Butterfly aka Hillstream loaches  6/28/06
Dear Crew,
I've just found your site and love it!  After doing lots of research online for my fish it's so nice to have so much information in one place.
<Ah, yes>
I do have some questions about the Hillstream loaches since I can't seem to find much information anywhere on them.  I have a 30 gallon tank with 2 very small fancy goldfish (1 black moor, Narvey, about two inches with its tail, (are you supposed to measure with or without the tail?),
<For science, w/o, for petfish, w/ most of the time>
and 1 calico telescope, Penelope, fantail about 1.5").  Sex unknown on both.  They both seem to be healthy and happy.  I'm considering either getting a small school of white cloud (5 or 6) or one more goldfish (I'd love to find a fantail panda).  I have a bio-filter for a 20-40 gallon and a bubble curtain (mostly for aesthetic value). To get to the point what I want to know is are Hillstream loaches compatible with goldfish, from what I've read they are temperature wise, but I've heard them compared to Plecos since they eat algae and kind of look like them, and since I've heard Plecos and other algae eaters are iffy I'm not sure if I want to add one to the tank.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Cynthia
<I have seen these fishes housed together with good success. As you state, do enjoy similar water qualities, and Homalopterids are not "mean" like Loricariids, Gyrinocheilus toward goldfishes. Bob Fenner>

Butterfly aka Hillstream loaches  6/28/06
Dear Crew,
I've just found your site and love it!  After doing lots of research online for my fish it's so nice to have so much information in one place.
<Ah, yes>
I do have some questions about the Hillstream loaches since I can't seem to find much information anywhere on them.  I have a 30 gallon tank with 2 very small fancy goldfish (1 black moor, Narvey, about two inches with its tail, (are you supposed to measure with or without the tail?),
<For science, w/o, for petfish, w/ most of the time>
and 1 calico telescope, Penelope, fantail about 1.5").  Sex unknown on both.  They both seem to be healthy and happy.  I'm considering either getting a small school of white cloud (5 or 6) or one more goldfish (I'd love to find a fantail panda).  I have a bio-filter for a 20-40 gallon and a bubble curtain (mostly for aesthetic value). To get to the point what I want to know is are Hillstream loaches compatible with goldfish, from what I've read they are temperature wise, but I've heard them compared to Plecos since they eat algae and kind of look like them, and since I've heard Plecos and other algae eaters are iffy I'm not sure if I want to add one to the tank.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Cynthia
<I have seen these fishes housed together with good success. As you state, do enjoy similar water qualities, and Homalopterids are not "mean" like Loricariids, Gyrinocheilus toward goldfishes. Bob Fenner>

Advice on new additions please!! Hillstream loach fdg.  – 06/29/07
> Hiya,
> I think I've identified the Hillstream loaches as Gastromyzon ctenocephalus and so far they seem to be okay! I lowered the temp to 22C and added another air pump for them. They don't look pinched and I've seen them eating algae/wafers and bloodworms. I've had them 2 weeks now! I read an article on the net recommending leaving smooth round pebbles in a bucket of water outside to grow algae, then adding to the tank for them to munch on. Is this a good idea? What about adding pathogens/ nasty algae etc to my tank from outside? Is there a way to encourage mild algae growth without sacrificing water quality? Thanks!
<Greetings. Leaving the rocks outdoors to cultivate algae sounds like a great idea. The risk of introducing disease is virtually nil. Most aquarium fish diseases come from other fish, not the air. About the only thing that might go wrong is if someone used insecticide or weed killer in the garden, and some got into the algae-stone bucket. That would be very bad. But otherwise I take algae from ponds to feed fish (especially baby fish) all the time. One thing though: algae is only part of the diet of these fish. The other part is small invertebrates. Frozen bloodworms, lobster eggs, marine plankton, and so on would be the things I'd keep in the freezer to give to these fish a couple of times a week. Plec "algae wafers" should make good staples, and would be more convenient than algae. You could also try thinly sliced cucumber, cooked spinach, and blanched lettuce leaves. Finally, algae has no effect on water quality, unless it suddenly dies off at once (very rare, unless you use algae-killer potions). High nitrates and phosphates will encourage growth of algae, but algae doesn't create nitrate and phosphate. So don't worry about algae messing up the water quality. Doesn't work that way. Cheers, Neale.>