Loaches Online Forum

Mark in Vancouver wrote:.

The way you phrased your earlier post (and I mean no offense) was like you are just getting into the antique collection hobby and want to find a selection of Faberge eggs. This may prove for you to be a disappointing approach.

No offense taken. Even if that was the case, so what? The BIG difference is that there living things: and so certainly do require humanitarian care to meet their species specific needs so that they may thrive (possibly multiply).

Who of us would'nt like some expensive rare loach? No one's saying to totally strip the wild bare of some rare species just for home aquariums.

But thanks alot for that advice: My water chemistry is quite good, and the tank is rather fast flowing: Yes I know this might be my first tank, but I am more than confident I will keep almost any loach perfectly well

I am more than confident I will keep almost any loach perfectly well

Well then you don't need us, do you then?

shari2 wrote:

I am more than confident I will keep almost any loach perfectly well

Well then you don't need us, do you then?

uhhh: Didn't mean to sound cocky: What I meant was probably any loach could do well in my tank (did I mention the substrate is quite fine as well?)

But then whether or not they'd THRIVE, is another question: thats where you guys have helped quite a bit.

Hi Shari and all,

Those photos are very nice but unfortunatelly it´s far from an Amazon biotope wich is actually very dark water, almost no plants (except drift leaves), lots of drift wood and very low light.
Take a look on this photos of a real amazon river biotope:

http://www.forumaquario.com.br/phpBB2/v ... php?t=6848

Directorate wrote:

Tinman wrote:If you have Kubs you need more Kubs IMO,and more current in your tank.
Here are some other types


http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstr ... -fast-lane

Amazons are not Asians, there is much reading for you Directorate

Search all the other links on this site from the home page....you need to move water like you never thought for Loaches, they require specie specific enviroment bio-scapes

LFS is the local fish store mate....

I never said the Amazon is asian: Do you think I'm some kind of idiot? I meant alot of Loaches are from Asia.

You did post this above:

So now i;m kinda hunting for the less uncommon loaches, unqiue stuff, I mean don't get me wrong:I think clown loaches and yoyos are great, its just that almost everyone has them and so it'd be nice to have an amazon community tank to stand out (going for an amazon basin aquarium set-up, the lush Amazon river is just great, ain't it?)

At least understand how the confusion arose.

Please realize that lots of people arrive on this forum with varying degrees of experience with fishkeeping. We're anxious to provide good information, lots of resources, and advice based on the cumulative experience of all the loach people who gather to take part.

eh its cool Mark. Yes I do want to get some more kubotais: there very lively loaches, as you know. Are they generally considered expensive for loaches? Over here in Aus, you can get 4 clown loaches for the price of a kubotai (which is 40 bucks).

And what other erm. "expensive" loaches are there?

Hi Directorate, What loaches that are allowed into Australia by the Government is very small compared to what is available in England, America,Canada,Europe and Asia. We might see more loaches available in the future as AQUIS conducts evaluations continously. Clown Loaches are the most expensive in Aus. - 25cm =$430 20cm= $300 15cm=$130.
I bought 5 Kubotai @ $40 in February but thought that was excellent value because I did not think they were available in Auss at all. They are now available in Brisbane Gold Coast area for $25. Get more Kubotai, you wont regret it. Cheers Graeme.

Ooooh! Thanks, Marcos. I like the 'real' biotope. Looks like a cutout of a streambed.

What kind of leaves are they?

And Directorate, why are you so anxious to find the most expensive loaches? Most of us are always scrounging for the bargains.

One thing that you can do once you know and recognize more species is to keep your eye out for 'contaminants' that sometimes show up in batches of loaches at a store. Occasionally you will find among the primary fish some interesting fish that don't belong among the group.

Of course, you could always point out to the store owner that the fish you want isn't one of the cheap ones, but rather, a more rare specimen. I'm sure they'd up the price for you.

Graeme McKellar wrote:Hi Directorate, What loaches that are allowed into Australia by the Government is very small compared to what is available in England, America,Canada,Europe and Asia. We might see more loaches available in the future as AQUIS conducts evaluations continously. Clown Loaches are the most expensive in Aus. - 25cm =$430 20cm= $300 15cm=$130.
I bought 5 Kubotai @ $40 in February but thought that was excellent value because I did not think they were available in Auss at all. They are now available in Brisbane Gold Coast area for $25. Get more Kubotai, you wont regret it. Cheers Graeme.

sheeesh, I didn't know the Australian goverment restricted LOACHES: I can understand why snakeheads are illegal here, but loaches?

The clown loaches at my LFS cost 12 bucks each. There roughly 4 inches.

Directorate wrote: The clown loaches at my LFS cost 12 bucks each. There roughly 4 inches.

Hi Directorate, my humble suggestion is to get those 4inches clowns, feed them well and keep them in pristine conditions for the next 15 years or so and when they are 30cm long you would have the rarest captive fish in the world.

Some of the members have their large Clowns depicted on T-shirts, photographic competitions and people come from all over the world to see them.

I can't think of a more valuable and rare fish than a large Clown. Then if you can manage to breed them then you will also become a legend and possibly your face will be portrayed on the T-shirts too. A kind of Che-Guevara of Botias

Just HYPOTHETICALLY, even if the loach was rare in the wild, it'd certainly be safe in my hands.

This statement above would lead most to answer this

Do you think I'm some kind of idiot?

as yes but I am undecided still as communication around the world can be difficult. You sound barren of information but and willing to spend the money to make it suitable for the fish you keep. I am not sure if you listen yet though so I will answer that question later if it really matters.
My statement simply meant you can not keep loaches in a still planted tank with positive results.South Americans are as simple as it gets to keep and as opposed as far as possible to loaches in requirements .Although you may have adequate filtration I have stated several times your flow is to low yet you did not question that.....

The other thing to consider is almost all of the experienced loach keepers here have had a disaster along the way and lost prized fish. Unfortunately things happen... So be careful going into loach keeping with the thought that you will not have problems at all.

For me it doesn't matter how much money you have to spend on fish and how much time you have to devote to them you cannot put a price on experience and that in my opinion is the single most required element when going onto Loach keeping.

Keep the more as you put it common species and keep them in pristine conditions and get try to get them as big as you can and then try to spawn them, that will give you something rarer than money can buy

i see you have just 1 yoyo. please get more. lone yoyos can be quite agressive! as a group they are much more placid (this doesnt mean peacefull or boring. it means your other fish will not be harassed so much as when they whizz around they will be whizzing around together, rather than a lone yoyo whizzing around terrorising the other fish)

i was very excited one day when i went to Emma's shop. i wasnt in the position to buy any fish, but when i was in the shop someone brought in 2 adult yoyos. they were huge for yoyos and very beautifull. emma kindly saved them for me till i could take them home. although a common species, i am very lucky for my rare find and i would be devastated if anything happened to them

adult yoyos have amazing markings, so different from the youngsters, and its fascinating to watch the patterns change as they mature.

i would love to have the tank space for a nice school of kubs

Mad Duff wrote:For me it doesn't matter how much money you have to spend on fish and how much time you have to devote to them you cannot put a price on experience and that in my opinion is the single most required element when going onto Loach keeping.

Keep the more as you put it common species and keep them in pristine conditions and get try to get them as big as you can and then try to spawn them, that will give you something rarer than money can buy

Well put, MD.