Interesting

[daspricey]

http://brianstropicals.com/sewellia.html

I didn't bother with high flow. Just a sponge filter bubbling away in a 15 gallon.

David

[Whitey_MacLeod]

I'd love to get some opinions on this. I've got an empty 10g and a 15g that's going to be empty soon, and I've been looking round for a few small fish I can have a crack at breeding in them. I could probably do a bit better than a sponge filter, but would it be reasonable to keep sewellia in a 2 foot tank with less flow than a proper river-tank setup? I hadn't even considered hillstreams for such a small tank but sewellia would be a lot more interesting than anything else I've got in mind.

[Tinman]

The pet store that carries these regularly here has only a bubbler and they are always blotchy with a slime coat issue.I tried some years ago before learning of their needs ,matched his set-up and lost them within a few months to this. I will not buy them from him any more even though t is the only LFS that regularly stocks Sewellia. He acts like he listens when I tell him to add a powerhead at least but he is always on his ass in a chair and they are still in the same set-up.It is intresting these bred in the article. I was assuming daily water changes where the real key to there survival/breeding possibly as opposed to low flow but that is only a supposition.

[Emma Turner]

My opinion is that a 15 gallon tank is way too small for Sewellia lineolata.

S. lineolata is a riverine species, with an obviously highly adapted body shape, and is capable of gliding along in strong current for some distance (and with obvious natural enjoyment). Have a look at the natural habitat here, details & photos which were provided direct from my Vietnamese supplier for use on this site: http://www.loaches.com/articles/sewelli ... -aquariums. The fast rapids are interspersed with relatively still deep pools. These pools are huge and dark, and the fish do not stay in them all the time - they move in and out of areas of high and low current as they wish. What can be said is that these pools are fed by the highly oxygenated river water and will not be depleted of O2. Whilst no-one can deny that those Sewellia bred in what I would consider a far from ideal aquarium, there are the ethics to think about. Why keep an active species that attains 2.5"+ TL in such cramped quarters? I think it would be better to pass on this species if an aquarium of larger proportions (length of 30"+) and with areas of high and low flow cannot be provided. In such circumstances as described above, those fish could not move to areas of high flow when they wished. I think the spawnings have been triggered by cool water changes rather than the fish being content in a tiny tank.

Emma

[mikev]

These pools are huge and dark, and the fish do not stay in them all the time - they move in and out of areas of high and low current as they wish.

U-hu. The observation here is that they spend about 90% of their time in quiet areas, but all periodically go into the strongest current zone (in their 29g there is a second powehead blowing directly onto the driftwood and above it --- and they do come to "ventilate" right there.) Incidentally, I've never seen Beaufortia anywhere close to that spot.

They are also more fun to watch under strong flow, even when not gliding.

[Mad Duff]

A shop I pop into occasionally kept their Sewellia and Beaufortia in tanks with just air driven filters and they lost on average 60% of the fish, I had a long discussion with the manager of the fish section and he moved the fish into different tanks with powerheads running and they now lose very few fish at all and they have even noticed a drop in the amount of fish that go patchy and pale

[Martin Thoene]

Fundamental requirement:

http://www.loaches.com/articles/oxygen-in-the-aquarium

Martin.

[Whitey_MacLeod]

Cheers. That's what I would have figured before reading that article, but then I wouldn't have expected that fish kept in entirely the wrong conditions could be triggered to breed just by doing a few water changes.