Worry of Loach

[SwedishFish]

I have a banded loach and a zebra loach ( not botia) that like to bury themselves under the swordplants and gravel my question is i know they like to bury themselves but can they back out or will they trap themselves and die? :(

[Dahlia]

I have a horse faced loach that buries itself often, sometimes for very long periods of time. It doesn't seem to have any problems getting back out again when it wants to. Your loaches should be fine.

[OrionGirl]

I had a kuhli loach that lived under a UGF for over a year--he's still alive and fine. My kuhlis bury themselves under logs, plants, large rock--anywhere they can. Never seen any harm from it, other than a few disturbed plants. My weather loach will dive into the substrate--sends it flying--and never hurts himself.

There are many fish that 'hunt' this way--they cover themselves with the substrate, then wait for dinner to swim by. Or, the shuffle along through the substrate with their noses and root out the little crunchies that live there--scuds, snails, etc.

[Dahlia]

OrionGirl, what depth of tank do you keep your kuhlis in? I want some, though I never find them around here. Are they very delicate fish? My LFS says you need a shallow tank or they tend to die from not being able to go to the top for air, but you just said yours lived under a UGF for a year so I'm not sure what to think...

[OrionGirl]

Kuhli loaches are not particularly hard to take care of. I've never had any problems with mine, and I've kept them in several different tanks, from a 15 tall, to a 40, to 5.

[MrGoodbytes]

I once read of someone who built a maze of PVC pipes in his tank, buried with sand. That would be really interesting to do, but it must be impossilbe to catch the loaches like that (I've tried with yoyos in a planted tank :p).

Graeme