Weather Loach Question

R

ralian

Registered Member
Dec 28, 2005
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Hello:

I'm new to the forums and have a couple questions. One of which I will post here. I have two weather loaches in my tank. I've had them for over a year and they've survived many of my early errors...such as not testing the water and making too big water changes...which other fishes did not survive. :sad: And also accidentally dropping one in the grass when I couldn't find him in the tank so I took out one of the logs to look inside and he flopped out.

However I think I've got it together now and have a nice 10 gallon aquarium with 4 half beak gar, a chocolate pleco, and two ghost shrimp. I know the 10 gallons may be small but all the fish and shrimp seem to be happy.

Here is my question...my loaches never stop...they swim constantly from the top to the bottom all around constantly moving...night and day. That's fine by me, but I wonder if they are ok? at first I thought I wasn't feeding them enough then I accidentally over fed them...tank got cloudy...and they just kept going. The loaches I've seen in stores are typically just sitting around doing nothing...I've heard they are nocturnal and just get active at night...but these guys don't seem to care what time it is. They are like the energizer bunny...are my loaches normal or are the more reserved loaches at the pet store normal?
 
Weather loaches are very, very active fish, so this doesn't sound unusual to me. But, you will need to make the tank is well covered--they are tremendous jumpers. And, start planning now to upgrade a larger tank--all the fish you have will be much happier in a bigger setup, and within a few months, they will start being stunted by the small size of the tank.

Just a point, as well--you do not need to completely empty the tank, nor remove everything from it for cleaning. Doing so remove much of the beneficial bacteria in the setup. Large water changes are not harmful, as long as they are done properly and frequently enough that the source water is similar to the conditions in the tank.
 
Thanks for the information. I've been thinking about a bigger tank. Would a twenty gallon be big enough if I didn't get any more fish? I know the half beak gar will only get about 2 inches long at most...I've heard that loaches get much bigger as will the pleco. Also, the gar are brackish water fish, although I've read they are ok in freshwater too. To be safe I've added 1 teaspoon aquarium salt per gallon to make them more comfortable and not disturb the completely freshwater fish. Does this sound ok?

I always use distilled water for the water changes...my water hardness was very high, and have brought it down to a moderate level using distilled. My tap water was no good and very hard.

Ryan
 
I always use bottled water for my water changes too because my water is so high in iron. I do a 10% change every two weeks and it seems to be working fine for my fish. My two dojos are quite active starting in the late afternoon or early evening. And boy, are they active. They swim like mad all over the tank and enjoy swimming up into the outflow of the filter, almost like they're spawning upstream. One kind of freaked me out yesterday as he (or she) was coiled around a plant and a bit of air tube right at the very top of the water. He seemd to be enjoying the bubbles coming up around him, kinda hottub-like. One of my guppies gave birth to at least 10 fry yesterday, so he may have been searching for a little tasty morsel of guppy fry.

They are sometimes very active in the daytime too. I don't have a lot of places for them to hide out, just some fake plants, a stump and a rusted out car dec. They seem to like hiding under the bubble wand at the very back. Of all of my fishy additions, their's seemed to be the most traumatic. It was about three weeks before they stopped swimming for cover each time I approached the tank.
 
I'd go with at least 40 gallons--and the gars will eventually need to actually go into a brackish water setup. Adding aquarium salt does not make brackish conditions, it just makes salted water. The loaches do not really appreciate the salt--while it's not going to be lethal, it is irritating.
 
Ok...so 40 gallons...since the loaches don't appreciate salt...then maybe I should keep them by themselves in the 10 gallon and setup a 40 gallon brackish water tank? My wife won't let me get two 40 gallons :rant2: so I'm going to have to make a compromise. In what way would be the best compromise for distributing these fish between a 10 gallon tank and a 40 gallon tank with one of those tanks being brackish...also, how do you make it brackish if adding salt doesn't do it.

Ryan
 
Aquarium salt doesn't contain the needed minerals and trace elements required to replicate brackish water. You'll need to pick up salt mix, like is used for marine tanks.

What about 2 20 gallon tanks? The loaches really need more swimming space than the 10 will give them. Or, move all the FW fish to a 40, and then keep the gars in the 10--by themselves, with good maintenance, they should be okay.
 
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