Hillstream Loaches

[jess6905]

hi all iv been looking into hillstream loaches for afew weeks now and was wondering if anyone on here has any words of wisdom when it comes to keeping them in a tank?? i have a 30 gallon i would like to put them in(goldfish need to go to my neighbor first), but for the next few weeks iv got as a temporary housing situation 3 options.....
15 gallon long which contains afew guppies, 2 cories(getting more if i can find the kind i have again), a bn plec(will be going into a different 30 gallon soon), 5 black neon tetras, 4 females bettas, moderate lighting, and has a sand floor.
option 2 is a 15 gallon bow front betta sorority tank with bright lights, a smooth stone floor
option 3 is a 10 gallon with 3 serpe tetras with lower light, and a fine sand bottom.
i have the ablity to move around afew of my fish to make room for the hillstreams. which tank do you think would be best for them if i can find them?? its hard to find them around here, but i have spotted them afew times in my favorite lfs, so if i can find them id like to pick up afew. i know its kind of random and all, but all 3 of thier possible temporary homes plus the 30 gallon tank they will go into are all cycled, moderatly planted, and have algae growing in them(the bow front has the most though). yes i have read up on them for afew weeks now, but i want your opinions on the matter.

 

[J4MES]

Hillstream loaches requirefast moving water, so you need a powerful internal filter or external filter. The water needs to be clean and well oxygenated fro these fish to thrive. The tank itself is best with lots of smooth rocks for them to 'suck' onto and ride against the current. Make sure there is some algae in the tank, the like to graze on the stuff.

J4MES

 

[-germ-]

15 gallon long sounds like the best option IMHO, simply based on the fact it sounds like it'd have the greatest water surface area, so potentially a higher level of oxygen.
Not sure what to tell you, they are brilliant little fish, shy at first but once they begin to gain in confidence you'll be stunned by the behaviour they display.

The 4 main points when looking at hillstream loaches are;
temperature 20-23 degrees celcius, they will tolerate temps above this but it isn't ideal. I have a fan blowing on my tank at almost all times keeping the temp at around 22.
aeration they have high oxygen requirements, this is best maintained by having alot of water movement (and not letting the temp climb) at the surface of your tank. I also use seachem purigen but this is another issue altogether.
water movement these loaches tend to glide on the currents that water movement provides, the greater the water movement you can acheive at all levels of your tank the more natural the behaviour you will see
natural food sources There are no guarantees your loaches will take to manufactured foods and at first may completely ignore them. You need a good build up of algae in the aquarium to start with on the off chance they don't take to the foods you offer quickly or in case they never do.
This can apparently be acheived by keeping rocks in tank water in a glass vase in strong sunlight, maybe with some added fertilizer. This didn't work for me, but we have fairly poor weather.

Tank conditions;
Plants are not neccesary for hillstream loaches, the main thing is too have some good size smooth rocks for grazing off. Also to have lots of rocky hiding places, i use smooth rocks siliconed together to make nooks and crannies. I've heard sand mentioned as being neccesary but don't believe this to be true. Ph requirements vary from species to species. Temp as above

Suitable tankmates; obviously what is suitable depends (mainly) on the amount of water movement you can acheive but IME suitable fish are;
zebra danios
white cloud mountain minnows
otoclinus
paraotoclinus
various other loaches

Breeding;
They are rarely bred in home aquarium, breeding behaviour has not been observed thoroughly.

Suitable foods;
bloodworm, blanched kale, blanched spinach, good quality flake, sinking catfish pellets, algae wafers
There is no guarantee the 'loaches' will take any of these, mine will only take algae wafers (small JBL).
Some species have a greater requirment for meat for example sinogastromyzon wui you'll find this out through species specific reseacrh.

Interesting facts;
Aufwuchs; hillstream loaches main food source is not algae itself but the aufwuchs (tiny organisms) that inhabit algae. The more mature your algae build up, the more aufwuchs that will inhabit it.
Colourloss; many hillstream loaches lose colour over night as a means of conserving energy, this also commonly takes place when they partake in a particularly serious territorial battle. Strong colourloss, from green by day to off white at night.
Territorial battles; these take place over single rocks more often than not and involve sideways displaying, jumping on to of each other or sumo battles where they will attempt to push each other of the rock in question.
Family; (i think i recall tis correctly) Hillstream loaches are not catfish or cyprinids, they have their own family name which is Balitoridae

Further info; specialists at life in the fast lane loach pics link....

Good luck with your loachy decisions
-germ-

 

[loachman]

Cool water and alot of movement are my advice. You can't have too much flow really. Green algae growth will also help alot.

I tried to keep them in a standard tropical tank before I knew better and failed miserably.

 

[jess6905]

thanks everyone!! most of my tanks have green algae on the walls, but i have several large and medium sized rocks that i can start growing algae on. i have 3 silk plants that are starting to grow hair algae will they eat that by any chance?? if they will i'll let it keep growing if not then i'll remove it. as for tank mates germ recommended zebra danios, white cloud mountain minnows, otoclinus, paraotoclinus various other loaches...... what other possible tank mates are there?? i like white clouds and ottos, but after that im not sure what else to add cause i dislike zebra danios(had one before he was evil) so is there anything else i could add??

 

[-germ-]

I'd check in the pleco section, i'm sure i've read of some larger plecos that be kept around the same mark...
Honey gourami can supposedly be kept at a lowest of 22 celcius, i tried this and wouldn't recommend it, they aren't built for that type of water movement....
The other type of fish i've heard mentioned regularly in connection with stream tanks are barbs, i didn't look into it a great deal.
Maybe worth some research?

 

[MoonstruckMuse]

I agree with the barbs idea, specifically ones that are more streamlined (and therefore probably a bit more suited for a river-y setup). Cherry barbs could add a bit of color, and same goes for Rosy barbs which are a bit larger. Gold barbs
Tetras could also work out alright, again with the streamlined shape. I think they prefer slightly subtropical temps that you'd probably mimic for the loaches anyhow, though I'm not positive.
Speaking of subtropical, I think variatus platies also do better there, and they're certainly colorful, and seem as if they'd be okay in a river tank.