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I've been doing some thinking with regard to my small quarantine aquarium, and keeping it up and running biofilter wise. And a thought occurred to me.

Kuhlii Loaches.

Now, provided I can obtain the right species (and avoid the ones that grow to over 4 inches), the thought occurred that Kuhlii Loaches would be ideal if they would be compatible with my setup. The aquarium itself is 13 litres in capacity (yes, it's small) - that's 13 litres of actual water in there as measured carefully, with the décor in place. There's a box filter present, an airstone, a modest layer of gravel, a big clump of Java Moss and any day now, I'm going to add the bogwood for the Java Moss to cling to.

So, here's the thought. 1 or 2 Kuhlii Loaches keeping the system ticking over.

The bogwood will provide them with some nice caves to hide in when they want, the gravel is fairly fine and rounded (I specifically obtained it to be compatible with Panda Corys, so it should be fine with Kuhliis surely?) and they'll be fed intermittenly with live Bloodworm in between the flakes (they should relish live Bloodworm I reckon).

So, the 64 dollar quetion is:

Is the quarantine aquarium too small for these guys?

I checked this page at Loaches.com, and discovered that there are two small species, namely Acanthophthalmus cuneovirgatus (listed in the article as the "Indian Thorneyes" ) and Acanthophthalmus robiginosus, a seldom seen fish from Java that is also, in effect, a 'dwarf' Kuhlii Loach. If I can lay my hands on either of these two, this would be a better choice obviously than the regular Kuhlii Loach, but would my setup be too small even for these?

Remember also that this aquarium will be getting water changes twice per week and gravel vacs coinciding with the water changes, so cleanliness shouldn't be a problem.

I'm not even all that worried about actually seeing them all that often, just knowing that they're there keeping the aquarium ticking over and living reasonably happy lives diging through the gravel for food. The question being, of course, does anyone think they won't be happy in this setup?


Last edited by Calilasseia at 27-Dec-2005 12:25

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I think that would be perfectly happy in the setup, but my question is if this is a quarantine tank, would you not be concerned with introducing a disease and thus infecting the loaches when quaranting new and/or sick fish?

Or are you planning on removing them temporarily when doing so?

Just a thought.

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Well, if the loaches had to be moved temporarily to make way for illness among the other fishes or new arrivals, I could always transfer them to the breeding aquarium (which is a LOT bigger incidentally and has even more hiding places). However, I'd be wary of doing that too often if I could help it because fishing the loaches out of the breeding aquarium once the need for their relocation was over would be a nightmare!


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I'd probably go for something that's a lot easier to catch. A few male guppies or anything else that readily swims into any net dipped in their tank.

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So here I am once more...

Loaches are always nice in a small tank, keep in mind you wont seem all the time, they are nocturnal and love to hide!

Inky

Wouldn't it be easier to dose with amonia or put some fish food in there? That way, you don't need a second Q-tine tank for the loaches so that you can put the fish in the origional Q-tine tank.

I had one and he was cute! When i use to get home late and turn the lights on, hell be stickin his head out of the rocks. I would not buy one unless you get many, you dont get to see one little guy often enough.

A 3 and a half gallon tank???

Sorry I am going to discind against the majority here. No way. These loaches can become quite active at night and that is just nowhere near enough tank volume for their activity.

Yes I realize you are talking if you could get the 2 inch varieties which are extremely difficult to find to begin with. But even if you did have them I would be very worried about jumping out of the tank deaths and running into the wall injuries. Just so little space. I would feel a lot more comfortable with the 5 gallon tank and even then I think it isnt too unreasonable to expect a home of ten gallons for the dwarf varieties. The ten is not enough for a regular one.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

I would go with something less difficult to catch, and more likely to show disease if there is something present.

but I have to ask, why? why keep a quarantine tank stocked? I sincerely hope you are going to allow for the possibility of asymptomatic illness and sterilise the tank between occupants. My thoughts would be what if the kuhlies carry something your cories are not resistant to? or what if your cories carry something the kihlies are not resistant to?

IMO, same species to test for species-specific pathogens (though i suppose by that stage its too late) or do it arificially when required.

If the tank is only to be used very rarely as QT, then I *suppose* you could put something in it, but the reason for doing so would have to be something other than keeping the tank cycled, more like "i have an empty tank and need it full", which is a totally legit reason imo


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

The fundamental reasoning is this.

If there is already some kind of biofilter ticking over in there, then introducing new fishes to it will stress them less than introducing them to a completely new tank with no filter in at all. Trouble is, keeping a filter ticking over in the absence of other living creatures requires more diligence than doing so with them present. With living creatures present, you're always reminded that they need feeding, water changes, gravel vacs etc., while an otherwise functioning aquarium with no livestock lacks that 'prod' to keep checking, as it were.

Even if the only critters in there were some kind of small invertebrate (I asked in another thread if I could put shrimp in there) they'd still produce enough waste (although in smaller quantities) to keep things ticking over. Plus, in the case of shrimp, the right species would have the extra benefit of producing some nice babies that would add to the live food supplements for my existing stock. However, I was told that the shrimp would be a bad idea too ...

I was also issued caveats against using a small Labyrinth Fish such as Trichopsis pumilus, so I'm still in the process of hunting ...

I suppose I could just tear the thing down, and stick it upstairs until it's needed again ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

or just keep the filter for your hospitol tank running in another aquarium if you must have an already seeded filter. Most hospitol tanks can't keep a biological filter because of the medications used anyways. Just patience and lots of water changes.

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.

So if I rig up a sponge filter in an existing populated aquarium (e.g., the Panda Fun Palace&#8482 and then transfer it when needed, that will fit the bill?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

That would work quite well, cali...

That's actually a good idea... I'm going to keep that in mind

Yep I have a hospitol tank, but it never gets filled until there is a need for it. When there is I grab an existing filter off of an already running tank. Saves you from having a tank you are tempted to stock, and really most diseases being treated are going to kill off a biological filter anyways.

and then the added benefit of over-filtration for one of your existing tanks, hey you can't go wrong there. For me I have a 330 running on my 125g tank that is completely unecessary, but can be snagged at any time to run the 30 gallon for a quarantine. (meanwhile 30 sits empty in the garage)

HTH

Koi

Empty chairs at empty tables, the room silent, forlorn.