khuli loach.

[kniesh]

Hi, I have a 40 gal tank. My stock is;

1rtbs
1 silver shark
4 tiger barbs
2 sucking loach(didnt know they would fight when bought)
1 common plec
1 clown loach(2 other died about a week after purchase)
1 khuli loach( other one died when moving house)

My worry is that this kind of tank is not going to be any good for the khuli loach. I have another 20 gal tank that i use for guppies only. Is the khuli loach likely to eat any of the babies? Does it eat algae also, because there is a little building up in the guppy tank? thx.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Khuli loachs are scavengers that need their diet substituted with algae wafers and/or catfish pelets and do best in groups of 4+ in preferably a sand or fine rounded gravel based tank. Khuli loachs do eat fry when they can get hold of them, they are also mainly nocturnal fish so need somwhere dark to sleep in during the day.
I would be more concerned though about your other stocking though, the common plec will get too big for the 40gal and produce alot of waste which can be difficult to deal with as they grow and the sucking loachs(better known as chinese algae eaters a.k.a CAE's) will eventually kill each other and they have tendancy to become very anti-social and terotorial as they grow and attack other fish.
Silver sharks are also known as bala sharks and a grow to about a 1ft long and are too active and large growing for a 40gal and prefer to be in groups of at least 3 and they can live for up to 15years.
Clown loachs can also grow to a foot long but only grow 1inch per year so can be left in your tank for a while but they can live for 40yrs so take into consideration wether you are still going to want it in a couple years time as these are long term investment fish.
The tiger barbs would be happier with some more tiger barb buddys but they are very agressive/nippy and active fish that need alot of space so will limit alot to what you can stock in your tank, but they are otherwise fine in your tank.

 

[kniesh]

Thx for that. I thought my plec would be ok in my 4ft tank for a while yet. He is about 4 inches, I just didnt realise how big it would grow to when i bought it. I have since checked up an realise I will need to find him a bigger/better home in time. The silver shark I havent had long he is about 4 inches also, I didnt know u had to have 3 of these untill yesterday, I will be buying a couple more.

As a side point, could u recomend an algae eater that wont eat my baby guppies. For some reason i have been getting a bit of algae growin in there. Thx

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The best small growing peaceful algae eating fish i can recommend are otos, these only grow to a couple of inchs long and live almost entirely off algae and so efficient at eating algae they will clean up your tank/s in a couple of weeks time, when they do this you will need to start substituting their diet with algae wafers(the same goes for the common plec) which you can get at your lfs(local fish store) and are cheap and easy to come by .
The common plec will grow about an inch a month until it reachs 10inchs which its growth will them slow down a bit so you can keep it for some time in your tank until it outgrows it and needs a bigger tank or needs to be rehomed.
The bala shark will also grow at a similar rate to the common plec's and they do well in groups of 3 but they are very skitty fish and will somtimes bump into things in the tank, so removing any sharp or unstable objects in the tank will help alot in preventing it hurting itself, the bala shark will inevitably need a bigger tank though given time and a 60-70gallon is usually the minimum for a full grown group of 3 .

 

[Barracuda518]

Like Tokis-Phoenix said, The Clown Loach you have needs more friends. They do best in groups of 6 or more and need at least a 75 gallon, really even bigger. So you might want to find it another home. If you are looking for a pleco that doenst get huge, the Bristlenose or the Rubbernose would be good, just make sure you have plenty of hiding places.

Good Luck B)