Zebra loaches - how big?

[san-ho-zay]

There seems to be a wide variety of maximum sizes quoted for zebra loaches:

fishbase.org: 7.8cm (3in)
loaches.com: 10cm (4in)
tropicalfishfinder.co.uk: 12-15cm (5-6in)
Aquarium Fishes of the World (Axelrod et al): 6-10cm (3-4in)
Aquarium Fish (Dick Mills): 7.5cm (3in)

What's your experience?

I'm fishless cycling at the moment and the zebras are a good 3 months away but when it comes to stocking with other fish (barbs and danios) I don't want to overdo it and not have room for a decent group of loaches.

--
Richard

[mickthefish]

hi bud, i'd be very happy if mine got to 3-4 inches, personally ive never seen any at over 4 inch, but if my memory serves me right andy rush said there,s one on LOL thats about 5 inches.
i'd love to see a pic of that, HINT HINT

mick

[san-ho-zay]

Thanks matey, I'll work on the basis of 4in.

On a slightly different tack, as you are local, is your water really soft? Do you have problems with pH swings? My tap water is about 6.5 but my cycling tank has dropped to about 5.0. How does it settle in a mature tank?

[mickthefish]

in a word mate, terrible i'm always checking the ph of my tanks, ive had them as low as 3.6 which was a shock to the system.
i'm working on getting the balance right with the use of coral gravel in my filters to keep the ph at around the neutral ph at the mo.
it's a pain in tharse bud.

mick

[Rocco]

I don't know if this will be of any help but there is a product on the market called Proper ph 6.5

http://www.aquariumguys.com/properph652.html

Directions say it isn't good for plants though.

Does anyone else use something like this but for plants?

[san-ho-zay]

I've seen it at my LFS. But ...



I've got plants.

--
Richard

[mickthefish]

Richard mate, that is one smart looking tank,
i'm not putting any of my tank pics up after that mate,
can come up to my place and do the tanks for me bud. haha

mick

[bob d]

I'll second that Richard. What a cracker of a tank!

[Diana]

The pH correcting products are generally pretty harsh, and not recommended, or else they are baking soda with fancy labeling and a fancy price.

Before doing anything with the pH check the KH (Carbonate Hardness, Alkalinity, Buffer) of your water. If the KH is low the pH will often be low, and is easily changed. Adding baking soda or other source of carbonates you will also be raising the pH and stabilizing it.
Test in a bucket, not the tank to find out what works and what the side effects are.

I have found that 1 teaspoon (5 ml) added to 29 American gallon tank (probably about 25 actual gallons/20 Imperial gallons) will raise the KH by 2 degrees and the pH will come up from 6.0 to about 6.2 or 6.3
In another tank I am using baking soda to replicate Lake Tanganyika. I use a tablespoon (15 ml) of baking soda per 20 gallons (Again, American gallons, call it 16 Imperial gallons) to make the water change water match the tank. The KH is pretty close to 10 degrees, the pH about 7.8. I also have coral sand as a substrate in this tank. The action of the coral sand is rather slow, so I do not depend on just the sand at water change time. In fact, now that I have the recipe figured out, I may not actually need the coral sand at all.

[mistergreen]

nice tank btw...
which zebra loach do you mean?
Botia histrionica or Botia striata?

My b. histrionica are about the same age but they vary in size... It's weird. I call them papa bear (4.75"), mama bear(3.75"), and baby bear (3.25").

You can add crushed coral or crushed oyster shells in you filter or substrate to balance your water.

[san-ho-zay]

Thanks Diana,

I've only tested for KH as a rough general test with one of the 5-in-1 dip strips and it didn't register any KH (or GH for that matter). But the water quality reports on my water company's website confirm that my water is very soft. I really do need to go out and get a kit to measure KH properly - I think it's going to be my biggest water quality issue .

I'm still fishless cycling with ammonia so things are quite volatile just now. I've reached the stage where the ammonia is disappearing each day but I've got lots of nitrite and some nitrate kicking around. I'm assuming that's what's pulling the pH down? I'm planning on continuing the cycle with ammonia once I've cleared the nitrite and done my big water change to see how the pH settles. I'll get a feel for any adjustments and do another big water change before I "go live".

However, for the purposes of cycling, on the basis that very low pH can inhibit the filter bacteria, I've used baking soda this afternoon to push the pH up to neutral. It's taken one heaped teaspoon to raise the pH up by each 0.5 in my 300L (80 US gallon) tank.

I'll test again tomorrow and see how it's all going.

mistergreen: Apologies for the confusion, I meant Striata.

Thanks all for your advice

[NancyD]

A couple months ago I saw HUGE 2 striatas that had been brought in to a lfs. They were around 6 inches TL, maybe 4.5 SL & quite tall, not as wide as would seem a good proportion , to my fish anyway. I was shocked! I wonder how old they were.

Lovely tank BTW.

[san-ho-zay]

Thanks for all your comments.

Just an update, the baking soda has stablised the pH nicely. Added ammonia yesterday and it's gone this morning but the pH is still sitting in the 6.5-7.0 band. Hopefully the nitrite will start to shift now.

[mickthefish]

don't forget the soda only give you a temporary hardness, you still need to check the ph in about a weeks time as it can drop rapido.

mick

[Munkee]

I have personally never seen one over 4inches at the most. I only hope mine will get that big one day.

Oh, and since you have a terrific planted tank, there is no need to wait 3 months to add the fish. What you are doing is called "Silent Cycling" and you can add some fish much sooner. Here is a great article on it. It does really work, I have done it and had much success.

http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_silent_cycling.php