Loaches Online Forum

Confuzona



Smith's

BTW, these fish will never go hungry!

If you dont mind me asking, where did you get the clams.

I had always contemplated getting some to help with a minor green water that I have, but I was weary of getting contaminated ones.

Also, do you supplement the clams food? Ive heard that they die easily and when they do, they stink up a storm.

Glostik wrote:If you dont mind me asking, where did you get the clams.

My supplier gets them in for me.

I had always contemplated getting some to help with a minor green water that I have, but I was weary of getting contaminated ones.

Contaminated how?

Also, do you supplement the clams food? Ive heard that they die easily and when they do, they stink up a storm.

I've had the Thai mussels for almost a year now.




Asian clams for about 6 months. They are not delicate critters, but they do need a tank with water flow and they do need to be fed. I give mine OSI micro Food, frozen rotifers and finely crushed flake food.
And when they die, the fish usually eat the flesh before it has a chance to rot. In fact, I have used the empty shells as part of the aquascaping (I get lots of empty shells from the supplier as some of the clams either die in shipment or in his tanks).

Lovely looking tank mate. I'm sure it will look fantastic when you fininsh it off with the larger rocks

Dave_2133 wrote:Lovely looking tank mate. I'm sure it will look fantastic when you fininsh it off with the larger rocks

I am thinking of making the rocks I need out of fiberglass resin. This way, I can make the rocks to fit the spaces. It wll also lessen the weight in the tank.

Frank M. Greco wrote:

mikev wrote:what also would be interesting to know is how your schisturas behave: do they tolerate each other, hang together OR fight for territory? They felt like the mild kind, but one really only knows when they are released into a permanent tank.

So far, they are co-existing without a problem. Here's a pic of one of them (no idea as to species).

Looks to be the same species as mine. I've kept mine for over 3yrs and i still have no clue on the Identification. Do you know which species it came in with?

Graeme Robson wrote:Looks to be the same species as mine. I've kept mine for over 3yrs and i still have no clue on the Identification. Do you know which species it came in with?

Came in with the Vannies. The banding on yours looks very different from the banding on mine.

Came in with Vannies? Interesting!

Yours still looks juvenile, Frank. Mine looked the same over 3yrs ago.

Graeme Robson wrote:Came in with Vannies? Interesting!

Does that begin to help with identification?

Yours still looks juvenile, Frank. Mine looked the same over 3yrs ago.

Yours doesn't have the split banding I see in mine. Does the banding pattern change over time?

It certainly does help with my investigations.

I originally had 3 of them. Two of them held a more solid banding (one still does), but the other one looked identical to yours. They all had the same amount of fin rays and identical behavior pattern. Most likely pattern variations, like we see in most species.

Graeme Robson wrote:identical behavior pattern.

which is ?

(I'm curious about this species, they **seemed** to be extremely mild)

mikev wrote:(I'm curious about this species, they **seemed** to be extremely mild)

The do appear to be mild. I have not seen them bother anyone. The zippers, OTOH, tend to want to investigate everything and everyone in the tank!

Mine show no intention of harm. As they mature, they do like own Territory's more and will respond to other aggressive loaches who will try to take over their area. But this is my opinion in which they co-exist with other boisterous and non-boisterous Schist's and Nem's.

Thanks, u2. Sounds like a very desirable species .... need more tanks.


In re Zippers in the large community setup: I still think this is a great idea and zippers make a tank much more watchable. But Zippers seem to consume all the excess food in the tank, including small fragments in the sand. This may be a problem for fish which does not eat right away. I put a couple of kuhlis into the 125g with zippers, and I'm not sure they are eating (==any food is left for them). In your tank, I'd be a little worried about some of the slower-to-eat hillstreams....would there be any food by the time Sewellias feel like eating?