feeding loaches?

[fishywishywashy]

Okay, I have a weather loach in my 75 with a few barbs, 5 aurlius barbs, rummy nosed tetras, a pleco, and a rainbow shark. I bought sinking algea wafers for him, but he can't really get too it. I drop it down, and even in the dark the aurlius get it first. he has gotten a few and some flake food, but he will need more to survive. He has yet to come out and compete for food (had him 3 days). Any ideas?

[sed03f]

You have to have at least three of these guys to keep them happy. First, they really like sinking pellets, but if you are going to treat them to some algae wafers, try breaking it up in several different pieces first and distributing it through out different parts of the tank, it took months, but mine sometimes come up to eat flakes too

[fishywishywashy]

is it possible to keep 3 in a 75 with the stock I have? I will get rid of the pleco soon as I found he will get huge! (i have 5 aurlius barbs, 2 tiger barbs, 1 odessa barb, 7 rummynosed tetras and a rainbow shark)

[stezatois]

mine like pond snails too

[fabsroman]

I have 10 angelicus loaches and 6 clowns in a 75 that has a 55 gallon refugium that is extremely heavily planted. Granted, they will be getting a much larger tank and refugium in a year or two, but they are doing pretty well in there right now. The 75 is also heavily planted. I also have a pretty huge castle in the 75 that I got from PetSmart, and the loaches and plecos are almost always hiding in that thing. The way I feed them is to put the food inside the castle for them. Three times a week I drop in the following:

10 algae wafers
14 carnivore pellets
14 sinking wafers
2 massivore pellets
10 shrimp pellets
2 froezen blocks of bloodworms
2 frozen blocks of krill
2 frozen blocks of mysis or brine shrimp
2 frozen blocks of daphnia

On occassion, I have heard the clowns clicking when I put the food in. I put 1/2 of the food at one end of the castle, and the other half at the other end of the castle. I have also seen my angelicus loaches, and my clowns when they were much smaller, eating flakes and freeze dried plankton/mysis shrimp/bloodworms off the surface when the automatic feeder goes off.

I also see them eating the cucumber I put in the tank mainly for the plecos and farlowella.

Since your guy has only been in the tank for 3 days, he might still be acclimating to it. Also, as noted above, loaches usually like to be in groups.

[fishorama]

Dang! fabs, that's a lot of food! All each time or did I misunderstand?

[fabsroman]

Nope, that is what I feed them about an hour before lights out. I only feed them like that twice a week, maybe 3 times, and everything is gone come morning. Granted, the MTS might have something to do with it, but I doubt they do that much. If I am not mistaken, there are 9 plecos and 16 loaches in the tank, and they do a number on the food right away. They hide like crazy during the day inside that castle, but when I drop the food in the castle, there is a flurry of action with everybody trying to get some. My Iquitos Tiger pleco is the first to get at it. Then, 2 butterfly plecos, a king tiger pleco, 2 clown plecos, and 2 BN plecos. Okay, that makes 8. It used to be 9 plecos before my L-81 passed away during the catastrophe. I'm trying to get another one, but haven't seen one at the LFS yet.

When the automatic feeder goes off, 5 to 6 angelicus loaches out of the 10 and the 8 hatchet fish almost finish the entire thing off.

[fishorama]

I see, I thought you meant only the 16 loaches :silly:

[fabsroman]

Pond snails are about the only thing that gets the loaches out of the castle during the day. I take them out of the refugium and drop them in the loach tank. They don't last very long even with the lights on.

[fishywishywashy]

Wow, thanks. I have been posting like crazy, but no one answers my question! I need to find somekind of hidey-thing for mine and feed it in there. Right now he is burrowing in the sand all day and misses the food. Thanks for the tips!

[H3D]

Feed them Hikari sinking wafers when the lights are out. This is my loach's staple food.