Black Kuhli Loach ???????????

gouramimommy125

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Nov 19, 2010
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anyone have these guys...if so whats your thought on them? are they enjoyable like a clown loach? do they take care of snails?
 
I really like kuhli loaches. They tend to be shy, and will do best in a big group, and yes, they will munch snails happily. They will bury themselves in substrate, so do best in tanks with smooth substrates.
 
My kuhlis must be lazy. I have 4 different species, and none of them will touch snails. The more you keep, the more outgoing they tend to become, but don't be surprised if 90% of their visible hours happen directly after you've fed the tank. They do require a fully matured/cycled tank though. Hardy fish, but they are quite susceptible to poor water quality.
 
I have black & striped kuhlis together. The oblongas (black) seem more active & less shy but they're newer. Mine don't eat snails or shrimp so that I can notice. Get a minimum of 4-6, they've very social & love plants & hiding spots.
 
I had a kuhli once and he didn't eat snails either. He didn't do much of anything, really, except dart across the tank now and then.
 
A month or two ago, I bought a striped kuhli loach from a pet shop since it was the last one and I felt bad for it. After getting it home and doing more research, I saw that they prefer to live in groups. So, I scoured every petshop (including Petsmart, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus, all the locals) for more striped kuhlies, but to no avail. So, I settled and got the black kuhlies instead, though it's my understanding that they are actually a different species from the striped variety.

Anyway, my experience thus far has been that the striped kuhli comes out at pretty much any time of the day, usually for no more than 20 - 30 minutes at a time. Then he'll disappear for a bit, and come back out again. He isn't very shy at all.

The black kuhlies on the other hand, I've only seen a handful of times since putting them in the tank, and now I'm curious if they're even still in there. They'd strictly only come out after dark. And when I'd get up in the morning, before the lights came on, they'd hide the instant they heard any noise or saw even the faintest light from the lamp in the other room.

So, anecdotally, I'd have to say the black kuhlies are far more shy than the striped variety, though, I imagine in different tanks, with different conditions, and different occupants, the experience might not be the same.
 
From everything I have read in the past Kuhlis do not eat snails.

I've gone through different batches of them and they have behaved differently. The first set of three I purchased were wild and would cruise the tank at night. They were fun to watch.
I had a heater malfunction and cook half of my fish and the Kuhlis died. I purchased three more and they are pretty lame. I rarely see them. I've considered getting a few more since people say they like friends but I have this idea stuck in my head that I'll be adding to the bio-load with three more lame fish I'll never see.
 
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