Algae Wafers

[BronzeWolf]

Hi

A couple of days ago i bought a hillstream loach to go into my small tank with my zebra danios. The guy at the LFS suggested i buy some algae wafers to feed him. He is quite a shy fish and i dont often see him hanging around i asume he is under the bogwood. Anyway i popped a wafer in the water for him and well my Danio's ate it up (greedy sods) I thought that maybe the smell of algae would make my loach come out of his hiding place to feed but i guess thats not how it works. Now im not sure how to feed him if the danios are going to go for his food all the time. I dont really know where the loach hides so not sure where to place the wafer, today i put one in while i fed the danios and i tucked it under the bogwood arch where hopefully the danios cannot get to it. I dont think they noticed me putting it in there. Will the loach smell the wafer out and know where to go to eat? Will the danios smell the wafer and know where to steal it??? these are deep questions.... lol
How does one go about feeding the loach a wafer any advice anyone??


thanx
wolfie

 

[ryan]

This is a common problem with some species of newly introduced fish. some just don't like to fight for their food by nature. As he is settling in he will be extra cautious. Make sure you give him plenty of wood and smooth stone surfaces and a strong current then feed Bloodworms and Algae Wafers before lights out whilst feeding the others. You can ask Cheese Specalist what she feeds her Hillstream Loaches. I plan to get some when I have a tank that is right for them, out of intrest do you know what species you have?

 

[BronzeWolf]

Hi Ryan

Thanx for your advice.
Mr. Freckles has a huge piece of bogwood to munch on 3 biggish pebbles and one rock as well as a couple of shells i am sure he is happier than where he was living in an overcrowded fish tank at the shop. The only fast current in the tank is at the surface where my fluval is. I have seen him up there sometimes sucking on the window.
Oh the danios were soooo nosey, put their little noses right out of joint, but within a day they left him alone. Just wait till i get a gold fish!!! then they will be shoaling really tight..lol.
I dont know the breed of loach i got, the guys at the shop just classified him as a stonesucker.
Here is a photo of Mr. Freckles if that helps at all, he is

Thanx
BronzeWolf

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I don't feed my hillsream loaches. I did try in the begining but they were not interested. Since then I have read that it is not often that they wil tank prepared foods and that they will only eat the micro-organisms within algae.

 

[BronzeWolf]

Thanx Miss Cheese Specialist

I guess he will just munch on whatever is hanging around

 

[kaz petts]

I have two plecs. (same idea, algae eating fish)
I have got some pleco tabs for mine but they never get chance to actually get to the tabs as the other fish tend to fight over it. However the tabs also give off a powder as it dissolves and I found one of my plecs on top of the cave near the tab eating what had settled on the cave.
i have also found a plec down my tube which I have for my UGF (under gravel filter). I noticed a load of algae down there a couple of days ago and my plec managed to sniff it out and went adventuring down the tube to get to the food, it was quite comical to watch. (especially when it wanted to get back out, it had to swim backwards!!! )
I am pretty sure mr freckles is going to be ok with what occurs natural around the glass.
Here is a couple of pics of my guys

Sorry about the pic quality but they were at the back of the tank. They very rarely come to the front.
Also I was told by the guy at the pet store that these guys are not particularly keen on light and I have to admit were more active when it was dark until they got used to there new environment. They now swim about a bit through the day but stay quite well hidden by the plants.
Kaz

 

[BronzeWolf]

This is my basic tank

When i took a photo of mr. freckles i saw this image on the side....what does it look like to you? weeeeird..... lol

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have two plecs. (same idea, algae eating fish)

Not really, plecs (dependig on type) can need other food as the get older. Loaches will eat only algae, forever given the chance. They also stay at only 3". I don't know any plecs of that size.

 

[kaz petts]

Ooops thanks for that. I was only stating what I had been told but if this is incorrect I appreciate being corrected. I do not wish to give any wrong advice on here.