnamomea? Some are like this, others are the more typically purpley body colour (like in the earlier in-tank pics) with a prominent orange dorsal stripe.



Emma

I sincerely hope I'm not about to thread jack here....

From reading the description on the site, v. maassi appear to be somewhat territorial, but you are obviously putting lots in a 3 ft tank together so they can't be aggressively territorial. Could you advise how many you think would be appropriate to purchase for the long term in a 3 ft tank (if one ever had the opportunity which I know is rare)

Hi Laura,

To be honest, with never having kept them before, you'd be best off asking people like Graeme, Ashleigh & others on here who have more experience with them.

I suppose I am lucky enough to be in such a position that if a territorial problem arose, I am able to move fish about to other tanks or even to the shop if need be.

My 3ft tank isn't your 'standard' 3ft tank either, it holds a lot more water due to the strange dimensions. It measures 36" long x 15" wide x 27" high (so is very tall). This is a total volume of 240 litres (63 US gallons) and this is filtered by an Eheim Pro II 2028, which is rated for tanks up to 600 litres.

Having had this species in at the shop before (but was never in a position to purchase them myself back then) I never saw any sort of territorial behaviour from those that were in our care. These would have been in a standard 2ft stock tank with plenty of bogwood and almond leaves, plants etc so had lots of territories. Graeme bought some from us when we had a small batch of 3 specimens come in on one occasion, to add to his existing collection. Even with such a low number in the stock tank - when typically territorial issues would have arisen - they never did. One of those specimens was a whopper too, which is known here as 'The Beast' . My 3ft tank already has a lot of bogwood and copious amounts of plants & almond leaves, it is just that I haven't positioned everything properly just yet. The loaches seem to be enjoying themselves and are either lazing about in the plants or actually making full use of the height of this tank, doing the loachy dance with each other at times.

So I am not the one to advise on stocking level for your tank, you'd best wait for the others to chime in. If any minor aggression does arise (and I suspect it would be minor and nothing else) I suspect it would likely occur when just 2 or 3 specimens are housed together. This is why I've gone for a larger group, just in case. Needless to say, I'll be keeping a close eye on them and intervene if any problems do occur.

Sorry I can't be of more help,

Emma

Hi Emma,

Just in case any show up around here....

Fair to say that one pretty much treats them as kuhlis as far as the tank setup? If yes, do you have any idea about kuhli compatibility?

TIA

Emma- Lovely photos
My four have always displayed the dorsal stripe, from being caught to being transported; Id assume these would be times the fish would be most stressed?

Laura- I currently have four of these in a 4x1.5x1.5 and I have only observed one 'territorial dispute' should it be that.
The two largest (theres a good size difference in mine despite being bought at the same time) lined up and started pushing their heads against one another, it reminded me of those impatient shoppers that just shove past you. I *think* it was after me arranging the tank cause I remember the Pangio species I have being out and they are usually up in amongst the bogwood.
I did manage to get a quick snap; the water in this tank is quite brown due to the amounts of bogwood in it so the quality isn't great. Note the mouths were open the whole time of the 'dispute'. It only lasted a short period of time, and once over both fish just went on their way and have been fine ever since.
Each one happily shares the same place under the wood and sit out with eachother on the occasion, in my opinion this may have just been a one off.






Ashleigh