Loaches Online Forum

Absolutely FABULOUS

I think I ruined my keyboard drooling over the BEAUTIFUL fish....ALL of them

Thanks so much Martin. I still wish I could join you guys over there for a GOOD first hand look.

Great show!!!

As for "gaffs": one: you need a warning....looking through all the great shop photos is likely to result in a depression (among those out of the area) potentially leading to physical illness.

thanks for the pictures Martin.

i would also like to thank Emma for getting us cake, and thank Marge and Stripes for giving us a display rather than being shy of all the strange dribbling onlookers at feeding time

the answer for the fish shop depression is simple - you should all move to England!

i think myself very lucky to have a shop as good as this within travelling distance. Emma and Steve, you both deserve praise for providing us all with a fishy heaven.

Jim, Martins pictures dont do the loach section justice. there are so many tanks with something interesting in. He did a brilliant job to capture that grey rostrata - one beautifull fish, that knows how to avoid the camera. in the same tank is apparently some big striata too, but they refused to even show a barbel there are some lovely little sids in the palladium, and more striata in another display tank. i think there may be some kubotai in yet another display. then there is the shop tanks that could be other inferiour shops' displays. sometimes i wondered how many kids thought the horsies and khulis were dead - we saw some sheads or eyes sticking out from the sand, that hardly moved during the time we were there. Please dont cry!

Primus wrote:I have been reading this forum on and off for a few months, had to register to post when i saw the pics of that clown loach tank though. It appears i have selected much the same stock for my tank, clown loaches and filamentosa barbs primarily. Have only had the barbs in the tank for a few months, how big are yours and how long have you had them? Seems to be some conflicting reports as to how big the filamentosa barbs get so i am kind of curious what your experience has been.

Thanks for posting the pics, very impressive!

Hi Primus, and welcome to Loaches Online!

I've had my Punitus filamentosus for around 3 years now. There were over 25 of them, but earlier in the year (during the very hot weather we experienced here) I sadly lost almost half of them due to a series of unforseen incidents. It would appear they have a very very high oxygen requirement.

The largest of the remaining shoal are 6" TL, most others around 4-5". Most of the ones I sadly lost were males that were bigger than 6" and had the most glorious finnage.

The barbs regularly spawn in our clown loach aquarium, and we have been lucky enough to see a few survive. The young are cryptically coloured (silvery with 4 vertical black bands).

All in all, they are a great fish to keep together with the clowns. They are a little greedy and they do completely devour any plants (other than Java fern) but I would still highly recommend them for larger tanks.

Emma