Cold Water Pleco

[Barday]

Hi All,

I recently put my fancy goldfish (fantail I think) Into a tank that got freed up, and I went to my LFS to stock it up a bit more. It is a 20g tank, and I bought an aditional 2 Fish. I'm not sure of the names of either of them really, one was a Gold fish (by that I mean that it is actually a metalic gold colour rather than an orange gold fish! ) The other was a cold water pleco. I've never seen them before, but I fell in live with it straight away! , It looks kinda like a common plec from the top, but when it's on the glass it's pink and flat on the underside and almost looks like a butterfly. Anyway I was wondering what I should be feeding him? Do I give him Algae wafers? And also can I give these fish tropical fish food, such as frozen bloodworm, daphnia, artemia, krill etc?

Any help will be appreciated as up to now I have only been feeding goldfish flake food!

Thanks

 

[Storm]

Could it possibly be a hillstream loach?

 

[George&Ade]

Hi Barday
I thought that the two plecs ive got were ordinary ones,but now having looked at the above "link" im pretty sure they are "Hillstream loaches"
I bought them about 3 months ago (mainly to tackle the growing green algae)and ive got to admit..they are doing a fantastic job.
Dont see them much in the day,but in the evenings,they are out,working tirelessly eating all the algae`available.
I havent fed them anything else whatsoever.
Ive angled the "outlet pipe" from the filter upwards slightly onto the surface because the fish i have (orandas,black moors and ryukins)dont like fast flowing water.
But i do have an air pipe which runs aroung the perimeter of the tank supplying plenty of oxygen(lots of bubbles for them to play with)
Have included a picture of one of them......and another of a few of the other fish

 

[George&Ade]

One of the loaches

 

[George&Ade]

Dont ask me what sort of fish this is.......but the wife chose it.....

 

[Barday]

hehe, thanks all, yep it's a hillstream loach alright, beautifull fish huh!

I've got a problem feeding him Whenever I put in algae wafers the goldfish eats it before the loach even gets a chance to smell it yet alone graze on it for a bit!

 

[Barday]

Interesting fish george!

 

[Storm]

I've got a problem feeding him Whenever I put in algae wafers the goldfish eats it before the loach even gets a chance to smell it yet alone graze on it for a bit!

Have you tried dropping them in after lights out?

 

[Barday]

to tell you the truth......no! Good Idea, Ill try tonight

Thanks!

 

[koimom]

Your wife's fish appears to be a Celestial goldfish, (that's what they call the ones with popeyes like that), possibly a Celestial Oranda?

 

[Barday]

Well I put in the algae wafers last night, and again the loach did not move from his usual position on the glass, and the goldfish ended up eating both wafers I realy don't want this fish to starve to death

You think he will be able to get enough nutrients from the glass?

 

[Storm]

How long have you had him and does he seem to be doing well so far? I'm afraid I don't know much about hillstream loaches but I drop discs in for my nocturnal fish after lights out and they seem to be fine. Maybe if you googled them, you could find some more information? HTH.

 

[Barday]

I've had it since Sat, I'm not really sure if he's doing well, i've never seen him eat and he's always stuck to the window. I'll search google now and se what i can find!

Thanks

 

[norbie]

my girlfriend wants a coldwater loach/pleco/catfish for her tank which has 4 medium sized goldfish in (about 70 uk litres).

are coldwater fish like these easy to come by? and is there anything i should particularly need to know about keeping them?

thanks in advance - nice pics btw

 

[black angel]

looks to me like the hong kong plec, whether thats another name for the hillstream or not i dont know. they are active mainly at night and i never fed mine wafers as they nearly always stayed on the glass and if they need extra food then try dropping one in when the room is pitch black so the gf dont see it.


george and ade your fish is a telescope fantail.