Kuhli Loach Tank

[chefkeith]

I have about 12 Kuhli's. They shuttle around my tanks all day and night. Some are out and about during the day, some are out at night, so I don't really know how many I have. They seem to be my most active fish. I love love watching them wiggle across my 6 foot river tank especially. I don't think a 10g tank is nearly big enough for them, as they will need company of their own kind and some dither fish. 20g is a minimum tank size for them. The bigger the footprint the better.

IME, Kuhli's are also a low light fish. Bright lights will probably make the Kuhli's want to hide all day. I have 3 tanks linked together with water bridges and the kuhli's never swim over to the brightly lit planted tank I have. Most of them stay in my 90g river tank, which is sparsly lit for a few hours a day. I use a rope light inside my hood for the river tank. My other 95g tank has no lighting at all for the time being.

For housing, I build something that resembles a card house, but out of small pieces of slate rock. I try to make it as sturdy as possible. I take it apart to clean the area about every other month. I provide alot of hiding places throughout the tanks.

Sand is a great substrate for Kuhli's. I just use playsand with some pea gravel. Toys R Us has some good clean playsand. Pool filter sand works well too. Or even Playsand from Home Depot, but you'll have to rinse it off real good. I wouldn't recommend that colored sand they sell at the lfs though.

For filtration, well I'm a canister guy, they are safe bets. I'd get a rena filstar xp1. But I kinda figure you'll get a HOB. Be carefull with your hob choice as Kuhli's might try to swim up the water return outtack or intake and into the filter. I've read about this happening with the Aquaclear Mini's and other hob's.

As for a heater, I wouldn't worry to much about them getting burned, I think Kuhil's know better. Just make sure you get a quality heater, like a Ebo Jager or a Via Aqua Titanium heater.

Also keep in mind that Kuhli's should be kept in water that is no greater than 78 degrees. Heres' a good link for kuhli's-
http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/freshwater/loaches/kuhliloach.html

 

[mcps95]

I'm definitely more likely to choose a HOB or internal filter for this tank because of its location. At this point, I think I'm between the Penguin Bio-Wheel Mini and the Eheim Aquaball. Anyone have an Eheim Aquaball who would like to share their experience?

The lighting will probably remain standard fluorescent lighting with a "daylight" bulb or something similar. I doubt I'd really need to spend a lot for extra lights to get plants to grow in this size tank. I'd also like to add water sprite to the potential plant list (which is supposedly what they prefer for laying eggs in).

I'm still torn between sand and gravel. I think I'd like to try sand (which I've never done before -- always gravel). Heard that some people use sand with some gravel, with mixed results, so I think I'll stick with one or the other.

 

[grebo444]

My kuhli's love the sand in their current tank. When we moved house a little over a year ago, I couldn't find them to get them out of the tank...I started filtering the sand through a net to try to find them and they were all buried inches deep in the stuff!

I'm just setting up a new 250l tank now and I'm thinking of using flourite, but I'm dubious of whether the kuhli's would like it....and I'm loathe to take their sand off them!

 

[Jtd724]

I heard years back on a forum that if you have 6 or more khulis they arent that afraid and are active in the day? True or False? anyone know who has 6 or more khulis without aggressive fish?

 

[grebo444]

I have 6 kuhli's in a tank with a few other loaches and a black shark (can't say he isn't aggresive!). The kuhli's are out all the time and don't seem timid at all - I've even seen one trying to pull a food tablet out of the shark's mouth!

 

[VippiN]

I've owned 5 Kuhli's in a 70L (18G) tank for about two years now. Great little things, they have claimed one rock as their own and that's where i'll always find all five in a bundle wrapped around each other.

They don't like the light and are rarely in direct contact with the lights. If they are out, they'll be in the shade, so to speak.

I've never fed my Kuhli's anything directly. They seem to eat whatever my other fish (Clowns, Guppies, BN) do not.

They don't seem to need a lot of room to run around in. They rather spend their time in a small space with others of their own kind. When I find my new place i'm going to grab about ten Kuhli's from my local, and see how they flourish in a 30L (8G) tank with some planted driftwood.

 

[Teelie]

I have 5 in a 10g and I only see them at night with all the lights out in the room but on in the tank. They have plenty of hiding places but prefer the frygrass or driftwood to hide under. They get easily spooked and will run to hide at the first hint of a percieved danger. I've had them a year and the only way I know all 5 are alive is by removing everything in the tank, which I've only done once. Since then I've seen definitively 4 out of the 5 and probably the fifth one seperately but I hear the larger their numbers and the more hiding places they have, the better it is for them to be active. I also use soft blue lighting that isn't overly bright.

 

[Betta-Luvn]

Maybe get a cave, make shure its heavly planted.They like clean, clear water, and do best with aquarium gravel, such as fine sand, that does not have sharp edges.
Kuhlis Will live sevral years in a tank with only othe kuhlis in it.They like to have at least half dozen of them in a group.

As for breeding goes. They scatter their eggs on mostly plants. The eggs stick to the underside of the plants and thats where they stay until they hatch.They will also lay eggs in a dark place, such as a cave or under a lock or rock.

They will exept flake,freeze dried,and any small live foods.
Kuhlis get about 3.5 Inches long... Not to say they cant get a little bit bigger.(mine happens to be about 4 inches now, hes been in my community tank for 5 years now.)Heres some pictures i found on the internet:

Heres some Preganent Kuhlis:

There are also albino Kuhli Loaches...Ithink their kinda weird...

 

[Spunky]

Some day i want to have all three types of the kuhli loaches: regular, albino and black.

Looks like a weather or dojo loach, but not as big. Just for future reference, if i had all three kinds in one tank would they breed with each other? I wouldn't want that but it would be fun to have a large group of them all together.

wow, those pregnant kuhlis are something else.

 

[bagh33ra]

I've got about 7 or so Khuli's at the moment in my hex tank, I say 'or so' because I started with 7, but can only confirm counting 5 at a time. I have a ceramic skull that several of them live in and come crawling out for food regardless of light. Of course my new ghost knife seems interested in kicking them out of the skull. For now their sharing, but I need to get my 70gal setup and the knife moved before he starts growing.

The are definately an active fish in groups.. they dart around the whole tank at times. They are really good in a heavily planted setup against bright green/pale green plants. Their colors show up well.

If you are doing a bookshelf khuli setup I'd look into a longer/shallower tank to give them room to play, but still save on weight (particularly you'd be spreading the weight over a wider surface area and could go with 15-20 gal if you found the right tank)

Lots of plants to break up light is good for keeping them from burrowing.. I had a tank years ago where they would burrow, but in my current one there is enough cover to keep them out and about.