Id This Kuhli Loach Please?

[Mustang5L5]

I've had two Kuhli loaches in my tank for over a year now. I originally bought 4, but i guess 2 didn't make it. The two i have now have been living under a peice of driftwood. I rarely see them and if i'm lucky i can see a tail sticking out.

They must be doing fine because they have gone from the 1" when i bought them to just over 3" each and nice and plump.

Anyway, anyone know what kind this is??
http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=775641

 

[mikev]

I've had two Kuhli loaches in my tank for over a year now. I originally bought 4, but i guess 2 didn't make it. The two i have now have been living under a peice of driftwood. I rarely see them and if i'm lucky i can see a tail sticking out.

They must be doing fine because they have gone from the 1" when i bought them to just over 3" each and nice and plump.

Anyway, anyone know what kind this is??
http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=775641

Not a true Khuli, but the Myers Loach; this is actually the most common type.

The bottom looks greenish and uneven --- if this is actually the case, not the picture effect, this indicates a female full of eggs and ready to spawn.
Compare with pics here: http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/kuhli_eggs.html

Very curious: How did you manage to get 1" khulis? I've never seen young khulis being sold; presumably all khulis come from the wild.

HTH.

 

[Mustang5L5]

[
Not a true Khuli, but the Myers Loach; this is actually the most common type.

The bottom looks greenish and uneven --- if this is actually the case, not the picture effect, this indicates a female full of eggs and ready to spawn.
Compare with pics here: http/www.loaches.com/species_pages/kuhli_eggs.html

Very curious: How did you manage to get 1" khulis? I've never seen young khulis being sold; presumably all khulis come from the wild.

HTH.

1" may be a slight understatement. It's been about 1-1.5 years now so the exact size is forgotten to me. I remember them being small and very thin when i bought them. They have been out of sight for so long that i may be mistaken.

The bottom of that loach is greenish. The other one is slender and not green but same size.

I've heard breeding is difficult, so it might not even be worth the effort of trying?

 

[mikev]

1" may be a slight understatement. It's been about 1-1.5 years now so the exact size is forgotten to me. I remember them being small and very thin when i bought them. They have been out of sight for so long that i may be mistaken.

Ah. 2" thin khulis are common, and they usually fatten a lot but grow only a bit in a tank.

I've heard breeding is difficult, so it might not even be worth the effort of trying?

Not impossible, and if I were in your situation, I'd have tried. (Well, actually I'm trying but I don't have a female as promising as yours...)

The effort will not be too major either.

Basically, breeding is not under your control, but saving the babies is. In a tank full of barbs it is hopeless, so if you want to give it a try, you need a small second tank to start with. (I'm using a 10).

 

[Mustang5L5]

Basically, breeding is not under your control, but saving the babies is. In a tank full of barbs it is hopeless, so if you want to give it a try, you need a small second tank to start with. (I'm using a 10).

Well, i'm limited to 1 tank so setting up a 2nd is not an option for me. I'm actually looking to dismantle the 40 gal in favor or setting up a 125+ gallon heavily planted. Unsure if i want to keep the barbs for that tank, but I'd love to keep the kuhlis in that one but we'll have to see how that goes.

 

[smithrc]

why is that not a true khuli loach?
Whats the difference?

A google search says...
"Not all the loaches you can find in the stores by the name "kuhli" are actually kuhli. It is more like a common name, used for 4, or maybe even more, different species of fish from Acanthopthalmus (Pangio) genus: P.myersi, P.kuhli, P.semicinctus,P. javanicus . Currently I have two Myers loaches (P.myersi) and 3 black loaches (P.javanicus), and used to have several "plain kuhli" (P.kuhli)

All of them look similar - thin eel-like body, dark brown with or without stripes, which can be yellow or even orange, and slightly lighter body. There are no scales on the head, mouth is surrounded by three pairs of whiskers, eyes have something like little whiskers as well."

But no tips for ID'ing them...

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yes, what exactly does a true Kuhli Loach look like??

 

[mikev]

ID's is explained in an article on Loaches.com.

The last item worth mentioning is that all "kuhli" loaches aren't necessarily real kuhli loaches. There are a number of very similar species in the genus Acanthophthalmus . The real kuhli loach, Acanthophthalmus kuhlii , is a 3.5 inch fish from Indonesia, Sumatra, Java, Malaya and Thailand. It has 15 to 20 dark bars on its flanks that almost circle the body, but stop at the belly. There are two subspecies (maybe three) that have variations in the length of the bars and narrow bands within the bars.
........................
Myer's loach (also known as Myer's slimy loach or giant kuhli loach), Acantophthalmus myersi , is a 4-inch species from southeast Thailand. This species is considerably heavier bodied than the normal kuhli loach, and the body has a more slippery or "slimy" texture. It has 10 to 14 long, broad, dark bars that nearly encircle the body.

In other words, count the bars, that's it.

BUT: I think there are more (sub)species than listed, some khulis I've seen look different.

HTH.

Append.

BTW, I think 10-14 almost always means 11.



PS. And by the way, Mustang5' female is also too heavy-bodied for a normal khuli, but she is not nearly as fat as a couple of khulis in my tank.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Thanks Mikev

 

[OohFeeshy]

The drawing is pretty handy http/www.loaches.com/loach_drawings.html

 

[mikev]

Thanks Mikev

Very welcome.

And just in case I did not say clearly: Tiger Barbs is not the only issue; your chances in a larger tank will still be very poor.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Thanks Mikev

Very welcome.

And just in case I did not say clearly: Tiger Barbs is not the only issue; your chances in a larger tank will still be very poor.

Yeah i understand. However, i'm not trying to breed Kuhli's purposely. I just want to set up a very natural HEAVILY planted large aquarium and put only a few fish in it...one of which will be Kuhlis. I plan on getting more. I went to the LFS today where i got them originally but they didn't have any.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I'd get as many as you can, I used to have around 15 and they were out all the time, its dwindeled a bit and now they're always hiding... I plan on a group of around 20 ish in the future, just need to find somehwere that sells them. But its deffo a myers, the bands go all the way to the belly, unlike most other species.

 

[mikev]

I'd get as many as you can, I used to have around 15 and they were out all the time, its dwindeled a bit and now they're always hiding...

I have 18 as of one hour ago (not counting the blacks). But I don't think you really need so many for them to feel safe; in one of the tanks there are five, who are mostly out now; in another there are only two, who are out all the time.

Among the two I just got is a young female with a green belly.... I hope she survives (the tank at the lfs had these two alive and active, but also two dead khulis...)

But its deffo a myers, the bands go all the way to the belly, unlike most other species.

In my experience with Myers, bands do normally go to the belly but do not cover it. But I have one khuli where they actually do go all the way around (nickname: NoBelly, likely a female) and I was looking -- without much luck --- for another one like this.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Ok, checked out the other one tonight. Looks a little different. This one has many more bands. Possibly a true Kuhli?? I notice side by side it's easy to temm them apart as the stripe patterns are different.

this is the original picture i posted. A egg-laden Myers Loach. I checked her out tonight and her belly is bloated and green. About 2.75-3" long. Also a second picture showing her under driftwood where you can see the green belly.

http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=775641
http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=779288


Now here's the other loach. It's a little larger, about 3" long. Not as deep-bodied and i didn't notice any green. Possibly a male? Is it a myers loach or a true kuhli?

http/www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=11130S5RAi&i=779287

Both are thriving very well in my planted tank. They have nearly doubled in size from when i first got them in about 1 year.