Vaillantella Maassi - Rare Loach

[Bloo]

Well just an update I've had them for 6 months now and they are doing really well. Albeit being very shy. For a long time I thought I only had 2 because whenever I cleaned my tank, I only ever saw two (well, glimpses of them) and shortly after I got them, found a fish in my filter - assuming it was one of the Vailantella maassi. But recently in a house move, I (to my surprise!) discovered that I still had all three. Looking very well and like fat little piggies.
They're masters at hiding though and a number of times when I took some bogwood out of the tank to give a clean - and despite shaking the wood before taking it to the bath - a couple of them fell on the carpet on the way to the bathroom! So it was a race between me and the cat to get to the fish on the floor first!

But they certainly seem like hardy little things. I definitely need to set up a proper photo tank to get some decent photos.
Today I was cleaning my tank and had just took a few very quick snaps - but the lighting was completely wrong and they were super stressed as I took the wood out to clean. So, sorry they're not the best pics.

But gives you an idea

 

[Barracuda518]

Very nice

 

[severum boy]

Very handsome fish, I wish I had the space, not to mention funds, for a group. What are you keeping them with?

 

[Bloo]

Thanks Barracuda518 & severum boy
They're being kept in a 100 gallon community tank with a group of L260's, and L091, a common whiptail, a bunch of dwarf chain loaches & some Botia Kubotai + Boesmani Rainbow fish. That's mostly it.

 

[chris_for_fish]

Thanks Barracuda518 & severum boy
They're being kept in a 100 gallon community tank with a group of L260's, and L091, a common whiptail, a bunch of dwarf chain loaches & some Botia Kubotai + Boesmani Rainbow fish. That's mostly it.

Speaking of Botia kubotai, I just got 5 from ebay.co.uk. They are without doubt the most stunning breed of botia!
IMO anyway

 

[afterfeedingtimemyarmsgone]

jealousy rising. . . . .poo . . . .i want one. . . .

 

[tropicman]

lovely fish very rarely seen you lucky beggar

lovely fish very rarely seen you lucky beggar

 

[mikev]

Cheers, Bloo,

I got a few of these guys two days ago, and indeed they are serious into hiding...worse than any loach I've had yet. Their number in the tank seems to be decreasing as they find better and better places to hide, I now can see one head and one tail only (the qtank unfortunately has a lot of rocks, and they make good use of it).
I'm a little concerned about them eating since they are afraid to leave the cover even to grab a bloodworm; the only time I saw one eating was when a bloodworm landed right next to the head of one of them. Kuhlis can be pretty bad initially, but Maassi's are worse. And since I really don't see them, I have no way of knowing if they are healthy or not.

Anything you can suggest from your experience?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

http/www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auc...&1192755894

just a heads-up for US members... man, if only i didn't own cichlids!

 

[mikev]

Yes, this is where mine came from. In the US, Franksaquarium is probably the only source of them now, and my understanding is that they are no longer on the export list, so whatever he has left may be all that is available for a long time.

 

[Straydum]