Me Khullies

[millwall]

Hi, I have five Khullie Loaches in a 91 litre peaceful community tank, four of which have not read the khullie descriptions I’ve read, rather than being the shy retiring types only breaking cover for a nibble at meal time they’re charging about over, around or through anyone or any thing that gets in their way leaving their mate hiding in the substrate under the cave I’ve provided for cover, but this is not what concerns me. The behaviour that I find strange is, usually starting with one or two then four they will spend hours in one corner swimming up & down all in sync breaking off for a lap around the tank then back again up & down when I say hours they’ll be doing it all through the night starting in the evening & still at it in the morning. Is this normal?

 

[Bloo]

Yes entirely normal Mine used to do that too - nutters they were

 

[millwall]

Cheers, thank goodness for that. Were your khullies of a similar colour? I ask this because the one who is always hiding is a great deal paler than the others, it seems healthy enough but I was wondering whether his colouring is the reason he doesn’t join in with the others.

 

[Bloo]

These were them - so, yes, they were of similar colour

But there are variations in Kuhlis and colour / pattern types. Do you have pics of yours ?

 

[millym]

we dont have khulis but sounds like typical loach behaviour - one of our yoyo loaches has just taken up the pastime lately of doing figure of 8's in the corner of our tank in the bubble wall - hes at it every evening for at least 2-3 hrs

bloozoo - those khulis are gorgeous!!!

 

[millwall]

Sorry no pictures ready to go for now, but my Khullies are just like those in your picture except one who has the same markings just a lot paler bordering on the albino so i'm putting this down to a lack of light so to speak being that it spends all of it's time hidden.

 

[Bloo]

Thanks millym

The_lion, it could be that your kuhli is "Dilutic" - which is exactly the washed out colour of the original. The-Wolf knows more about this and he has a Clown Loach like this

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I didn't even know I had any of my 4 kuhlis left until very recently. I put them in the tank well over a year ago as little thready looking things and now suddenly all 4 of them, fat and long, are happily out and about in the tank!

I think with some fish it can take a very long time for them to settle in, especially if they are small when bought. My plec took months and months to come out (unless it was pitch black) but now I can always see him.

 

[mikev]

There are several reasons for weak coloration.

1> It may be an albino, or an amelanistic fish. Below is a picture of mine to compare with

Observe that Albert has a perfectly normal red, but no black. Albert, incidentally, is the most active khuli in his tank.

2> It may be unhealthy. I bought a few khulis with weak coloration and they either restored the color or quickly died. The Khuli page on the Loaches site actually talks about this.

3> It may be old. Khulis may live fairly long, and if it is a 15-20 years old, colors will fade (and it will be less active).

4> It may be morphing its pattern.

If you explain what "Paler" means, maybe it will be clearer what is happening. Of course, pictures are the best way to explain.

-------------------------------

As for the "excessive" swimming, it may be
1> Adjustment to your water.
2> Unhappiness with some water factor.
3> Reaction to the atmospheric pressure changes (lower pressure before rain --> more swimming).

HTH.

 

[millwall]

Hi, all
Thanks for your help I’ve finally managed to get a photo of the pale Khullie I was on about, it was a long wait because as I’ve mentioned he doesn't explore out much. As you can see he? It who knows is much paler than those in the upper half of the pic. It’s clearly nothing like mikev’s Albert, so is it as bloozoo2 mentions dilutic or a normal colour variation?

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[millwall]

Hi, all
Thanks for your help I’ve finally managed to get a photo of the pale Khullie I was on about, it was a long wait because as I’ve mentioned he doesn't explore out much. As you can see he? It who knows is much paler than those in the upper half of the pic. It’s clearly nothing like mikev’s Albert, so is it as bloozoo2 mentions dilutic or a normal colour variation?

 

[mikev]

I'm assuming that the pale on is on the bottom picture?

Color is _probably_ nothing unusual and he may become darker later.

He does feel a bit strange...short and fat, and I count one fewer stripe than usual for Myers.

 

[The-Wolf]

the pale loach looks healthy enogh to me
s/he just looks like it is a colour variation.
I have seen a few paler than normal loaches at work, all were healthy enough.

 

[millwall]

Cheers Mikey & The-Wolf I can only imagine the short fatness is down to distortion when resizing the photo, as there is no real difference in size or shape to the others. It definitely seems healthy my worry was that it was being singled out because of his difference but I’ve since observed that provided there is little light in the room he is out active, joining in with the others & their crazy antics which now includes wrestling, the darker loach to the left of the upper half of the picture will come along side the others then twist & entwine the other till it's head is on top & would appear to be trying to pin his victim to the floor. Pretty entertaining to watch.

 

[nashnut]

I have two kuhlis just like the darker ones and one kuhli just like the lighter one in your photos. I've found the lighter one does not hang with the other darker kuhlis but tends to stick together with the black kuhlis in the tank. It does hide a lot and becomes very scared at the drop of a hat. From time to time it darkens up but not as much as the other two.