Nanofish tank upgrade journal

blackwaterguy

I put root tabs in her tank and that was it. She has plenty of pond snails. I have some of those as well. I've been seeing babies pond snails in my 10 and 40 since I haven't been dosing them with ferts. She also has at least one ramshorn. I haven't gotten her MTS though.

I put some shrimp pellets in my 10 gallon and looked with a flashlight last night. I only saw one MTS feeding. Comprehensive might not be a bad idea if I want to keep them.

Chesherca

There MUST be other people who are having this same issue. . . switching ferts is worth a try. Be a good experiment, anyway!

blackwaterguy

lol Comprehensive would be my seventh fertilizer. One I don't use because of the soft water though. I still have a whole lot of variety.

I figured i would get home from work check Amazon and see that the package was sent. Much rejoicing would ensue, followed by ordering amazing plants so that when I had my lucky to get three day weekend I could play around with setting everything up. Yeah not happening. So should i continue to wait to get plants or order now?

Also on my to do list is to e-mail any place I can think of that ships fish and see if they ever get any kuhli loaches in and if so what species.

Chesherca

Wait... unless you can plant the plants elsewhere. Not gonna trust that the plants won't arrive first and they wouldn't like floating around waiting for your sand to arrive! Wet Spot has Kuhli!!! :D

blackwaterguy

I could plant in the 10 gallon or another tank. I wouldn't leave them floating. I'm going to be super annoyed if the sparkle sand delay means I end up not being able to get Lagenandra thwaitesii to try.

Wet Spot has P. seminicata, P. oblonga, and P. anguillaris. Frank's Aquarium has P. seminicata and just last month had P. cf piperata (probably P. cf shelfordi from what Loaches Online said). I e-mailed Batfish Aquatics in MD and the owner said he should be getting some in a few months and that as much as 40% of what he gets when he orders them are "bycatch". Since you are in the same state and I have no idea how suppliers work I had said about someone finding dwarf loaches and he said "That was a very, very lucky catch of your friend". I hope that makes you love your little guys even more.

If anyone knows any other places that specialize in unusual fish let me know. Never hurts to have options. ;) Especially if I do more than one kuhli species. Can i do more than one in this size tank?

Chesherca

Well, for all intents and purposes, P. semicincta are what we talk about when we say P.Kuhli. From what I've read (and I could be wrong) it's very unlikely that any "true" Kuhli loaches ever really make it into the trade, except by accident, maybe. . .because they inhabit such a small area compared to the others. . .I really would like to see a study done on if they're *actually* different species, because I can't seem to dig up very much information showing a clear difference between the two. . . but I have no idea, lol!

I'm sticking to my guns on this one. . . there is something going on with the loach population! 40% bicatch!!? Has it ALWAYS been this way? Because I know that 'Kuhli loaches' used to be really common and easy to find. I saw them in every fish shop! Now the shops seem to be having such a difficult time getting them in.

Nothing could make me love my P.cuneovirgata more! They're just awesome! Ever since I pegged down what they are, I've been fighting the urge to go out and get more of them just because I'm fairly sure I'll never see the lil' guys again, and they're so awesome! You can try calling Tom's Tropicals. . . maybe they'll ship them to you? I've never had a reason to ask, lol! Offer still stands though - I'll grab some (if they're still there, my cousin saw them a week or so ago), QT them, and figure out how to ship a fish, lol!

If you didn't have any other bottom dwellers in the 20l, I'd say you could *probably* get away with two groups of 6 different types of 3" loaches. When I had my 29 (same floor space), I felt that the right amount would be a single shoal of 9 fish, but you could probably squeeze a couple more fish in, if you stuck to a light stocking of fish that like the higher levels. I think everyone would be happier with a larger shoal of a single speceis, though. Heh, if you went with the dwarfs, well. . . I had 10 in a 10 gallon tank for 3 months, and they seemed to be doing very well in there!

And. . . as long as you have somewhere to plant them. . . HUZZAH FOR PLANTS! I wish that sand would hurry up and arrive!!!

thekoimaiden

Sadly Jes, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a drop in the Pangio population. Most people just don't know how to care for these guys, and they die in improper tanks. I don't think anyone has breed them reliably for the trade. So as long as there is unregulated wild collection then we'll see a drop in population. I would LOVE to breed some species of Pangio one day. Doesn't really matter which one to me. But you should totally become a Pangio loach shipper, Jes. ;)

I waiting until I knew just where my substrate was before I ordered plants, Cory. Mine still isn't here yet, but I went ahead an ordered plants knowing that the tank would be set up before the plants got here. Since you have a 3-day weekend, go ahead and order your plants. Don't want to miss out on an opportunity to get something rare!

Maybe you could email Msjinkxd and ask if she knows any importers that might have dwarf Pangio? I she doesn't like them, but she might know someone who does.

blackwaterguy

Never type on here right before bedtime I made some mistakes in my last post. The Wet Spot had P. anguillaris, but don't seem to anymore. The P. cf piperata that Frank's Aquarium had was probably P. cf anguillaris. The Wet Spot had some P. cf shelfordi for about a week and i got mixed it up in my head when I was tired. Not to mention spelling semicincta completely wrong.

I can't speak for if kuhlis are getting tougher to find. I know they seem tough now. Is it a seasonal thing? I did hear rumors that that either get packed too many to a bag before being sent overseas or that a mild "poison" was used to help catch the little buggers. Those are internet rumors so believe them at your own risk without some real proof.

Jes, I think you're misunderstanding the bycatch. Probably my fault since that was also in my late night message. What he meant was say he orders a hundred P. semicincta from his Singapore distributor, 60 of those will be P. semicincta while the other 40 will be other species of Pangios that were caught along with them. Not the species they were trying to catch, but from the same area and got collected by accident.

I was of the same mind about P. semicincta and P. kuhli after all the research I've done. Frank's has P. kuhli listed though and he said that he was able to get P. semicincta. I still have to write him back so maybe I should ask the difference. He also told me though he could order kuhlis, but had no idea if he would be sent the species he ordered. He can also order P. myersi. Probably too big for the new tank, but I bet they would look good in my 40b. My South American biotope 40b. Do you see what you loach people are doing to me?!?

I thought it would be great to have a pretty large group of one of the small species and then a smaller group of one of the more normal sized ones. If that would work. That's right I was talking about having a Kuhli Loach as a centerpiece fish! Why? Because I'm weird and it would be awesome! Plus people keep posting videos and pictures on here and making me jealous!

Frank told me that Barbucca diabolica hasn't been on any import lists in over a year. I'll find them one day I hope, but for now they can be crossed off the possible stocking list.He didn't say why.

I had thought about e-mailing Msjinkzd about if she knows anyone. She has sent me a friend of her's that sold live cultures. I haven't gotten around to ordering those yet, but his site is bookmarked. She's always seems in the know.

No sand shipped yet, but I'm thinking you're right Izzy. Between my 29 gallon, my 10 gallon, and my grandmother's 20 gallon I should have plenty of temporary planting areas. They might melt with the replanting, but odds are they would do a little of that anyway after I got them. I'll give it one more day since I'm off tomorrow. If it's still not sent then I'll start ordering plants. Odds are they the plants might not even get shipped out until Monday anyway.

thekoimaiden

We have fully corrupted you!!! Loaches would love a blackwater tank with a sandy bottom and leaves. And they make great centerpieces! I consider them the centerpiece of my 29 gal because they are the whole reason I have that tank.

I'm pretty sure kuhlies are seasonal fishes. I don't think any are captive bred on large scales. That could account for their scarcity right now.

Chesherca

heehee, no - I understood! It's always been a thing with the eel-like loaches since many of them live in the same areas, I just didn't know the percentage was so high, and am wondering if it's always been that way.

I've also read that they are seasonal, but I've been looking for them for an entire year. While they do come up here and there online, it's just odd to me that LFS who have always had them in-stock year-round for as far back as I can remember are now seeming to have trouble getting them at all. Not just my observations - I've spoken to several shop owners/managers about it, they seem baffled, too. Could just be a random local thing, though. I really hope so. . .it would be HORRIBLE if we endangered these darling lil' loachlings. . .

I would LOVE it if 'Frank' could shed some light on the difference between P.kuhli and P.semicinta! Been wondering about that one for some time now, lol!

I think Izzy is right, you're turning into a loachaphile - and it's a wonderful thing! They're such fun little fishies, and they WOULD love your tank(s) and water!

HEY!!! YOU seem to have the mad dwarf fishies connections. . . have YOU come across Hyphessobrycon takasei anywhere on your travels? Been looking for THEM for ages, too, lol!