Loaches and Cichlids

[RiffRaffMI]

Hi,

Does anyone have any experience with mixing loaches and cichlids? I've got a 75g cichlid tank and I noticed that one of the forum said you could add loaches. LFS gave me a dojo. Very cool loach. Not good for a cichlid tank. They were beating the tar out of him. Gave him to a friend and now has a good home. But I loved the personality of the loach and would like to get some new ones. I've heard of people keeping clown loaches and blueberry loaches with cichlids, but I want something different. Was thinking of rostrata, robusta, tiger, zebra, yo-yo or something similar. And I was thinking of getting 3. So I guess i'm asking if anyone has done this and if it worked. I see some of these loaches are nippy but I think the cichlids can handle it, but will the loaches be ok? And also, I have a couple of small cichlids that probably can't hold their own (but can hide), will the loaches eat (or try to eat) them?

Thanks for any info. I'm really hope I can get some as I love their personalities.

[Emma Turner]

"Cichlids" is a bit of a broad description - what type of cichlids are you keeping? If they are Malawi's/Tanganyikan's, then their water requirements are totally different to that of loaches. Long-term, loaches do best in soft, acidic water.

Emma

[Martin Thoene]

Basically, I would say no because many cichlids have incompatible needs from loaches.

What type of cichlids are you talking about? What species?

(EDIT) LOL Emma! seems great minds think alike

Martin.

[RiffRaffMI]

Hi,

Sorry! I guess you get to thinking that Africans are the only ones!

Anyway, I have a mix of Malawi/Tanganyika. I was thinking the loaches I was looking at would be ok because they seemed to have a similar temp requirement (about 78 degrees) and were ok at a higher ph (7.5). (At least that's what I've seen on those loaches for spec's). But please let me know if I'm missing something.

Also, I'm obviously concerned about aggression in either direction.

Thanks again.

[shari]

just to show that not all people have great minds...

tiger loaches (hymenophesa and helodes) while prefering softer water, are temperamentally suited to agressive chiclid tanks. i've seen them successfully cohabitating with both malawi and tanganikan types. they don't take no sh*t and the chiclids get that in short order. as long as the bottom is suitable (no sharp rocks) and there is some wood in the tank they seem to thrive.

is it the ideal situation? no. but many fish can live well if properly acclimated to water conditions other than their native types.

just 2 cents from a less than great mind

[Martin Thoene]

I will concur with that S. I saw a young Syncrossus beauforti giving twice his size Malawis absolute hell in a dealer's tank.

If your tank water is truly 7.5 RiffRaffMI, then actually it would work......but.....strictly speaking that pH isn't absolutely ideal for those cichlids. Around 8 would probably be better and that's way over for loaches. Remember pH is logarithmic.

My Toronto tapwater is usually around 7.6 and all my loaches do great.
So am I saying it's a good idea? No actually. I'm still of the opinion of "horses for courses" and do not believe these fish should be mixed.

Tiger type loaches have the attitude to do damage, Malawis particularly have the weapons to do damage. It isn't going to be pretty if one individual or another becomes hyper-dominant.

In actual fact, mixing Malawis and Tangs is not an ideal situation either.

Martin.

[Mark in Vancouver]

I think that both cichlids and loaches represent branches of the aquarium fish trade that deserve a specific focus. It happens that I keep loaches, and not cichlids, but I think both types of fish warrant special care and different kinds of tank setups. Keep them separate. Do either - or both - well, but in their own tanks, each with an optimal environment. Only then will you benefit by keeping them, because you're not going to see optimal health or behaviour in one or the other if you're aiming to please them both.

These fish would not meet in the natural world. If you want to simply "keep fish" without considering this, go ahead. If you want to "keep loaches", I would recommend a specialized tank setup and make the loaches the main focus. Or cichlids - either way.

It's not in the interest of either fish to be kept together and it won't end up being a good mix over time, IMO.

[andyroo]

Not to say it was a good idea, but in my youth i kept a very grumpy jewel cichlid in a tank with a substrate of river gravel, gravel size between 3 and 5cm. Had three Kuhlis in there as clean-up crew, living among the gravel. They were all together for years, and the kuhlis outlived the cichlid through a "neighbour feeding the fish while i was away" misshap.

Again, propabaly not a good idea, but got the job done.

Andyroo

[RiffRaffMI]

Thank you everyone for the information.

Have had trouble even finding most of the species I mentioned.

I did find a couple of Tiger's at Petsmart (ick!) the other day (wandered in out of curiosity since no one else had been able to get anything but clown or blueberrys). Still doing some research though and haven't completely decided.

One other question. If I got the tiger's and either they or my cichlids were adversly affected, I could always get another tank. As a matter of fact I have another tank that I was going to use for more cichlids. My question then is, would I be able to put a dojo loach in with the tiger's? I really miss the dojo I had (only had him for a week, but what a character!).

Again, thanks for the info. (Shari, it's good to hear from the not so great minds once in awhile, since I think that's normally where I qualify! thanks

James