HELP! hillstream loaches

marinkafuschia

marinkafuschia

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Oct 21, 2008
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Olympia, WA
So I did an impulse buy (I know bad idea!) and i ended up with two cuties. Petco called them Borneo catfish, pfft.
I asked the girl working there what they needed and she said they eat alge, ok, and can live in temps of 72-80. I believed her since, ok I really dont know why I belived her!UGH still beating my self up over not researching first:wall:!
I'm home now doing research on them and I'm freaking out since I dont have a air pump (they like fast flowing highly oxeginated water) just a power filter and my water temp is around 76 degrees! I turned my hearter way down already. they look like their doing ok swimming around stuck on the glass, but I know this may not be the best set up for them. I was wondering if people have sucsess stories and if they can be kept comfortably at around 76 (will add air stones as soon as the store opens friday!) or should I just give them back?
 
Usually in this area Borneo suckers or catfish are a mix of gastromyzon species-scitilus,stellatus,occilatus,zebrinus etc. But at Petco who knows? Check the species index at loachesonline for ID. I think I'll check my local Petco today, never seen them there before. Good luck with them, they're one of my favorites.
 
ok so I looked them up to the best of my ability and their Gastromyzon Ocellatus! the problem I have with them is their in my community tank with a ADF ghost shrimp and a bamboo shrimp. plus I would have liked to add a dwarf gourami in there butboth these species wouldnt do well in the same place becasue of their diffrent water requirments, corrrect?
But now that I have them perfect time to set up a river tank! :)! they are incredibly cute!
 
My LFS just got some g.ocellatus also and I bought 2 more along with a g. zebrinas. I have a small 20gal long rivertank for them with plenty of flow. I have experimented with temps and mine seem more active at 78 deg. so that's where I keep them. I have tried to feed everything on the market but have never seen them eat anything other than their constant algae grazing. So make sure they have plenty of good algae and add some current and they should be fine. How big is your tank? Maybe a koralia nano or a maxijet with sponge pre-filter.
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my tank is 30 gallons. I was reading on some site about them that since this species is the one most common it is sometimes breed then sold to the LFS, by doing that they have a higher tolerance for hot water. would you say this is true? So as long as I add the extra water flow and air they should be ok at higher temps? will my future gourami freak out at the water flow? sorry I have so many questions, its my 3rd tank besides bettas! :)
 
Don't worry about the questions, that's why we're all here, to learn and share info. I'm no expert, I've been keeping hillstreams for about a year. As far as I know gastromyzons haven't bred in captivity. I get all my info from loachesonline. Some of those folks have been keeping them for many years.
Fish vary even within species as they may come from different regions or watersheds, so we can give general info but it can vary. I raisd and lowered my temp(slowly) and observed the fish as I did and they seemed to be less active at the low 70s, better at 76-78. They are caught in clear fast moving streams with high oxygen and they need plenty of algae to feed on. I think it's our responsibility if we're going to support taking them from the wild to provide an environment that is as close to their natural habitat as possible.
 
yes that is why I'm so concerned! I think people mistreat fishes way too often and I'm determined to try to make their little livs as stress free as possible. their at 75-76 ish and look active and happy, I'm going to try feeding them some algae tabs and see if they take to those, but I'm also growing alge stones as well.
 
Try bloodworms too. Someone here had a recipe for fish foods & egg white that you paint on rocks & let dry. It was for her plecs as I recall but worth a search. Did you look over at loaches.com too?
 
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