Kuhli Loach

[mikev]

I have white clouds. They seem to be calm fish that eat from the surface and as the food sinks. I've never seen them eat from the bottom. might look into something like them?

Thanks; this might be an option, but with two problems:
1. I think they are too small to keep the tank stable if I change the number of khulis often.
(I want the topfeeder to ensure the tank stability).
2. It would not be nice to put them into a tropical tank, hot and no current.

The best option strangely may be zebra danios (whom I personally dislike). I *think* they don't eat from the ground (my bigger danios seem unable to do it, no matter how they try...hopefully zebras have the same limitation) and since they breed all the time, they probably release lots of hormones into the water.
(in case it was not already obvious, the idea is to try to breed khulis)

 

[OohFeeshy]

The best option strangely may be zebra danios (whom I personally dislike). I *think* they don't eat from the ground (my bigger danios seem unable to do it, no matter how they try...hopefully zebras have the same limitation) and since they breed all the time, they probably release lots of hormones into the water.
(in case it was not already obvious, the idea is to try to breed khulis)

I keep mine with danios, TBH the danios eat from wherever the food happens to be . But on the breeding note, the danios are most likely breeding all the time and I don't find any eggs/fry, so I'd guess they make good snacks for khulis Perhaps something ,like hatchets, that are always at the top, would be better tankmates?

 

[mikev]

OohFeeshy,

it also may be that both eat the fry as it emerges.

On Zebras (sorry for a dumb question, I never had them): if there is a flake on the ground, will they eat it?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Zebras (sorry for a dumb question, I never had them): if there is a flake on the ground, will they eat it?

Probably, yep. If they see it and they think it looks edible, they'll have a go at it. There's a large area of fake chain swords on the bottom though so stuff that falls in there is only eaten by the loaches.

 

[mikev]

Thanks, Oohfeeshy.

My bigger Bengal danios are incapable of this: they would hang above a flake but cannot pick it up.

Adding to the "aggressive khuli" subject:

Of the five that I have in my 29g, three are fairly outgoing as well. They don't dominate the tank but I saw them yesterday chasing away a BN (BN was sucking on a wafer, they started eating the same wafer--in his mouth, he ran away). The last two are small and shy.

But the weirdest thing about this group is that the largest one tries to pick up fights (or possibly mating?) with the other two: follows them and, touches their barbels with its, and a few times they went into quick squirming around each other, each episode lasting a couple of minutes.

I'm puzzled of what is going on here. The big one is the "tallest" khuli I ever saw in a store (some of mine are *fatter* but they became fat only in my tank), but it is not too wide or fat, so I'm not certain it is a female. Not egg-laden for sure. No way of guessing the sex of the other two. If the big one is a She, it is strange that a female would be so pro-active. If the big one is some kind of Super-Male, then some really interesting experiments are possible in the future. (Some say that generally Khuli males are lazy bums not interested in sex).

 

[nashnut]

I have 7 black kuhlis in a tank with two clowns and three yo yo's. They are active all the time. All you see when you look at the tank is black kuhlis darting here and there. Not shy at all.

I have two regular kuhlis and three black kuhlis in another tank that you rarely see. I need to introduce a dither fish of some type to relax them and bring them out more. It's extremely difficult to obtain regular
kuhlis that will live, especially during the winter. My goal is to have about ten in this particular tank.

 

[bettaBetta]

I have a question too. What pH is safe for kuhlis? my pH tends to be around 7.4, is that too high?

 

[Bloo]

I have a question too. What pH is safe for kuhlis? my pH tends to be around 7.4, is that too high?

That's absolutely fine mine is anything up to 8.2 and they still do fine.

 

[nashnut]

Mine is about that also... somewhere between 7.4 and 7.6