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5ft Bookshelf Aquarium - River Scape

I put 1mm pellets normally, just in case but I'd guess 2mm would be fine too. Mine get blown but sort of stop in front of the outlet. I have a pre-filter sponge on the intake so nothing gets in there. This is also the area with the most loaches hanging around. I wonder if its because of food availability, It is also the area with most algae....Some of the loaches like the Gastromyzon Ctenocephalus literally sift for them, eat them and expel left overs via their gills. The Pseudo gastros eat a bit differently and sort of munch on them just like a pleco would.

I'd keep putting some in and remove the left overs. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, my Gastro Ctenocephalus didn't eat any food at the start...And from my personal experience all the loaches seem to like the NLS pellets, at least eventually they will...
 
Wonder if there are any tabs that are similar to the Sera O-Nip tabs, can be stuck to the glass so that you can monitor who is feeding on them.
 
Cheers @sciencefiction I watched the tank closely last night, some loaches moved right over the NLS pellets without stopping, even shrimp moved directly over them without stopping which is unusual, tho some loaches did stop and "munch" on them, I think it was the pseudo gastos, they kind of munched like a pleco would as you said above, tho it didnt really look like they where getting much from the NLS pellets, from what I can tell they stay fairly hard in the water for a fair amount of time. 2mm Pellets seem to big for them to consume whole, they sort of nuzzle them around, the 3 bigger loaches may be able to consume them whole, tho not sure if this is something loaches do. Its only the second day of NLS algae pellets, maybe more loaches will get the taste for them with time, the problem is trying to remove un-eaten foods, its pretty hard to remove.

I think I am having more success feeding pellets which break down fairly fast, I have been using tropical 3 algae tablets, I think they like them, generally hanging around the area where I drop a tablet, the tablet goes soft and breaks apart within like 10 minutes. Not sure on the quality of the ingredients, you can see the listed in the link below.
https://www.aquaristikshop.com/aquaristic/Tropical-3-Algae-Tablets-A/172185/

@Gill the tablets above do stick to the glass but drop off fairly quickly so I have stopped trying to stick them to the glass and rather place them in a strategic location where they dont get blown around / away to much. Will look into Sera O-Nip tabs

I think they also like these Hikari pellets "sinking tropical pellets" again which go soft fairly quickly - http://www.hikari.info/tropical/t_03.html

Anyways I will continue feeding a good varity of foods, including live micro worms, surely they are eating something.
 
For now, It's more important they start tasting something so I wouldn't worry about quality of food right now, give them whatever they prefer to eat. It could be that the smaller pellets can't stay put on one spot. I do think they don't like chasing their food much, if at all.

The below is a video of my beaufortia loaches eating. Watch the one on the glass, it's lifting the NLS pellets with its nose. He does that all the time, too lazy to sift the sand..:lol:

Sorry about the poor quality.
 
@sciencefiction Cheers for the video, my small loaches that I have seen on the pellets are not eating them whole like your big loach, they just kind of nuzzle them around, sit on them for a few seconds, I guess they could be grazing on them, not sure, I may try break a few up into smaller size and sprinkle them in.

The pellets that do blow around do settle which is good, but actually targeting a area with the small 2mm pellets is not easy
 
I was looking at my loaches today, about the first time in at least a week. Now that there's many more, the aggression has reduced to a minimum. They're pretty much munching in couples on the same stone, or sifting the sand close to each other without the chasing or pushing. I had read about them doing better in bigger numbers, otherwise the weakest link gets bullied out of food and I think I am seeing how that works now, that I have 16 of them in. I read everything I found about them in 3 different languages :rolleyes: The information is so limited and so repetitive for the most part although there are some germs language particular.

I also didn't plant the tank on purpose but I threw in some anarcharis which I actually bought for my pond to try as my fish there are plant destroyers. It suffered for many weeks, ridden with algae, not really growing but it kept increasing it's mass and now it seems it has taken off, gotten healthier and challenging my algae :eek: I see quite the reduction of it.
 
@sciencefiction what size is the tank you are keeping the loaches in? I am thinking about trying to get 2 more sewellia that would bring total numbers to 12. In general the fighting in my tank is nothing more than a bit of a pushing, a few loaches have particular rocks / areas they like to hold, its kind of interesting to watch, mainly the smallest sewellia, it will chase away any loach that gets to close and then the big spotted loach has an area it likes to control. I think all the small Gastros get along, they often follow each other around when on the glass or sifting in the sand. The biggest sewellia lately is staying hidden in the plants occasionally coming out. I thought I had lost it.

Good to hear plant growth is controlling your algae, I think I need to increase my light. I was able to order some repashy soilent green (should arrive monday), I will try dip some stones in the gel then let them harden and add to the tank, I have watched a few videos of a bunch of loaches feeding this way.
 
@CooKieS I think sciencefiction also reported his loaches didnt touch the soilent green... hopefully I have some luck, pretty sure they are eating algae pellets etc... just thought I would give this gel a try as I like the idea of setting it on rocks. Here is a video I saw on youtube, this guys fish love the stuff.

 
The tank is only about 100-120 litres. It's a tub actually but they'll be moved to a 300 litre eventually. I am just delaying for now to make sure all of them are eating well. I'd have to regrow all the algae again once I move them.

The repashy doesn't stay long on the stones. With the flow, if not eaten fast enough, there's a possibility it gets blown all around the tank. Or at least that's what happened to mine.
 
So I got the repashy soilent green delivered today, tried to dip smooth river stones in the hot liquid... didnt stick, poured the hot liquid mix over smooth river stones again didnt stick, finally tired pouring over lava rock and it did stick.

I put the lava rock with the soilent green green in the tank about 5 hours ago, its holding pretty well on the rough lava rock and the loaches are showing interest in it, not exactly flocking to the rock but they are interested in it and I have seen some grazing on the rock / gel mix.

Managed to capture a quick video of a few some gastro's getting into the gel. Will take the rock out when lights go out, hopefully they develop a taste for the gel, i need to get some smaller lava rocks as it doesn't seem they will eat this much food in the 6 hours the light is on.

 
That's worked well - I tried it on rocks too and it just slid off. I'll have to get some lava rock. I've heard people dipping sticks in too, I guess they are also a little rougher.
 
Yeah, probably that's why mine fell off as I tried it on stones.:) My latest addition is proving to be a really hungry bunch. I was watching them yesterday literally swallowing the NLS pellets very eagerly. They aren't even afraid of my hands and jumped on the food while I was still sprinkling it around while I had the filter off. I think they've kicked out my other Gastros to the other side of the tank...a bit of a concern as the algae keeps diminishing. I might have to up the light duration back again as I got it down to 12 hours only and it doesn't seem to be keeping up

I am glad yours are eating well. It gets easier when you see them eat as algae isn't easy to grow, lol.
 
Yeah, probably that's why mine fell off as I tried it on stones.:) My latest addition is proving to be a really hungry bunch. I was watching them yesterday literally swallowing the NLS pellets very eagerly. They aren't even afraid of my hands and jumped on the food while I was still sprinkling it around while I had the filter off. I think they've kicked out my other Gastros to the other side of the tank...a bit of a concern as the algae keeps diminishing. I might have to up the light duration back again as I got it down to 12 hours only and it doesn't seem to be keeping up

I am glad yours are eating well. It gets easier when you see them eat as algae isn't easy to grow, lol.

Cheers, they seem to eat the Gel when they find it, tho as I said they are not going crazy for it but seem to enjoy it when they land on the lava rock, I watched the tank for another hour or so after I took the video above and other loaches tried some of the gel food, can really tell when they eat as they nuzzle / shake much more, rather than moving more slowly. My loaches are still very scared of myself and if I move to suddenly around the tank they take shelter behind the rocks where they cant be seen, one thing I did notice is they seemed to like the little cave the lava rock created when I placed it in the tank, I think I will add a few more rocks to create a few more nooks they can hide in, at the moment they retreat to the back of the tank behind plants etc.

It seems the only algae I am growing at the moment is tiny tuffs of BBA on the rocks closest to the light with a small amount of green algae on the rocks closes to the window...
 
Changed my lighting schedule today, previously the light was on at 4pm ramp until 5pm, 10pm random down 11pm off. (The hours I normally see the tank, inline with all my other aquariums)

I have bumped the lighting period by a fair few hours, need to grow green algae so far I am only really growing BBA...

Light on at 8am ramp up until 12 noon, 6pm - 10pm ramp down (light is running at 50% power). Its hard to estimate how much light the ramp up and down period provide, 14 hrs of light is x3 whats I usually provide... bring on the algae!
 
If you have spare cobbles you could pop them in a tray of water in your garden - the full sun will grow some nice algae.

Have you considered upping the intensity for the mid period? Not sure what light you went with but I run mine 12 hours without algae. Well I got a hint on the glass in one tank this week after clearing all the floating plants.
 
If you have spare cobbles you could pop them in a tray of water in your garden - the full sun will grow some nice algae.

Have you considered upping the intensity for the mid period? Not sure what light you went with but I run mine 12 hours without algae. Well I got a hint on the glass in one tank this week after clearing all the floating plants.

Cheers yeah i should grow some algae outdoors, I actually have 3 tanks outside one of which grows ideal soft green algae on the glass, the other two are surprisingly algae free.

The light I have is a custom tube with 3w LEDs, controlled by a tc420 so yes I could up the intensity of the peak period, at the moment peak time is at 50% power. I will give this new lighting schedule a week or two and see how it goes.
 
Captured a quick video of two loaches fighting, these guys where going at it all evening, entertaining to watch, the small sewellia doesn't like anyone.



Have been reading about diatoms, I am going to dose some silica to see if I can increase the growth of diatoms for the loaches to feed on.
 
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