Kuhli Loaches Dying Off.

[ShinySideUp]

I have had my Kuhli's for about four years and they are starting to die off and this doesn't gel with the generally advertised lifespan of c10 years (I had fifteen at one point but have no idea how many I have left as they are so secretive).
 
They are fully grown, not starved and have a wide variety of food.
 
My pH is around 7.2 all other nasties are zero apart from the nitrates which are about 40ppm (tap water is 20 ppm so can't do much about that).
 
Apart from some mid-swimmers (tetras mostly) their major tankmates are seven Clown Loaches.
 
The Kuhli's show no sign of disease, I just find them dead.
 
Any suggestions?

 

[Baccus]

With no signs of disease my first culprits would be the clown loaches, how long have the clown loaches been with the khuli loaches? If the clowns are relatively new or have grown a lot they maybe starving the khuli loaches out by being quicker to get to any food and just being food hogs.
The other idea that comes to mind is that you never really know how old any fish is when purchased from a shop, so maybe the khuli loaches have simply died of old age even though they have only been in your care for a portion of thier lifespan.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Thanks Baccus. I think the first suggestion is the more likely as although they have all been together for several years, the Clowns have grown considerably in that time and are especially fast now. I'll try putting food where the Clowns can't get at it and see how that works.

 

[Baccus]

Let us know how it goes. I have a bubble blowing hipppo head in my tank ( I had to remove the airhose to it since it let so much air out in big blobs that it literally used to catch unsuspecting passing fish and almost blow them out of the tank), this hippo head I keep wedged open just marginally and my Khuli loaches all pile inside it. Its rather funny to see all the little khuli faces peering out of the gaps where the head of the hippo meets its lower jaw. Because the other fish in the tank with my khulis can be gluttons and super fast at getting the food I generally try to drop some food right near the hippo head so the Khuli loaches get a good chance at it while the rest of the fish are occupied else where in the tank.