Breeding black Kuhli Loaches

[Tay690]

Hello all,

Today I was cleaning my tank removing what is left of the levamisole in my 55g and I noticed that one of my Black Kuhli's was really fat
Her belly is green in the middle and towards the back end when she swims up towards the light

Currently she is in a 55g with the following
6x Gold Zebra Loaches
1x Clown Loach
1x BN Pleco
6x Black Kuhli Loaches
4x Longfin Zebra danio (dithers)

The tank has 2 large pieces of driftwood (1 of which my clown owns but doesn't seem to mind company from time to time) java moss and silica sand (very fine) substrate

My question is...what can I do to provide cover for the kuhli's if they want to breed? Is there something I can do with stones? (I have like 200 lbs of random rocks from deals) Or should I put them in another tank? (I have a 10g I could setup...have everything ready filter and all)

I'm happy things are going well in my tanks despite the callamanus...all the fish are colouring up so amazingly...so hungry and healthy and now apparently mature enough to breed lol

Thanks for the help all,
Tay

 

[sed03f]

I'm not sure a definite answer to getting them to breed is known at the moment. I have tried several ideas, removing fish who may eat them, covering filter, doing water changes when I see she has eggs, adding peat, but have yet to have them breed.

I have heard occurrences where they breed in UG filters.

btw, Clown loaches like company. They will eventually outgrow your tank too

 

[Kuhlifan]

There's not really much you can do. It's not uncommon for kuhlis to become gravid (have eggs) but is very rare for anything to come of it. Think of it like humans, women of breeding age produce an egg on a regular basis, but nothing comes of it unless it's fertilized. It's the same with Kuhlis. The problem is initiating a spawn. Nobody can figure out just what causes kuhlis to want to spawn and fertilize their eggs.

Some people, as mentioned, have reported it happening in undergravel filters, so maybe it's a light thing. Some suggest it's a temperature thing, which might also apply to undergravel filters. Some suggest a change in water chemistry is what sparks it. Nobody really knows though. Sometime it simply happens.

If, for some reason, you have actual babies from this, hiding places would be important, just like any other fish. If you want, you can try varrying the lighting, temperature or doing a water change to see if that sparks something.

Romantic music couldn't hurt either.

 

[Tay690]

LOL
Some nice slow jazz to put them in the mood huh?
Thanks for the advice on the clown...she's happy and healthy
been through everything and she's still around
Ich...bent spine and months of hiding relentlessly after her friends all died
and she still wants to be here

She lost all of her school due to random swim bladder issues and she's still kicking

She's about 5 inches now so she's still relatively young...but she likes to school with the gold zebra loaches usually

I have a 125g sitting in storage but the wife won't let me set it up in my apartment (for obvious reasons...and I do have 7 tanks already)

I cross my T's and dot my i's...not to worry

 

[fishorama]

Here's an article on oblonga breeding http://www.loaches.com/articles/breeding-experience-with-pangio-oblonga. You might want to try the 10g with some small gravel for fry to hide in, everyone likes fry/egg snacks. Have some plants for microfauna...& cross your fingers, it's almost always a matter of luck.

 

[Tay690]

Thanks for that article Fishorama
I think I've actually read that about 4 or 5 times already lol
I just can't seem to find the "trick" to it...it doesn't seem like he did anything out of the ordinary except provide open space for the eggs to drop through
I'm wondering if that marble idea for breeding danios would apply to this situation?
Either way I'm going to setup that 10g and work my way up to 6 tanks lol

 

[fishorama]

Can't have too many tanks, lol. It'd probably help to condition them for a few weeks with frozen foods like bloodworms to help get them in the mood. Loach eggs are really tiny from what I've read so a sponge filter with lots of "micro-goodies" might be the way to go. People also find loachy fry in there canister filters sometimes.

My pangio girls are almost always gravid, no babies though...Good lick!