Tank Journal - Hillstream Temperate River

[Biulu]

What about the common zebra danio or his relative the leopard danio? Those stay mostly at the top levels.

 

[fishprotector]

I used to keep zebras and they bred like rabbits lol. The minnows seem to have settled in a bit more now, but I will keep my eye on them.

 

[Biulu]

That is definitively true!

 

[fishprotector]

I got another two Goldrings tonight, a male and a female around 1.5 inches each. I got home to find that my largest male had run out of suction It all looks natural though and there was no loss of colouration or pigmentation. I imagine that he could have been quite old a I personally have had him for at least 18 months. Either that or the shock of going from a tropical tank (where he used to live) to the new temperate tank. I could not bring myself to bin him, so he is in a little box in the garden with a novatab (favourite food). Quite upsetting as he was my favourite fish, but onwards and upwards hey.

 

[fishprotector]

Here is a video:

My link

I do not have a clue have to embed it into the post (Please help if you know )

I took it on my phone as it is the only video recording device that I own. I only managed to film two of the loaches, but I will get another one over the weekend when I see them gliding around. I had only just turned the lights back on aswell so I think the Minnows may have been a little shy.

Any suggestions? The main one I can think off is to aim to grow algae on the rocks for them

 

[Biulu]

I think it looks great, but maybe some more plants in the back? As if it were lining the river? And yes, of course, you need to grow algae! They will love it? Btw, how do you distinguish the male and female loach?

 

[fishprotector]

Yeh more plants would work. I might get some more java fern. Will see how the one I have got gets on with the high oxygen levels first. With the lineolate, the best way to sex them is by viewing their undersides. The transition between the front edge and the pectoral fins is more rounded in females, almost to the point where it could be classed as one. Males have a distinct grove almost on either side where the two meet. Mature males also get small raised fences on the front of their pectoral fins. Finally, mature females are more plump and round. I have got a couple of each sex so will take pics when they venture onto the front glass again.

 

[KrazyKuhli]

What Phone did you use? The quality is awesome!!

 

[fishprotector]

It is a Sony Ericsson xperia ray. It has hd video recording. Only just got it though so still getting used to it all lol.

 

[fishprotector]

We were in pets at home looking at the rabbits (other half is addicted but upto now I have managed to restrain her lol) and I noticed they had some hillstreams in. They were labelled up as butterfly/hongkong plecos. The guy did not have a clue and insisted they were plecos when I referred to them as loaches. He was also pretty poor at catching them. Anyway, ten minutes later I got 4. Upon closer inspection, they are Pseudogastromyzon Myersi. Not the Cheni which shops normally seem to have. They are all between 1.3 and 1.60 inches at the moment. A bit of variation in the tank and they seem a lot more active than the goldrings.

 

[Biulu]

Congratulations! Did their lack of knowledge also result in a favourable price? That happens....

 

[fishprotector]

They were £4 each in the end so not too bad considering lol

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

We were in pets at home looking at the rabbits (other half is addicted but upto now I have managed to restrain her lol) and I noticed they had some hillstreams in. They were labelled up as butterfly/hongkong plecos. The guy did not have a clue and insisted they were plecos when I referred to them as loaches. He was also pretty poor at catching them. Anyway, ten minutes later I got 4. Upon closer inspection, they are Pseudogastromyzon Myersi. Not the Cheni which shops normally seem to have. They are all between 1.3 and 1.60 inches at the moment. A bit of variation in the tank and they seem a lot more active than the goldrings.

Nice find! He has not been active on here for a while, but "Mad Duff" (known as Mark Duffill on other forums) has a major passion for loaches including hillstreams, he may give you pointers about where to source some less common species (possibily even from his own tanks).

Have the WCMM settled down more now? Increasing their group to ~10 might help.

 

[fishprotector]

Thanks for that, I dont really go on any other forums, but I will try and have a look for him on here.

The WCMM seem to be settled for most of the time, then they seem to lapse into a state of shock and hide in the corner for about half an hour

Upping their numbers sounds like a good idea. Would the normal white ones shoal with the gold ones for a bit of variety?

 

[thereverendturtle]

Upping their numbers sounds like a good idea. Would the normal white ones shoal with the gold ones for a bit of variety?

Yes.