Khuli Loaches

[Genesis]

can anyone give me any information about them?

mine is a black khuli loach, i think

what sorta thing do they eat?

what sort of groups should they be in?

please reply
thanks
B) 'genesis

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi there, i have black khuli loaches myself, they gorw to about 4inchs+ long and are basically scavengers. They will avoid flakes in general but love catfish pelets, algae wafers, krill, bloodworms, daphinia, freezedried river shrimp, blanched cucumber and anything else that makes its way to the bottom of the tank in the way of chunky fish food- they particually love meaty/high protein things so don't get too shocked if a fish dies in the tank and you find your black khuli loaches trying to take bites out of it.
They prefer sand substrate the best like other khuli loaches and bottom filter feeders, they are nocturnal fish so they need somewhere dark during the day to hide in.

 

[Genesis]

thanks, very useful information

mine tends to droop itself over a plant, lol

hes so lazy

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

[quote name=''genesis' post='986027' date='Nov 27 2005, 12:05 PM']
thanks, very useful information

mine tends to droop itself over a plant, lol

hes so lazy
[/quote]

It will be worth getting some more black khuli loaches buddys for yours if he's on his own as like corys they are very sociable fish with their own kind- i have a group of 4 black khuli loaches and they never leave each other alone even when they chill out during the day .

 

[Genesis]

im getting a bigger tank soon, ill then buy 4 more khuli loaches so i have 5
then ill buy two more albino bronze corydoras so i have 3 of them

atm i only have 1 AB cory and 1 BK loach

 

[nashnut]

I love the kuhlis but had terrible problems getting them thru mail order. I finally managed to get three to live plus two black kuhlis. They are pigs!!! They really love the BioBlend pellets that I feed them.

Live Aquria had a sale on black kuhlis so since I knew that they had put the fish up about two months earlier I ordered 10 to allow for loses. Well here I am a month later with 10 black kuhlis in their new tank. At the same time I ordered three yoyo loaches so they currently are a happy group!!! I now have two kuhli tanks.

I do love the regular kuhlis the best thou

 

[mikev]

I love the kuhlis but had terrible problems getting them thru mail order.

Not just mail order as it turns out now.

I got eight more last Thursday from a lfs (he had a hundred packed in a 10g). All looked fine, except for seeming weak as I discovered only at home (those who tried to swim could swim up but "drifted" down). Two died the same day, all were dead by Saturday, and this one time I'm certain it is not something I did wrong (they went four each into two tanks, and the tanks are fine, and they were acclimated for an hour).

Really don't know what it is that kills them in shipping; my suspicion is that it may be simply oxigen (100 khulis in a small bag for at least 24 hours... only very lucky would survive).

The good news is that they seem to be pretty hardy once they "settle in".

Yuck.

they are nocturnal fish so they need somewhere dark during the day to hide in.

Strangely, does not seem to be the case here: mine are active during the day. And when I approach the tank, some would go to the corner where the food usually drops.

 

[nashnut]

I mail ordered some black ones from Live Aquaria with great success. I ordered 10 and still have at least 7 remaining. They settled in wonderfully. I must admit that I knew they had gotten them in about two months earlier so they had time to settle them in their tanks. I have so many places for them to hide under that I really can't properly count them.

 

[mikev]

I have so many places for them to hide under that I really can't properly count them.

For unclear reasons, I'm not getting much hiding. My big tank has five types of loaches, and they all totally ignore the hiding places. Even the clowns after about a month of hiding are out most of the time.

My black khulis are btw considerably braver than normal: the tank also has a 5" plec and their latest trick is to try to eat from his mouth (it takes the plec a few minutes to eat a food disc). Striped khulis never dare this.

 

[nashnut]

Both tanks with kuhlis have them out and about most of the time. It's just they are so darn fast zinging from one spot to another that I'm not sure if I'm double counting one or not. I put a pellet in the other day with the idea of counting and there was so much thrashing going on that I quickly gave up that idea.

I turned a bridge upside down in the one tank so that they can go in and out in various locations. They love it. Every now and then you see a head hanging out thru one of the support holes.

It's in the main tank that the one black one doesn't come out anymore. The others - black and regular are always out and running around but not this one. It's also gotten chunky. Since it's a black, I am not sure just what color eggs would be. I know the regular kuhlis have green eggs - in fact I spoke to Dr. Axelrod about breeding them back in the 60's.

 

[Lateral Line]

It is a perverse fact that the more hiding places they have, the less they use them. A reverse logic would suggest that because they know there are hiding places everywhere, if they suddenly need one, wherever they are in the tank, there is one to hand, therefore they don't use them.

 

[mikev]

It is a perverse fact that the more hiding places they have, the less they use them.

My observation too, and they don't need to be "quality" hiding places: mine like to "hide" in fake plants.

It's just they are so darn fast zinging from one spot to another

Interesting; mine are not very fast. In fact, looking at your picture above, I think we have different species: mine are not black (dark brown or red), smaller than striped khulis (2-2.5", and I don't think they are young); yours seem to be true black and longer.

Do yours swim around? (Mine almost don't unlike striped).

I know the regular kuhlis have green eggs - in fact I spoke to Dr. Axelrod about breeding them back in the 60's.

Hey, anything interesting you remember will be greatly appreciated -- this is what I'd like to try.

 

[nashnut]

Nothing actually as no one had bred them at that point and I was apparently one of the first to report the green eggs. He was quite interested at the time.

I have three of the regular kuhlis of which two are the same species and one is something else. The blacks seem to be about the same. I put some blood worms in the tanks tonight and they went crazy!!

 

[chuck3e]

Hello, Newbie to forum here. I've had those little Loaches many years ago and find them fascinating. I'd like to get some again. I just inherited my son's 55 gal tank and it has only one 5" Banded Cichlid and a Plecostomus in it. I've got a lot of room to fill. Do you think that big BC would peacefully coexist with a Khulie Loach?

Thanks, C

 

[Teelie]

The cichlid probably not. Too aggressive and prefer a different water chemistry to Kuhlis. The plec should be fine though.