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| FAQs About Loach Foods/Feeding/Nutrition Related Articles: Loaches, Dojos/Weatherfish,
Related FAQs: Loaches 1, Loaches 2,
Clownloaches,
Kuhli Loaches,
Loach Identification, Loach Behavior,
Loach Compatibility,
Loach Selection,
Loach Systems,
Loach Feeding, Loach Disease,
Loach Reproduction,
Beware of thin loaches! |
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Loaches and Botias are "hungry hogans" 11/07/08
Hello W.W.M. crew!
As always, I want to compliment you on this incredible website, and all
that you have done, and are doing for this hobby. I did some "measuring"
the other day, with a stack of printed W.W.M. articles and F.A.Q's that
I've printed and read, and estimated that I've read approximately 1500
pages. This is truly changing the way that I approach this hobby, teach it
to my children, and my ability to help people around me, who have ugly,
failing aquariums. I have stepped in and saved three aquariums, thus far,
just before their owners gave up on them. Thank you one thousand times for
what you are doing here! First an observation, and then a question for you.
I have recently placed the following livestock into my new, (but fully
cycled), 120 gallon, 48" long tank: (3) Lochata Botias, (3) Blueberry
Botias, and (1) Dojo loach. In 24 hours, these seven fish devoured well
over 200 common pond snails, from babies to adults, that were in the tank
prior to the loaches. For all I know, there may have been as many as 300
of the snails. They were everywhere. I knew that loaches would eat
snails, but I would never have guessed that they could eat so many in such
a short period of time! Holy smokes! Here is my question: I have
approximately 20 Vallisneria planted in that same tank. I found one
floating when I came home from work yesterday. Can I expect these loaches
to create continual havoc, by un-planting those plants? I had planned to
finish the tank out with Java Moss, by attaching it to pieces of driftwood.
If the loaches are going to ruin the Vallisneria anyway, I'll just remove
it out NOW, and plant the entire tank with the Java Moss. Thank you for
your expertise and work. Many of us appreciate it, and are doing what we
can to further your work in the living rooms and aquariums of our own
neighborhoods.
Cheers,
Jake.
<Jake, First: thanks for these very kind words. Bob will be thrilled to
read them once he's back in the US. <<I am, and am! Deeply gratifying. RMF>> Anyway, to answer your questions, yes,
Loaches will uproot plants. From personal experience with burrowing fish
I'd recommend combining a gravel tidy with your substrate. Put the
plant-friend substrate down first, to a depth of a couple inches. Add the
gravel tidy, and then top off with an inch or so of sand. The plants will
quickly secure themselves in the gravel tidy, and while the fish might move
a bit of sand (or whatever) they can't actually uproot the plants. Vallisneria in particular develop huge root systems and secure themselves
very well using this system. If it helps, you can cut little "x" shaped
openings in the gravel tidy and push the roots of the plants part way
through. This speeds things up. Certainly works for me and my Cherry Fin
Loaches (Acanthocobitis rubidipinnis)!!! Cheers, Neale.>
Florida Gar and Pleco, comp., nutr. of
Loricariids 7/24/08
Hi all--
I love your site, and have spent many hours reading in the last few months
since I discovered it. However, I've had an issue come up that I have not
been able to find an answer to. I have a seven-inch Florida Gar in a 125
gallon tank, with six larger-sized silver dollars and a Pleco. I am not sure
of what type he is, but he is definitely not the "common type". He is brown,
with a short, wide, compact body, about seven or eight inches long.
<Do bear in mind some of these fish will get extremely large; Gar will
exceed 60 cm and potentially 90 cm in captivity if they are among the common
species traded, such as Lepisosteus platyrhincus, the species usually sold
as the "Florida Gar".>
Lately, we have noticed him interacting with the gar in a way we had not
previously observed. He appears to be sucking on the gar. I know from
reading your site and others that this is a bad, bad thing.
<Has been reported between these species, and yes, is damaging to the Gar.
When the skin is abraded, the mucous is lost and it becomes much easier for
secondary infections to get started.>
We chase him away and offer algae disks, which he goes for (lately, he's
seemed overly ravenous, often eating four times the amount of disks that he
used to).
<People tend to underfeed Loricariidae. Understand this: they are constant
grazers and mud sifters in the wild, and don't understand the "two meals per
day" notion many aquarists prefer. You need to give them vegetable foods
such as courgette, sweet potato or carrot that they can nibble on through
the day, plus bogwood for fibre.>
My question is this: is the Pleco suffering from some type of nutritional
imbalance that we can remedy?
<Likely not an imbalance, but quite probably not enough fibre, so that the
fish feels hungry because it isn't full. These catfish are adapted to
feeding on a bulky rather than concentrated diet.>
If he's just being rude, and that's definitely possible, we can take him to
the LFS. However, due to their lack of adequate space for larger fishes, and
the fact that hideously overprice any fish that aren't tetras or mollies,
therefore forcing the fish to be there in less than ideal conditions for a
long period of time, I fear for his life. This would be a last resort.
Please help! Thanks.
--Melinda
<Seemingly no simple answers here, but very likely these fish will need to
be separated. Perhaps try offering a better (more vegetable-rich) diet, but
if that doesn't help, you will need to rehome one or other fish. Cheers,
Neale.>
Escape Artist Clown Loach and Eating Habits - 12/20/2005
Seasons Greetings to the Crew!
<And to you, Steve!>
I discovered a small problem this evening that may require me to tear up
my tank to rectify. So before I dig in, I thought I'd check to see if anyone
has any experience with the problem at hand.
<Alrighty, sounds like a plan.>
I have two large freshwater aquariums (650 gallons and 200 gallons)
plumbed to a common 150 gallon sump filled with bio-balls.
<Wow, can I move in?>
The sump feeds a Sequence pond pump that pushes the return through a
Hayward pleated pool filter and UV filters before dividing the flow back to the
two aquariums. The large aquarium is home to a number of medium sized gold
Severums, rose line barbs, rosy barbs, moonlight Gouramis, Juraparoids, and
large Congo tetras. The smaller aquarium is home to an assortment of small
tetras - cardinals, rummy nose, red minors, harlequin, and penguins, as well as
three large flower shrimp.
<Sounds excellent.>
On Friday I added three large 5 inch clown loaches to the big aquarium.
<You'll get a better effect with a few more - these schoolers put on
great antics in groups. And in your 650 gallon tank, I'd have no qualms
recommending a few more! Do please remember to quarantine, though, as ALL clown
loaches are collected wild, and often bring parasites with them.>
Today I was shocked to find one of these loaches swimming in the smaller
tetra tank.
<Yikes!>
After thinking through the possibilities, it became obvious that the
clown loach swam upstream through a return in the large aquarium until it found
the divide leading to the smaller aquarium and followed the current through the
1.5" plumbing into the smaller aquarium.
<Wow, what a trip....>
I understand that clown loaches enjoy eating snails and crustaceans and
so am wondering how quickly I can expect them to make a meal of my three 3"
flower shrimps.
<Mm, I doubt the loach will harass the shrimp. As long as they're not
bite-sized, they should be okay, I think.>
The smaller aquarium is filled with large landscaping rock and numerous
plastic plants and would represent a not-so-fun filled evening of tearing
everything thing out of the tank to catch the crafty clown loach. I would be
happy to leave the clown loach in the smaller tank if the shrimp had a chance of
surviving.
<For the loaches' schooling desires, better to get this fellow back into
his school, and prevent a reoccurrence of his plumbing escapades.>
Who wins - clown loach or flower shrimp?
<For now, likely a draw. I doubt the loach will have any interest at
all.>
Thanks for your advice and continued contributions to the hobby. You
guys and gals are the best.
<And thank you for these kind words!>
Sincerely, Steve in Minneapolis (current temp: 4 below zero)
<Yee-IKES! I thought it was chilly at 40 in the Santa Cruz
Mountains! If you get snow, shovel a little extra for me, okay? I sure do miss
it. Wishing you well, -Sabrina>
Loaches and rams
Hello guys,
<And gal...Ananda here answering the freshwater questions tonight...>
I'm currently running a 46 gallon bow front freshwater aquarium. A
month ago, I developed a snail problem. Snails had always been
present, but not at a high level. The snail population seemed to be
growing exponentially. I purchased a Yo-Yo loach to help control the
population. He's done exactly that. There is a very small
number of snails left in the tank. I'm concerned he may not be
getting enough to eat. He doesn't seem to actively feed. He's
shown no indications of any problems, I would just like to know if I should buy
any special foods to make sure he getting enough food.
<Nope, these guys will eat just about anything, even coming up to the surface
to eat. If he hasn't done that, he still has enough snails.>
I also have always been fascinated by gold rams. I have a tank with
small schools of Danios, platies, & Cory cats. Assuming
overstocking is not a problem, could gold rams (male/female) be an acceptable
addition to my community set up? I know cichlids are very different fish with
very different needs.
<Platies prefer hard, alkaline water, with a pH of 7.2-7.8 (and possibly even
higher in some cases.) Danios and Cory cats do well with neutral and slightly
acidic water. Gold rams need soft, very acidic water, with a pH in the 5-6
range.>
Thanks for your advise.
Jeremy
<You're quite welcome. --Ananda>
My Dojo is hungry!
Hello, I recently purchased what I know them as is Dojos, Long
snake like
with an otter personality, I believe the person at the fish store called them
Dojo Loaches?
I need to know to know what to feed them.
Thanks
Bob
<One of my favorite fishes! The Dojo, or Weatherfish... please see here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/dojousepds.htm
They will gladly consume all types of fish foods. Bob Fenner>
Growing Clown Loaches
Hi Bob!
<Hello Mohammad>
This is Ahmed from Pakistan. I have 3 clown loaches in my 5 feet tank. 7 Bala
sharks, 1 rainbow shark, 1 paradise Gourami are the tank mates of my clown
loaches. I have 2 questions from u concerned with my loaches. Firstly what food
should I offer to my loaches to attain maximum size in the minimum time n how
many times in a day should I feed my fish?
<Clown loaches will eat most any type of foods that make their way down to the
bottom of the tank, but should be offered some high/er protein rations daily...
worms of all kinds (even chopped up if large), insect larvae, shrimps... sinking
pellets are good if high quality. Best to feed them twice per day... And you
likely know these are very long-lived fishes. I know of some in captivity for
more than thirty years>
I serve floating pellets to my fish. Though I know that they (clown loaches)
grow pretty slow. Secondly when I see my loaches from a greater distance they
don't hide but when I reach near to aquarium they float just like a bullet n
hide in a drift wood like a flash. Are these fishes shy in nature? Thanks Bob.
<Do look into and use some sinking foods as well... keep your tank covered (to
prevent jumping), keep up regular water changes (weekly) and you'll be surprised
how quickly your loaches will grow. Bob Fenner>
Dojo Loach resuscitation/Heimlich on a fish?? 7/12/05
Hi all at WWM,
<Howdy Ter>
The strangest thing happened to me yesterday with my Gold Dojo loach, and I
just wanted to share it with you guys, and see if you had come across
anything like it before! He is my absolute favorite fish, such a character,
so yesterday was a total fiasco.
<Oh?>
I was feeding my small tank (consisting of a female Betta, 2 silvertip
tetras, and a Gold Dojo loach, and an Oto) as normal yesterday, when I
noticed my Gold Dojo was going after a large broken off chunk of Sinking
wafer. He usually nibbles on these things, but today he seems to try to
swallow the whole thing.
<I get the same way around pizzas>
Anyways, as soon as the too big-piece-of-food fit into his mouth, it seemed
like trouble. He was chomping wildly at first, and then I noticed his body
started convulsing a bit, like I'd never seen him before. I thought he might
be choking, but then he swam away fine, like nothing happened.
All of a sudden, 2 minutes later, he started darting madly across and up and
down the tank, faster and crazier than I had ever seen. He was spiraling
out of control, never stopping, unless he hit a rock or the substrate, and
then he would land on his back, belly up. He did this a few times, and then
went still, belly up on the bottom of the tank, rapidly losing his color.
Now I've heard that they go nuts before the weather changes, but this didn't
seem like the case, he was doing the same thing as my guppy when he died.
So, by now my girlfriend and I are in panic, we reach in to the tank and
pull him out by hand, and place him in a cut off Arrowhead jug that I had
just filled with tap water and I threw some Bio-Coat in a hurry in hopes of
conditioning it. By now he is pretty much unresponsive, limp, but
occasionally twitching in my hand. I start doing everything I learned in CPR
class, but for a fish!: rubbing his belly back and forth, trying to open up
his gills, pinching his throat lightly in hopes I can maybe expel the food.
I even tried blowing in to his mouth getting it to open up!!! All this time,
he is getting more and more limp, taking maybe one or two breaths.
This goes on for maybe about 5 minutes (in my panic I really don't know
though) when I had basically given up hope and thought he was dead. He was
laying belly up in my hand, totally limp. Then, my girlfriend yells at me to
try putting him in the water, so not knowing a better alternative, I put my
hand in the jug, and suddenly, I noticed he turned on his side, and he
starts breathing!!! Totally to our surprise and unconfirmed relief, he
gradually gets upright by himself and keeps on breathing in our quarantine
jug.
<Yay!>
So we keep watch over him for the next hour, and he just lays there still,
continually breathing, just resting on the bottom. Little bubbles even
occasionally pop out of his gills. We are so ecstatic by now that we cut the
bottom out of another jug, poke holes in it and stick it in our main tank as
a temporary makeshift sanctuary for him. By the time we put him back in the
tank, he has started squirming a bit more. Now, its the next morning, and I
see him making his way around the sanctuary jug, swimming up to the surface,
and hobbling around.
Anyways, I know this is probably just the beginning of the battle, because
he must have endured an amazing amount of stress from the whole ordeal and
possibly some internal damage from me rubbing his stomach and gills. He
seems to be getting more and more energetic, but I put a dose of Melafix
into the tank after this happened to stave off any strange infections, and I
also had a dose of Bio-Coat and Amquel+ that I put in the day before doing a
regular 25% water change. Is there anything else I can do for him during
this time??
<Mmm, nothing more I would do>
Would aquarium salt be a good addition to help the healing
process???
<Actually no... the Tetras and Oto don't "like it">
(and would this be ok for a tank with Tetras, a female Betta,
live plants, an Oto, and a couple ghost shrimp??)
This is definitely one of the weirdest things to happen to my fish, so I
just wanted to share this experience with you guys and see if you had come
across anything like it before! Also if you had any advice as to what else I
can do for him, and when I can put him back along with his fellow tankmates.
Ill definitely keep a close eye on him for the next couple days.
Take care,
Terry
<I'd return the fish to the main tank... likely better water quality there. Bob
Fenner>
Clown loaches won't eat 8/9/05
Help!
<Hey Jeff! I did see you called...>
I have a 30 gal tank with three large clown loaches, about 6 yrs old. The tank
also had a Kissing Gourami but this fish died a couple of weeks ago. It died
slowly, it stopped eating and grew thin. Tried treating in in another tank with
Maracyn II but this did not help. Now the loaches have stopped eating and they
hide most of the day. What can I do?
Regards,
Jeff Hulett
<Start a series (daily) of a few gallon water changes... and try not to worry...
these fish can go a very long time w/o eating... I recall your message said your
Corydoras had spawned again (a good sign that your overall water quality is not
off)... Likely the loaches are "going through some changes" with the warmer
weather... will be fine in a week or two. Bob Fenner>
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