Horse-faced Loach Growth Rate

[pica_nuttalli]

my LFS has horse-faced loaches; something i never expected to see in real life. my 60g doesn't sound suitable for them in its current incarnation, but i have to move house anyways come summer of 2007 (which will mean massive restructuring).

my question is: would it be possible to keep one in my 10g or the 20g until such time as i redo the big tank? or would a healthy loach too quickly outgrow these smaller sized tanks?

 

[emma12321]

What makes you say the 60 isn't suitable? Your list of fish should all be fine with the loaches. What substrate do you have though as they spend a lot of time under it.

I would think a 20 should be fine if it's not going to be permanent but aren't they social fish preferring groups of 3+?

Emma

 

[The-Wolf]

are you sure they have horse head loaches Acatopsis choirorhynchus and not
Long-nosed Loaches Acantopsis octoactinotos/

horse heads are a nice peacefull loache and will be fine in your 60
long nosed loaches are the spawn of satan and not suited to your tank.

=== COMPARISON ===

Horsehead Loach (Acantopsis choirorhynchus):

Buries self in substrate and “burrows” throughout
Nose bends downward about halfway between Eyes and Mouth
Very fast moving fish, shy at times
When not buried in substrate, usually lies on surface of substrate

Long-nosed Loach (Acantopsis octoactinotos)

Rarely buries self in substrate; Does not completely cover self with substrate (“sticks out”)
Nose missing downward bend present in Horsehead
Slower growing than Horsehead loach
Slow to Medium speed swimming, likes to hide under large rocks
Will lie on top of rocks and plants like the Dojo Loach
Will kill small schooling fish if hungry (Especially Neon Tetras and Zebra Danios)
Definitely more aggressive than the Horsehead loach

 

[pica_nuttalli]

my 60g is currently very unsuited to a horse-head due to substrate issues (the dojo is under constant observation for barbel damage) and i'm 80% positive that all my plecs are male. the kribs are quite aggressive and the L200s squabble over territory amongst themselves on a near constant basis. based on that i've always heard horse-heads were shy, delicate creatures, i didn't want to subject one to the rigors of my tank.

the long-nosed loaches, however... would they be fin-nippers? i'm thinking of changing the 20g into a betta community tank and relocating puffer to my 10g. if they could go into the betta tank, that'd be awesome.

--EDIT--
d'oh! i forgot to append my stocklist when i sold off all my livebearers. i'm getting out of guppies and the platies are going too! i've just got these last few batches of fry that i'm growing out and then its tough cookies only from then on out.

 

[The-Wolf]

I wouldn't risk a long-nose with a betta, but a horse-head will be ok