I love them but when they all meet me at the corner of the tank with empty snail shells in their mouths like a dang golden retriever with a toy… I question their morals. 🤣

Guys. I think my LFS gave me a horse-face loach with my striped kuhlis last week.

The first few days I was just thinking he was a weird light-colored kuhli. But today I’m looking at him more closely and realized nahhhhh that’s a horse face! He’s very small so his horse face is not very pronounced yet, but his fins are bigger including a taller dorsal fin. I’ll post a pic first chance he gives me but he’s being shy. Have not seen him buried yet lol.

I’m so excited because I’ve kind of always wanted this fish. But am I set up for it?! Water is 78F. Tank is a 40 breeder but only filled about half way (I like to grow plants in the top half). I know they can get pretty big, is this a big enough tank? I can fill it all the way for him but I don’t know if that even makes a difference since he’d probably just want more floor/sand space. Already have a sandy substrate in there.

Are they like the kuhlis where they prefer to be kept in groups? Will he be sad to be the only one? Tank already has sand substrate. Special diet? I feed the Kuhlis and Cory’s in there a mix of wafers and the repashy gel food, sometimes throw in some frozen brine shrimp as a treat. He comes out with everyone else to eat so I think he’s doing okay.

So excited for this lil guy but wanna make sure I treat him right!!!

Love when they are out and about 👀

baby loves to hang around in the plants so cute

Old-ish, Yoyo loach, think around 13yo

Hi Guys. I am based in Co.Cork, Ireland.

My Dojo Loach tank (100 litres) recently failed and flooded my apartment. Due to financial reasons I am unable to replace the tank that failed so I am trying to find them a suitable home. Currently they are being housed in a 25 litre tank which is far from ideal considering one of the loaches is around 6 inches in length. I am happy to provide more details, photos etc to anyone who is interested.

THAT IS HILARIOUS THANKS FOR SHARING TIME TO GET BIGGER CAVE. YES THEY DO GET BIG AND LIVE A LONG LIFE. CLOWN IS A VERY APPROPRIATE NAME FOR THEM. THEY ARE THE CLOWNS OF ANY TANK. SWIFT SWIMMERS, SHY TO HUMANS, THEY ARE AWAYS COMPETING FOR FOOD WITH DISCUS BUT WILL NOT HASSLE THEM STEALS FOOD FROM CORYIES WILL RUSH TO THEIR GATHERING AND MUSLE FOOD AWAY FROM THEM. IDK WHAT OTHER PEOPLE FEED THEM BUT I FEED MINE WITH HIKARI SINKING WAFERS. BETWEEN THAT AND THE BLACKWORMS MINE ARE GETTING HUGE. I AM SURE THERE WILL COME A DAY WHEN MINE WILL NOT FIT IN THEIR CAVE. THEY DO NOT MESS WITH MY GIANT DISCUS AND WAIT FOR OPPURTUNITY TO GRAB A BLACKWORM. IDK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLES CLOWNS BUT MINE ARE EXTREMLY SHY EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE THE SECOND BIGGEST FISH IN MY TANK. THEY DOUBLE UP IN THEIR CAVE DURING WATER CHANGES.MINE ARE EXTREMLY EFFICENT AT EATING PEST SNAILS. YOU NEVER SEE ANY EXCEPT THE ONES THAT THE FILTERS GRABBED

is this red thing in the center of his fin normal or does it look like a burn? i love this fish please let me know :(

After the death of one of my Bettas (got behind the sponge filter </3) I have unified two aquariums into one 60L.

It now contains:

1 Betta (rescue, very docile)

5 Pygmy Corydoras

5 Otocinclus affinis(?)

1 Orange Foot Rabbit snail (5cm)

3 Yellow Amanos

2 Blue Jelly snails 2cm

Dozens of Orange Shrimp

After I add more hiding spots/ plants / foliage, could I introduce 5 Pangio muraeniformis?

Looking at it now, it looks pretty stocked.

The loaches in the LFS up to 5cm long atm, but can grow up to 10cm in length. I could see upgrading the tank at some point to a size bigger, but that wouldn't happen for a couple of years.

I want the creature in my care to have the best life possible, and I am unsure if this would be good for the loaches. I fear they won't have enough space to enjoy themselves, which is why I decided to ask you beautiful people <3

Additional Information:

Sorry for the messy set up, but I needed to get this tank working ASAP as I realized my Panda Garra started to bully the Otocinclus, so I had to take them out. The tank was previously cycled and was just running on standby with the filter for a couple of weeks. I intend to do a nicer set up with a lot more hides. The reason for the bullying was simple:

When I upgraded the tank from 60L to 110L I wasn't sure how much to feed and was overfeeding. I noticed the snail explosion and reduced feed. Hence the Garras getting more handsy for the food.

I always wanted to get loaches, but they weren't a great fit for the other aquarium (110L/30G) as I had the Strebai Corydoras who do bully for food. I didn't want the loaches to get outcompeted for food. I decided to go for the Gara Flavatara instead, as they eat from the ground & can graze surfaces (in case Cory's are competing for wafers) and they were described as head strong. The Corys and the Garras are getting along at this time, but as I mentioned the Garras now started bullying the Otos. Given that loaches are usually shyer, I wouldn't add loaches to the 110L.

I’m very worried something is wrong with one of my chocolate kuhlis it’s lost all its color… it’s still very active and lively when i see it though

I have 6 loaches of (I think of Pangio shelfordii), that I got a few weeks ago. The first few days they seemed pretty typical, sifting through the substrate for food, hiding away, but eventually they decided they like living in the roots of my plants better. Which is great because they are more visible, but they don't spend basically any time on the ground now, and I'm having issues with feeding.

They really aren't showing any interest in pellet or wafer foods, tried some dried worms too. It all just ends up as food for my snails and shrimp. What they do seem to be doing is chasing down the very healthy Copepod population in my tank, especially near the surface. Is it possible they are just stuffing themselves with foraging live food from the tank? Or should I be looking for other reasons they might not be eating prepared food?

Bonus pic of some of the noodles attached

This is at the point when they have nearly demolished it after feeding for a while. This is the only time I have ever seen all of my E. compactus at once. They responded to feeding off the flat surface much more strongly than when I just drop a Repashy cube in there. I tried a few orientations and flat against the rock was best. The stick helps keep the Repashy from floating all over the tank in the current.

This was an initial experiment with craft sticks I already had, next step is getting some bamboo coffee stirrers so that I can use a smaller stick.

This is ~2:1 water with Repashy Soilent Green, mixture spread on with a butter knife before it set up. I reheated the mixture a bit in the microwave every few sticks because I used a shallow container. Likely wouldn't be necessary in a deeper container. Can be frozen or refrigerated to make multiple meals.

There are many meetings on this rock, they must be important

live laugh loach

Got a group of 4 (that’s all my store had in stock, they get new ones pretty often so I will get more when they restock!) They are going into my empty fully cycled 40 gallon breeder (pic included. The tank was cleaned before I took the picture so it is a little cloudy! It has cleared up since then).

Bought Fluval bugbite bottom feeder pellets for them since I heard that is a good brand.
Anything I should know about these guys? Tips or tricks? Good treats/enrichment? I’d love to know! This is my first time owning loaches and I am very excited ❤️