Hi all from Perth!

[d_golem]

Hi all loach lovers, from the remotest capital city in the world with population over 1 million+ !!

I've decided to join your lovely forum after stumbling on Martin's article about making the River Tank. Now I've been longing to keep Hillstreams from the first time I saw them, but never got the confidence/chance to do it partly after reading their care requirements.
After reading Martin's article (and several more regarding River Tank Hillstreams), I've made up my mind to set up one by converting my current 4ft goldfish tank to a River Tank. As I'm moving quite soon & need time to settle, if I'm lucky I'll be able to start in a couple of months from now.

By joining this forum, I hope to gain more knowledge about loaches in general and also how to set up the tank correctly. I also very welcome any suggestions about decor (I think I'd do a natural-looking pebbled river tank), lighting, plants, growing algae, anything

Cheers & looking forward to contribute in this forum!

[Tinman]

Hello from the opposite side of the globe. Welcome. We won't help you move though

[Martin Thoene]

Welcome to LOL. It's nice to see yet another Australian here. Quite a few of you out there now. I'm guessing that in Perth you have seen shops with Hillstreams or you might not be interested in them? I know that certain species can be difficult to obtain due to Oz's strict import restrictions.

Anyhow, welcome and you're in the right place for info and advice. This is the mother-lode of loach experience on the 'Net.

Martin.

[topline]

Welcome to the forums. Great knowledge base here.

Cheers
Brian
(Also Perth, Dianella)

[Graeme McKellar]

Welcome to the wonderfull world of Loaches !! It's great to see another fellow Aussie join us. As Martin said Hillstream Loaches are somewhat restricted in Australia but we do see some good ones sometimes. I have only been in the hobby for 1 year but have seen Homoleptera Orthogoniata . Homoloptera Tweediei, Homoloptera Smithi, Gastromyzon Lepidogaster. Gastromyzon Borneensis. available in the Brisbane -Gold Coast areas. I plan to set up River Tank one day but will need to use a water chiller as the ambient water temperature here in summer is 26+ degs !! You might have to do the same as Perth temps are similar to here and these fish need it lower. I was in Borneo in May and while walking in Kinabalu Park saw a Gastromyzon in a very small stream as I crossed a bridge but I spooked it as I brought my camera up to take a photo. The water in this stream was quite cold as its source was Mt Kinabalu which is 4,000 metres high yet the air temp was above 32c in the park. It was a great experience seeing it even if it was only for a few seconds. I am planing to return there next year and stay at Park Headquarters for a few weeks as this is the most amazing place with the most diverse flora and fauna imaginable and one day was not enough. Good Luck with your River Tank.
Graeme.

[d_golem]

Thx Tinman.

Thx Martin. Yes I've seen them in an LFS specialising in freshwater here. Not sure what species though. Any Aussies here know what the most common one available here?

Hey Topline, yay a Perth guy! I live in Waterford & my fave LFS is Aquotix in Canning Vale, do you know it?

Yo Graeme. Lucky you to have seen a wild Gastromyzon. I come from Indonesia (close enough to Malaysia ) and it's always full of surprises. I can tell you that in my hometown of Ujung Pandang (South Sulawesi) I was very surprised to see a blue gourami in a tiny cement water channel in front of my uncle's house, and he lives near the city!
What kind of water chillers can you recommend for me to use?

[d_golem]

Just called the LFS and asked about what species they got. They don't know but the way they described them was "All are dark grey, some got thick stripes running down from the head to the tail, some got white spots all over" so I'm thinking maybe they got a few of Gastromyzon species there in the tank

[nuvolari]

hey mate and fellow perth boy!!

Good to see another one of us on here!!!!

Finding loaches in WA is bloody hard at the best of times.

You got your clowns, your Yoyo's and your sids as the only normal Botia. Midland does have Kubotia thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can get about 7 different breeds in you Borneo Scooter batches that come in. The Confuzonas and Smithii's do come in every now and then aswell.

Hope that sort of helps.

I wish that the legal knobs would allow in these and Pleco's and then I would be happy!!!!

[Graeme Robson]

Welcome to Loaches Online.

[d_golem]

hey mate and fellow perth boy!!
You can get about 7 different breeds in you Borneo Scooter batches that come in. The Confuzonas and Smithii's do come in every now and then aswell.

Hoooo there's quite a few Perthites here

nuvolari, where do you usually get your Hillstreams? I usually go to Aquotix or Veba's for my aquarium needs. Any other LFS worth of note?

[bob d]

Midland are also worth keeping an eye on for hillstreams. I picked up some confuzonas there recently and they regularly carry "scooters"

[Martin Thoene]

Oh Happy Day!

Mr. Darnell........that bob d name is one that's been sorely missed by myself and many others here that know you.

So glad to see you back again. How's things mate? I tried to E-mail you a while back but the mail just kept getting bounced by your server.

Martin.

[bob d]

If its the iprimus address I had to abandon it some time ago Martin, Things are fine, still keeping what loaches I can find here (you've got to be patient - and vigilant). The bad news is, I'm battling wasting disease with Basil, for the second time in about a year. I got him through the first bout but he never really got fully healthy and rounded out again. Recently he started going down again so it's back to the meds and hope he pulls through.

[chefkeith]

Bob D.- I sure do hope Basil gets better. Seeing all the wonderful pic's at your website has been a great inspiration for many years now. Please keep us updated.

[NancyD]

Bob D, I've been a fan of Basil's since I started on the web, hope you can win the war on the wasting disease. A truly magnificent loach, best of luck.