Do you have snails in that tank by any chance?
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my teacher's fish tank is being conquered by territorial hillstream loaches
- Thread starter P3rhaps009
- Start date
They are not plecos.
They're generally peaceful, have never once heard of them killing another fish, and I'd be incredibly surprised if it happened. Finding a dead body doesn't prove a thing, fish die for all sorts of reasons, and most fish will eat the body of another fish - it doesn't mean they killed it, they're just not turning down a free meal.
We'd need to know a lot more about the tank to stand a chance of helping. But trying to get another fish that will eat them is kinda sick, and a terrible idea of tank management, which makes me doubt your teacher has any real knowledge or skill in aquarium keeping. Any fish large enough to eat them is also going to eat everything else in the tank, you know...
If he doesn't like them or want them, catch them and return or rehome them. Don't sentence them to death for something they almost certainly didn't do.
Without knowing more about the stocking and water conditions, we cannot possibly know what may have killed other fish. We'd need information to be able to offer any real advice.
They're generally peaceful, have never once heard of them killing another fish, and I'd be incredibly surprised if it happened. Finding a dead body doesn't prove a thing, fish die for all sorts of reasons, and most fish will eat the body of another fish - it doesn't mean they killed it, they're just not turning down a free meal.
We'd need to know a lot more about the tank to stand a chance of helping. But trying to get another fish that will eat them is kinda sick, and a terrible idea of tank management, which makes me doubt your teacher has any real knowledge or skill in aquarium keeping. Any fish large enough to eat them is also going to eat everything else in the tank, you know...
If he doesn't like them or want them, catch them and return or rehome them. Don't sentence them to death for something they almost certainly didn't do.
Without knowing more about the stocking and water conditions, we cannot possibly know what may have killed other fish. We'd need information to be able to offer any real advice.
What other types of fish are in the tank?
I would say it was the other fish that were introduced and not the Hillstream Loaches. The Hillstreams don't cause problems to anyone.
If you can get pictures of the sick fish, and get the water tested for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH, we might be able to work out why the fish are dying.
And also this would be very useful!
Much more likely disease introduced or aggression by the other fish introduced at the same time
DoubleDutch
Fish Gatherer
I doubt those excist.
Quite unlogical as well such a small fish being agressive.
OP
OP
P3rhaps009
Fish Fanatic
I'll ask my teacher about doing that, Thank you.
OP
OP
P3rhaps009
Fish Fanatic
I might be getting the measurements wrong. they could be like that.
OP
OP
P3rhaps009
Fish Fanatic
Yeah I think it might just be diseases and not the plecos.
OP
OP
P3rhaps009
Fish Fanatic
yeah my teacher's tanks is INFESTED with snails I don't know what type though because they came as eggs with his plants.
When hillstream loaches first arrived in the hobby, I got three. One absolutely destroyed all his tankmates. I saw him in action. He was a madly territorial fish - pure aggression. He left a trail of corpses before I caught him in the act. I got rid of them very quickly and wouldn't touch them again with a bargepole.
From what I have seen since, I had a psycho individual, and the species is generally easy going. But the OP is reporting something I have seen before.
It's a fish with a body for really fast water, probably the kind of hillstream that runs downhill sharply. Sometimes if a tank is very slow moving, fast water or rapids/riffle fish can be more aggressive. If I were to get them again, they would be in a tank that had a serious filter outflow.
From what I have seen since, I had a psycho individual, and the species is generally easy going. But the OP is reporting something I have seen before.
It's a fish with a body for really fast water, probably the kind of hillstream that runs downhill sharply. Sometimes if a tank is very slow moving, fast water or rapids/riffle fish can be more aggressive. If I were to get them again, they would be in a tank that had a serious filter outflow.
They may eat some of the dead bodies a bit before you find them making it look like they were attacked when in reality the fish died due to being sick and then the snails ate a little... Now usually the snails would still be on the body but that picture of the body didn't show any snails which is a bit surprising.
This issue is a very clear case of the individual who put the various fish in this tank not knowing much about fish, period.
I suspected the fish being termed a dwarf pleco was probably a Hillstream Loach; in SE Asia particularly this fish is commonly called a "pleco." Another example of the uselessness using common names, no one knows what fish is being considered.
As for the fish themselves, they are indeed territorial. In its habitat it lives in large groups; males will "defend" their territory (selected on the basis of available food) by "topping." When a second male invades another's territory, one fish tries to cover the other in a test of strength, termed "topping." There is rarely any damage inflicted, and one fish eventually retreats. The dominant males claim the best algae areas as their territory, while females tend to congregate in other areas. This fish must be in groups of at least six, or it can be very withdrawn and inactive. Tankmates are difficult to select due to the requirements this species demands with respect to bright lighting (to encourage algae), cooler water and a stronger flow from the filter.
What is happening here is to put it plainly, inhumane.
I suspected the fish being termed a dwarf pleco was probably a Hillstream Loach; in SE Asia particularly this fish is commonly called a "pleco." Another example of the uselessness using common names, no one knows what fish is being considered.
As for the fish themselves, they are indeed territorial. In its habitat it lives in large groups; males will "defend" their territory (selected on the basis of available food) by "topping." When a second male invades another's territory, one fish tries to cover the other in a test of strength, termed "topping." There is rarely any damage inflicted, and one fish eventually retreats. The dominant males claim the best algae areas as their territory, while females tend to congregate in other areas. This fish must be in groups of at least six, or it can be very withdrawn and inactive. Tankmates are difficult to select due to the requirements this species demands with respect to bright lighting (to encourage algae), cooler water and a stronger flow from the filter.
What is happening here is to put it plainly, inhumane.
TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
A teacher should know better. I do a lot of research on any fish I might be wanting to keep before I get it. That way I should have a pretty good idea of how big it gets, what it eats, what its temperament is, what range of water parameters it needs, what size it can get to make sure of having a proper tank size. If it is going into a tank where there will be other fish, I need to know if they will get along or eat each other. And then I may even talk to p[eople I know who keep that species if there is anything important I should know/consider.
I am not a teacher and I know to do the above. I think to be a teacher you need to be a good learner first. Tell your teacher I told him to read what I am posting. He/she is responsible for the quality of life in the tank and how the inhabitants fare is completely determined by the care they provide.
BTW pleco is a common term. There is one species of sucker-mouth, armored catfish named Hypostomus plecostomus. From this name evolved the term pleco which, by most, refers to species of armored sucker-mouth catsfish. It may also extend to other members of the Family Loricariidae.
Loricariidae
Hypoptopomatinae
Otocinclus
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/family.php?subfamily_id=81
I am not a teacher and I know to do the above. I think to be a teacher you need to be a good learner first. Tell your teacher I told him to read what I am posting. He/she is responsible for the quality of life in the tank and how the inhabitants fare is completely determined by the care they provide.
BTW pleco is a common term. There is one species of sucker-mouth, armored catfish named Hypostomus plecostomus. From this name evolved the term pleco which, by most, refers to species of armored sucker-mouth catsfish. It may also extend to other members of the Family Loricariidae.
Loricariidae
https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/family.php?subfamily_id=81
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