Tell Me About Kuhli Loaches

[snazy]

Hi all,
 
Today I am getting 7 kuhli loaches(not sure the species yet), the striped version.
 
It turns out internet is full of all different info about their requirements, including totally different temperature range recommendations and amount of flow in the tank.
 
Can anyone give me a crash course on them?
They are going into a tank of their own, so I can tweak things as much as I like.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I believe many "Kuhli Loaches" sold in stores are not Pangio kuhli, but more often than not Pangio semicincta...
http/www.seriouslyfish.com/species/pangio-semicincta/
 
If you choose to get some, get 10+ and ensure tankmates are very peaceful (especially those that will look for food on the tank floor, these loaches are easily outcompeted for food like my old Pangio doriae group that I eventually rehomed). Provide lots of safe places for the loaches to hide in and ironically, the group is more likely to be out and about.

 

[snazy]

Thanks NOG.
I only ordered 7 and just received them now. I am acclimating them. I would have got more but the tank is 60cmx40cmx45cm. So it's small, although tall enough to hold 30G of water.
They are going into an empty tank, setup just for them, with play sand and stuff, and I'll maybe add some cherry shrimp at some stage. That's all for stocking.
They are in the dark now so I can't really see the patterns.
 
The website recommends 21-26 temp. The temperature of the tank is around 25-26 degrees at the moment but it won't go down due to the warm weather. I hope they'll be ok with that.
 
Here is the tank at the moment. Sorry for the mess around it but I am drip acclimating them just now.
 

 

[snazy]

Ok, so here is what I got. They look like giant kuhlis to me? They've also sent me an extra one, so I've got 8.
 

 

[snazy]

A video of them just soon after I put them in the tank.
 
I am not sure what species they are actually.
 
[media]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToHwgUuy_c0[/media]

 

[~heidi~]

Congrats on your adorable new loaches. My son has those kinds of loaches I thought they were called banded kuhli loaches.. They are fun to watch. At night they do this lil dance where they swim up and down the glass. They are so cute!

 

[Baccus]

Congrats on venturing into the wonderful world of khuli loaches. Since yours are still quite young I would suspect that their patterns may change a bit when they are adult. All the striped khuli loaches that I have purchased have looked identicle and only when they have matured have I been able to distinguish that I actually have 3 possibly 4 types along with some black khuli loaches which could be any of the 3 types in that colour range.
 
They are truly a fish that believes in the more the merrier, at last count I was up to 13 odd and its nothing to see them laying head to tail crammed into one preferred hidey hole.
Mine are doing fine in a tank that has a temp range of 20-30+, but mostly the tank is in the 22-28 range depending on if its night daytime or summer or winter. The only time the tank gets insanely hot is during our summer but even this my khuli loaches have taken in their stride.
 
They are partial to all sorts of food, mine come out willingly for catfish wafers, shrimp pellets and defrosted bloodworms. The really great thing about them is even though there is also Pakastani loaches in the same tank and a few hundred cherry shrimp the cherry shrimp numbers are still expanding. The only time I have seen a Khuli loach go for a shrimp has been when the shrimp was already dead.

 

[snazy]

Thanks Baccus. There's no way I can tell what species they are at the moment...It's actually harder than it looks based on the info on internet.
I am not too bothered if the kuhlis snack on baby shrimp because at the moment I've got loads of shrimp but they certainly don't touch the adults and juveniles. They eat along side each other.
 
I really like the little snakes. They are quite cute and becoming very brave. I am glad they are not entirely nocturnal, at least so far.
 
Here is a short video from yesterday when most came to eat the pleco pellet:
 
[media]http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4OBSQmvnmw[/media]

 

[Baccus]

I think its a bit of a young fish verses adult fish thing. My young khuli loaches just like young bristle noses are out and about ready to be seen always looking for food. But once they mature its like a switch goes off in their heads telling them they need to be more reclusive. Maybe its a case of while young/ small ( and in the case of khuli loaches skinny) the risks of being out and about out weighs the chances of becoming somebodies dinner. But once your bigger and potentially a better food option for predators then its safer be shyer and stick to the shadows.
Aside from food another sure fire way of getting my khuli loaches out and about is to do a water change, they go nuts with the new water but settle down again fairly quickly.

 

[snazy]

Yes, I guess time will tell. I really don't have any experience with them and every info I found points to them being very shy.
The plan was to keep a kuhli loach species only tank, dim light, lots of hiding spots, so they don't start hiding 100% of the time.
They'll probably get lazier in time.
And yes, I noticed they'd race the glass for a bit after a water change and I also noticed they'd do that after I fiddle with tank as well, so I presume it's stress related, but instead of hiding, they start swimming around

They are young, so hopefully all will be well for the years to come.
 
It's hard taking a picture of them but I managed one for the record. They are fattening up nicely already.
 

 

[Baccus]

If you did decide to add a fish species to the khuli loaches, spotted blue eyes are small and peaceful. Not sure how readily available they are overseas but they are an enchanting little fish that will mostly hang around the surface.
 
I know how frustrating getting pictures of loaches can be, just when you think its all nice and in focus the little dears dart off and your left with an orange and black blur disappearing out of range.
 
Will you be adding any taller stem plants to the tank? Mine will often lounge or drape themselves in and over the stems of my parrots feather, also if the BN's have been undermining the roots of any of my other plants the khulí's snuggle in under the roots as well.
 
And a handy tip if you need to catch them have some PVC that you can put in the tank and either press up against the glass or cover one end with a net. Then as you remove the usual loach haunts they will dive into the PVC. Easy then to block off the open end with your hand or a net and transport them to where ever they needed to go.

 

[snazy]

I can't recall the proper name now, but they do stock some of the smaller rainbow versions in my regular shop which don't grow big. I nearly ordered some a while ago.  Maybe one day. I actually wanted to breed my own forktail rainbows but laziness prevailed.
Thanks for the tip how to catch them. I hope I won't have to in near future
I can add stem plants no problem, but they may not grow as I have extremely low light inside the tank now to keep it dim. But I can try I guess. The problem is the tank is deep and it has an internal filter and a trickle filter and if I plant around them, it will be hard on maintenance, so I decided against any proper planting. I did think at some stage to make it planted, but laziness prevailed again

 and the amount of work has increased quite a lot now with 5 tanks, 4 planted.