What Do I Feed My Pakistani Loaches

[matchstickgeezer]

Hi there

I recently purchased 2 pakistani loaches for my set up at home.

I was told by my LFS that he wouldnt really eat algae wafers or tablets, and so was advised to buy some Vita Granumix for them.

The only thing is most of this granual mix floats at the top and they are bottom feeders... any suggestions??

Thanks

I also bought some red tiger like platys that were a new addition and I have never seen any of these in the UK before, at least not near me. They look great, red and white stripes.

 

[millym]

hi
we have 2 pakistani loaches they love catfish & algae tablets ( all brands but esp hikari & tetra variety wafers & nutrafin spriulena algae tabs also go down a treat)so i dont know what the lfs guy was on about. they also love the frozen blister packs of bloodworm,mosquito larvae(white & black) & daphinia. you defrost these little cubes & chuck them in. ours also love king british tablet treats & hikari micro pellets ( some sink to the bottom) freeze dried tubifex cubes are also a big hit & the loaches will swim up to grab a cube from the top & carry it into one of our caves to make it easier to eat (it just floats to the cave roof) they also eat blanched romaine lettuce put on a clip on the tank wall. if fact most different varieties of food they will go for. all of these brands you can get at uk online aquatic suppliers & i also find a lot of stuff on ebay at good prices with cheap postage.
oh nearly forgot peas - frozen garden peas put a couple in a bowl of water zap in microwave for about 20 secs, pop the peas out of their round shells mush them up & chuck them in. you'll find alot of your other fish esp the swordies,mollies & platys will also go mad for the lettuce & peas ( thats if you havent tried these already)
great fish real characters esp as they mature!
id love to see a pic of your platys they sound gorgeous.

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Thank You for the advice.. I have just plonked a Hikari Algae wafer in so I will see what they think of it

I will also try and get a decent picture of the red/white tiger platys asap for you on here.

MSG

 

[sww]

I recently purchased 2 pakistani loaches for my set up at home.

They're great characters! I initially had 2 - one got injured (not sure how, but suspect it got stuck somewhere) and died. I got a couple more since, but the first one has grown a LOT and is much bigger.

The only thing is most of this granual mix floats at the top and they are bottom feeders... any suggestions??

I've found that mine are quite happy to share the Tetramin Crisps with the rest of the community. As well as bottom feeding, they're quite happy to go chase the food just about wherever it can be had! Every few days I'll split a cube of frozen blood worm or daphnia into the tank, and they love those too.

The previous post has further suggestions, but I think they're relatively easy to keep happy. See the big fella below (about 2.5")

 

[DoyouWantsum]

hi
we have 2 pakistani loaches they love catfish & algae tablets ( all brands but esp hikari & tetra variety wafers & nutrafin spriulena algae tabs also go down a treat)so i dont know what the lfs guy was on about. they also love the frozen blister packs of bloodworm,mosquito larvae(white & black) & daphinia. you defrost these little cubes & chuck them in. ours also love king british tablet treats & hikari micro pellets ( some sink to the bottom) freeze dried tubifex cubes are also a big hit & the loaches will swim up to grab a cube from the top & carry it into one of our caves to make it easier to eat (it just floats to the cave roof) they also eat blanched romaine lettuce put on a clip on the tank wall. if fact most different varieties of food they will go for. all of these brands you can get at uk online aquatic suppliers & i also find a lot of stuff on ebay at good prices with cheap postage.
oh nearly forgot peas - frozen garden peas put a couple in a bowl of water zap in microwave for about 20 secs, pop the peas out of their round shells mush them up & chuck them in. you'll find alot of your other fish esp the swordies,mollies & platys will also go mad for the lettuce & peas ( thats if you havent tried these already)
great fish real characters esp as they mature!
id love to see a pic of your platys they sound gorgeous.

I'm not sure how you missed it but they also eat flake.

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Perhaps mine are still settling in then as they have yet to come up for flake.

 

[millym]

you'll find your loaches will rummage around the gravel/sand for the flake rather than join the melee at the top!

sww - lovely loach! our big fella/felless is now 5 inches long at around 3 1/2 yrs old, the growth seems to have slowed now, i have pics of 'her' (call the biggest lucy) when she was a teeny thing who used to park in the outflow spout of our internal fluval filter - cant even fit her snout in there now!

 

[pinkdolphin_113]

most food sink at some point. it just needs to absorb water. when its floating, try tapping it lightly. this usually knocks air off or out of it.
dont know what those things you're feeding them are but i had the same problem with my algae wafers. problem solved after a few taps lol
flakes sink too. if they aren't too keen on flakes, like my yoyo loach wasn't, just experiment. the yoyo loach loved blood worms. the fish rushed around eating as many as possible. even the minging dead ones as well

 

[Bozza]

One word, bloodworm! Mine go nuts over it

 

[sww]

One word, bloodworm! Mine go nuts over it

And for a special treat, try the following:

Put some aquarium sand in a small, shallow dish (e.g. petri dish) and cover with aquarium water. Place live bloodworm in the dish and allow to burrow into the sand. Then slowly submerge the dish into the aquarium and enjoy watching the loaches what comes naturally

(This was a tip I got the other day from a professional aquarist.)

 

[matchstickgeezer]

Thank You

I will try all of the above suggestions.

I still havent seen them eat though!

 

[millym]

put in defrosted bloodworm & its guaranteed to get a response!!

 

[rob newland]

Are mine the only ones that come up for flake?
I guess they have learned that otherwise the food goes before they can get it (those keyhole cichlids are real pigs ).
Good luck with 'em and they are lovely fish .
Rob

 

[pandey22]

I have never had problem feeding my yo yo/pakistani loaches(i have 4(three to three and half inches long).i feed them pellets,flakes,tubifex worms,blood worms,shrimp(they eat all these directly from my hand)

They have learned to come to surface and take food directly from my hand and even stick their mouth out of the water if i put my hand a little above the water.Over time they have become so friendly that they come to the front glass(and at times follow me) whenever i walk into the room and whenever i put my hand in the tank for vacuuming the gravel they always swim between my fingers i have hard time doing the weekly maintaince(i push them with my finger and they again come back for more pushing...lol...it is really funny to watch them do that)

The best fish i have ever had.I love them so much!!!!!

 

[3ndl3r]

My loaches feed from the surface, and they also eat sinking pellets. It's hard to not get them to eat. Just give them time to settle in