Y. sidthimunki tank in the works

calivivarium1

calivivarium1

Finished the fight
May 5, 2008
1,432
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Fresno, California
So, my other thread vanished from another forum so here is a similar post that will hopefully last. I am setting up a tank that will house at least six (Thanks Debbi!) Y. sidthimunki and as this will be my first adventure with loaches, I want to be sure I am planning the tank right (and the best part is it will be a display tank at my parent's house!).

The tank I am looking at is a 60gal(48"x12"x23") that will be filtered by a Rena XP3 and spongefilter/powerhead. The tank comes with some sort of PC fixture(not sure which one yet), so I will probably use that. I am going to do pool filter sand as substrate with a choice piece or two of driftwood. If I can find a sick looking piece of slate, I will add a tiny bit of that as well. The tank will be moderately planted with Amazon swords, Crypts, Java fern, probably some Java moss, and other low-med light plants that strike my fancy.

Anyone loach keepers see any problems so far? My only concern is I am not sure if the tank comes with a lid or not..... I am assuming I will want one with loaches?
 
Yes, they are very active and swim up and down the sides of my tanks constantly. I would be worried one could get spooked or just jump out in a frenzy.

Otherwise your tank setup sounds perfect.

Please keep us updated with pics...I'm so excited to see Debbi's wonderful sids get settled in their new tanks! :D
 
You could do way more than 6 in that tank. Sids are really awesome loaches. When I have space for another pretty big tank (which sadly will probably be a while), I really want to get sids again. Around here they keep getting more expensive though. I thought $13 a piece was bad when I got mine a couple years ago, and now the same place is selling them for $20!
 
Mine love driftwood to hide in. I've bought some that has holes winding through it, small tunnel like areas, it's a long piece that at the one end I rigged it so that end rests on two small pieces of driftwood. The go underneath and sleep there and peer out as well. On the other side of the tank is a more gnarled piece also with holes and tunnels and it rests on another small two small pieces to form a sort of cave in the back. They love these kind of places to sleep. When I pull the driftwood out of the tank, I have to shake it over a towel until they drop out of the hidey holes. I'll try to remember to bring the good camera from work home for the weekend and I can post pictures of it. I have small java ferns and taiwan moss growing on top of the driftwood pieces. They do knock off pieces of moss regulary while searching for food. Crypts small and tall, and anubias. They are all good plants for low light. I keep the tank a bit more subdued than my other tanks. I have two small rocks in there that they also rest on, and they will rest and fall asleep.....completely fall over on their side....on the substrate, especially after a big dinner of FBW! They don't seem to play in the filter outflow whereas my albino cories are always in that. But they love big water changes. They'll go up and down the end of the tank together for hours after a big water change.

If it doesn't come with a lid, I would get one. Just not worth the risk of finding one dried up on the floor. I caught the first 12 last night, a member from the Bronx picked them up. They jump out of the net!
 
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I have 10 sids (and a whole lotta other fish !) in my 46 bf. I have 2 filters, an AC 70 and an Emperor 400, so there is some flow. My sids, when they do rest, like to hang out on some flat slate I have on top of some pleco caves. They also like to explore my big piece of mopani driftwood. It has a hole about the size of a pencil barrel, and 2 or 3 of them will play hide and seek in it with the others. It must open up to a larger space, because 4 or 5 of them can get in there at a time. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a pic of them in there yet, as they are mostly in there when I turn the moon lights on. So I would say slate and driftwood would help keep them happy. And about 10-15 more of their friends !! Good luck.
 
Thanks for the info guys. I am going to snag a versa-top for the tank if it doesn't come with one. The only snag in this plan is the fact that I can't see the tank until Saturday(and the guy selling it doesn't have a digital camera), so I hope its not a piece of junk.

I have heard from several sources now that they uproot plants occasionally, have sids ever done this to any of your guys' rooted plants?

Once I start assembling the tank I'll be sure and throw some pics up.
 
I could never get young pieces of dwarf sag to stay in long enough for the roots to take hold in the front of the tank. They root through the gravel pieces, I don't have sand. I replaced them with dwarf crypts and never had another problem.
 
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