Do hillstream loaches sift through sand?

[NancyD]

I hope your netting stops any more jumpers or climbers.

Are those new slime rocks or did the old 1s get more interesting? If you're worried about disease from the new fish you could either bleach them &/or allow them to air dry. Personally I'm a bleacher & dechlorinator most of the time but it doesn't kill everything as I thought it should

I feed my hillys & stiphodon gobies of all kinds Repashy Soilent Green most of the time. I hope it works as well for you when you get it as it has for me. I don't think I'd have tried to keep hillys without it. You can paste onto rocks (not too smooth, it doesn't stick well) or just drop pieces into the tank. I mix up a batch & freeze it in small containers big enough for a week's supply.

[Loachloach]

Are those new slime rocks or did the old 1s get more interesting?

New addition to the beufortia tank. I bought a 25kg bag of beach pebbles so I might as well use them I also added more rocks to the tank with the new loaches. I washed them well and poured boiling water over them. Boiling water has worked well for me for a fast disinfection.

I really hope the repashy food is a hit because the new loaches aren't keen on either the pellets nor the zucchini. I'll just keep doing water changes and hope for the best. I took out the meds via a large water change. It's not feasible now to treat because I would need to redose daily. I need to make sure the water is spot on to give these fish a chance, and I only know one way to do that...doing daily water changes.

[Loachloach]

I managed to get a pic of what I think is Gastromyzon scitulus. See the different colour pattern on the tail compared to G. Ctenocephalus.

G. Scitulus


G.Scitulus again - see the bigger white dots on the top




G. Ctenocephalus. Finer dots and different tail colour pattern.

[Loachloach]

I added 3 more stones from the pond to the hillstream tank.

I see one of them occupied by the G. scitulus so I am glad as he's the only one in the group now. Such a pity There's another loach on the 2nd stone and I can't see the third one easily. The previous stone addition was explored by just one loach. They seem to have chosen a spot around the stones and aren't very eager moving away from it, food or no food

There's two large ones left in the pond which I'll add in a couple of days and then I prey the gel food arrives sooner than later. These fish aren't going to eat the pellets, nor the veg.

It is soul destroying considering how well the beaufortia ones are eating. Then again, it probably takes some time....

[Loachloach]

Well, I am after making some home made gel food, lol, while waiting for the fish food deliverly. I don't know if it will set properly as I've never used gelatin before
I mixed up some NLS algae max pellets, spirulina, a tablet of pro-biotic, some frozen bloodworms and frozen krill, cooked broccoli, carrots, spinach, garlic, paprika and turmeric, and then added the gelatin. I spread the stuff thin layer over some stones and its now in the fridge. Wish me luck Let's see if my fish like my cooking

[Loachloach]

To report, the food already set pretty firmly. I dropped two stones in the new hillstream tank, no response whatsoever ...not yet. I am hoping they do at least accidentally lend on it
Then I thought maybe its not tasty enough, so lets test it elsewhere...

I dropped a piece in the beaufortia hillstreams.... huge success. They all bunched up around it, including the shrimp.

I just dropped a piece for the clown loaches...Great response, it all got gobbled up very fast. It was funny because the pieces fell amongst some driftwood and the clowns were like ninjas squeezing under trying to get to the couple of peaces I dropped...Even the denison barbs came down to the substrate for it...I think I know how to cook, lol How I wish the new hillstream loaches find it as tasty...We'll see. It seems stable enough so far and it's not falling apart easily.

[NancyD]

Well, don't blame your cooking, lol. Blame their newness & inability to recognize foods that you offer. I'm pretty sure broccoli & carrots are not in any loach habitat I've read about

Most of our cool loaches are wild caught. The successful 1s can adapt...but not all do. Keep trying...everything! Can you start a small live worm culture? I was recently given micro & banana worm starts but haven't offered them yet. I've also mixed frozen daphnia & other small foods into Repashy with mixed success. None of my fish have ever liked krill. I don't know why...too big? too hard of shells? too salty?

[Loachloach]

Thanks Nancy.

I guessed so much but that's all I could do at short notice. Funny because the other fish seemed to really liked it including the beaufortia hillstreams. At least it won't go to waste.
I've got no access to live worms. I might have to order online....Would they eat those?
I hope the repashy food elicits a response. If not...I don't know. I hope they don't just starve themselves to death. I think the way its going no all will survive. Hope some do.

[NancyD]

It's so hard to tell with new wild caught fish. I wish you & your new loaches well. Try everything & anything!

Can you not get small worm cultures where you are? I have micro & banana worms right now but haven't fed them much yet. They're tiny! but easy to grow so far. Yah, I know European rules are different, do what you can.

[Loachloach]

I can try getting some. Do you think the hillstream loaches would go for that?

Edit: I checked in one of our local online shops. They've got almost anything, besides micro worms or banana worms. They have white worms, black worms, tubifex, bloodworm and all type of crustaceans. Is any of this suitable or are they too big? The beaufortia hillstreams had really hard time with the frozen bloodworms...

[Loachloach]

I ordered micro worms. They won't be here till next week, plus the time to culture them, etc....Still worth a try..

[NancyD]

My micro worms & bananas look almost the same size I think 1 culture has crashed . White & black worms are bigger than bloodworms, so no. Tubifex I would never feed, they're grown in polluted yucky water, NO! Even freeze dried, no.

Baby brine shimp or maybe daphnia can be bought frozen in lfs here. Shrimp > daphnia IMO, daphnia are "mostly" shells, good for constipation...baby brine are small enough for almost any fish. Maybe rotifers or cyclops, they're tiny.

Like I said before, try everything! Many are sold by Hikari so may be available to you.

[Loachloach]

Thanks Nancy, will do...try everything I can.

So far no show for food. Yesterday I tried some veggie sticks I had in the freezer I had forgotten about. I siphoned them all out this morning. No show for food at all. Also, the repashy has not arrived yet either...Them loaches must be starving. They're hiding amongst the stones and not doing much to be honest..

[Loachloach]

Today during a water change I got to see quite a few of the loaches. They started moving around when I switched the filter off. They look ok, yet...Two of them even fought over a stone while I was emptying the tank....I noticed that they dig holes in the sand under/the side of the stone and hide there, hence I can't see fish around They also seem to prefer the cover of the couple of branches and plants and most have moved house there.

I also did something stupid. I got another G.Scitulus to replace the one that climbed out of the tank. It was the only G.scitulus left. Guess what, the one in the shop took ages to catch him and then dropped him from the net on the floor. Now, how do you get a loach that's stuck on a flat shiny floor.....It took him many attempts, I was watching in horror...Then he asked if he still wanted the loach. I decided to take it...I hope the poor little guy makes it. He's also tiny, smaller than all, including the other G.Scitulus.

And, I still have not received any of the food I ordered. If it doesn't arrive tomorrow, it will be next week. I don't know why delivery is taking so long....

[Diana]

"how do you get a loach that's stuck on a flat shiny floor"
or stuck to the side of the tank...

Use a credit card. Easily slides under the fish, and can tempt them into detaching themselves without harming them.