Hong Kong Pleco/hillstream Loachwhat Do They Eat?

[nadajdui]

What the heck do these guys eat? I admit, they were an impulse buy, lol. So cute! But they won't eat anything, and I have had them for about 2 days already. Just worried. I tried Hikari Algae wafers, bloodworms, and flake food. Last ditch effort will be frozen brine shrimp. I have no access to live foods, so any advise at all would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Teelie]

Algae pellets usually would do the trick. More info here. You might find something more helpful there.

 

[nadajdui]

All right, thanks I have some Hikari algae wafers, would those do?

 

[Teelie]

They should. I've never kept Hillstream Loaches but all my other fish, including my Kuhlis like them.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The hillstreams love strong current, a high concentration of disolved O2 in the water and they feed on algae.

You may want o read here Loaches.com/Hillstream

 

[The-Lion]

I have spotted hillstream loaches mine quite happily take most things algae wafers, flake, frozen & live bloodworms, maybe it's just mine but i don't think they're overly keen on competition for food & will zoom away if a shrimp or another fish approaches what they're eating, when they do go for food on the tank floor it's usualy a quick dash & grab then back to their rock so i try too aim food close to the rock where they hang out.

 

[denis coghlan]

I have a similar situation as The-Lion, my fish are very much snatch and grab but will run a mile if something else approaches, like a "OHHHH MY GOD DOJO LOACH" RUN AWAY. I would run away too if I were that small! Anyways as I was saying, because the fish are mostly nocturnal I put some sinking catfish pellets on top of the rock they spend most of the day under. Even before the lights go out they pop up for a quick snack, but not all the time. In addition to the catfish pellets, I have one large rock with a large surface area that I allow excessive amounts of algae to grow on, this acts most likely as there major source of food.

Also as other people have said they love lots of fast moving water!