55 Gallon Chinese tank for weather loaches?

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon May 07, 2007 8:01 am

I'm thinking of setting up a 55 gallon tank (standard 4' long), and am a fan of weather loaches. I know in the article it mentions this being the minimum size for adult weather loaches...so:

1) How many could I have in the 55? I was thinking 3
2) Anybody keep weather loaches with paradise fish?
3) For stock how about: 3 weather loaches, 3-4 paradise fish, 10 white clouds, and a Chaestoma sp. pleco. The tank would be planted with java moss, java fern, and...any suggestions for a taller growing plant that does well at 1.3 wpg in a tank at around 70 farenheit?

Thanks,

Eric

sophie · Post by **sophie** » Mon May 07, 2007 11:43 am

I don't know anything about plecos or paradise fish, I'm afraid, but three dojos sounds good to me. You could probably get away with a couple more, in fact. and I'd go for more white clouds if it were me; the more of them the better. If you're worried about overstocking, the white clouds are unlikely to breed successfully in that tank

and will have succumbed to old age before the dojos get immense, I think. A big shoal of white clouds is lovely.

daspricey · Post by **daspricey** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:04 pm

What are the dimensions?

I tend to work stocking out on 1" of fish per 12sq"

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:08 pm

Thanks for the replies so far folks...

Tank is 48"x13"x21" - standard 55 US gallons.

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:35 pm

The problem is that it's not got a huge footprint. A 55 Breeder would be vastly superior for the purpose. I wouldn't keep more than 3 adults in that size of tank.

Whiteclouds would be great. If you have Paradise fish make sure you only have one male. Two will kill one another and even females may get beaten up if there's not a lot of plants to hide in.

Martin.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon May 07, 2007 2:45 pm

Thanks Martin - apparently I was on track thinking 3 loaches would be the right/maximum number. Unfortunately, a 55 standard is financially what I'll be able to afford (according to my book keeper, the Mrs.) - they're so common they're dirt cheap.

Eric

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:45 pm

Hi Jayhawk,

Is 13" the width or height? If it's the width, the tank is not large enough for weather loaches as that wouldn't provide them with enough turning space when adult.

Emma

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Mon May 07, 2007 9:50 pm

13" is the width. Sounds like your saying the smallest tank would be a 55 breeder (which is 48" long but 18" wide) or a 75 gallon tank (same footprint but taller).

If that's the case, I'll have to look for another loach!

Eric

daspricey · Post by **daspricey** » Tue May 08, 2007 12:30 pm

Yes, i wouldn't recommend anything under 18" wide for weather loaches.

If you went tropical what about kuhli loaches for shape and pangio anguillaris (spelling?)?

BTW, by my calculations you have 51" of fish counted at fully grown size.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Tue May 08, 2007 1:33 pm

I like kuhlis and their kin, but they're simply not as interactive as weather loaches (I kept two in a 36" tank until they hit 4" then traded them in at the LFS a few years back).

Any other loaches of similar size/shape personality (personality is the key for me) that would do well in a 55?

daspricey - I agree that's pretty heavily stocked, but when young it would be a significantly lower bioload...I keep a close eye on nitrates, though, and am not afraid to trade fish in at my LFS if need be.

But it ain't gonna happen anyway since the weather loaches would get too large and I refuse to live in the "I'll get a bigger tank when they get bigger" fantasy world.

Eric

daspricey · Post by **daspricey** » Wed May 09, 2007 11:59 am

Kuhlis are shoaling and arn't really active in 2's or 3's.

This link is good for finding either a ID or for finding the right shaped loach, look under serpentine(the link is broken at the moment)...

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/pi ... arch-index

David

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed May 09, 2007 12:09 pm

I think you misunderstood my sentence (looking at it, I can see why) - I kept two weather loaches.

In the past, when I had kuhlis, I had 6.

That link looks promising, but all I get is an error when I click it.

Eric

Martin Thoene · Post by **Martin Thoene** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:07 pm

The link works for me.

Martin.

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed May 09, 2007 1:13 pm

The above link is working, but I get this error when I click serpentine:

Site errorThis site encountered an error trying to fulfill your request. The errors were:

Error Type
404 Error Message
The link you followed appears to be broken Request made at
2007/05/09 13:11:51.872 GMT-4

Weird, huh? It worked the other day for me fine when I was looking around at the site's redesign (I hadn't visited in quite some time).

Eric

Jayhawk · Post by **Jayhawk** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:27 pm

Well, rooting around on the index by species name, and I think I really want some of the currently unclassified "panda" kuhlis. Unfortunately, I may not be able to find them since it sounds like they are new and rare - but I like that the profile mentions they're diurnal (or least semi-diurnal). If I found some, looks like I'd need to aim for a Thai themed tank which would be OK, too.

Does anyone know if the black kuhlis are more active during daylight hours or do they behave more like the standard kuhlis do?

I really do like the eel-like look, but I just can't get into the more noctural fish of the world.

Thanks again everyone,

Eric

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55 Gallon Chinese tank for weather loaches?

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