5ft Bookshelf Aquarium - River Scape

[doylecolmdoyle]

Here is a video of last 15 minutes of my light cycle sped up to 1 minute, kind of looks like the light just switches off, there are some bigger jumps in the dimming, need to re-program the cycle I think and extend the final fade out of light. I have never been able to get the tc420 to fade out smoothly, seems to jump at about 5% light then again at about 2% light.

Camera ran out of storage space so you dont see the light fully switch off! may need to try this video again

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Added 4 "Borneo Scooters" today, unsure what exact species they are. Really cute fun to watch fish! And as expected they are loving the high flow area of the tank, managed to film one sitting above the water line... crazy fish! hopefully they dont climb out! I think I will add 2 or 4 Sewellia loaches tomorrow, I think they are a different species and a store here in Perth stock loaches labelled Sewellia's, tho a bit more expensive from this store and may well be the same kind of loaches, its hard to tell.

Here is the bad iphone video Taken about 30 minutes after adding the loaches

 

[alto]

Awesome wee fish

If you can stand it, I'd let these settle in a few days before adding more similar shape species - while they may be OK, they may also go through some aggression/posturing & these guys look very young ... can you tell if they are thin?

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Awesome wee fish

If you can stand it, I'd let these settle in a few days before adding more similar shape species - while they may be OK, they may also go through some aggression/posturing & these guys look very young ... can you tell if they are thin?

Good tip, may be worth holding off on more loaches, tho the store I was going to visit have a sale this weekend.

They are tiny, 3 out of the four must be very young, one is larger and a lighter colour, hard to say if they are "thin" the shape of the loach makes it hard to tell, they seem to be swimming about grazing on brown algae.

 

[alto]

Hard to resist a sale

I'd likely not
Just have a power head ready to toss into one of your "extra" tanks if needed (assuming there's algae)

 

[sciencefiction]

Congrats.

I am not sure what species they are. I am a newbie hillstream keeper myself but I think they are Pseudogastromyzon of some type. Give them a couple of weeks to colour up and their dorsals and body should colour up better. If Pseudogastromyzon, they tend to breed readily in captivity From what I've researched, you should actually add more at once to spread aggression A school of 10 minimum. And yes, they're tiny and very slow growers. I have one of the new ones that is hardly 2 cm long, a real baby loach. .

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Congrats.

I am not sure what species they are. I am a newbie hillstream keeper myself but I think they are Pseudogastromyzon of some type. Give them a couple of weeks to colour up and their dorsals and body should colour up better. If Pseudogastromyzon, they tend to breed readily in captivity From what I've researched, you should actually add more at once to spread aggression A school of 10 minimum. And yes, they're tiny and very slow growers. I have one of the new ones that is hardly 2 cm long, a real baby loach. .

Thanks such interesting fish to watch, tho kind of worrying, the biggest loach seems to like climbing the glass above the water line... concerning to watch, I dont think it is a o2 issue or high temp... maybe it is just exploring ?! I dropped the water level a bit to hopfully stop the loach from climbing over the edge.

After a bit of research I think they are Pseudogastromyzon Myersi, I think I will head back to the store I purchased these fish from and add another 4 or 8... probably best to keep the same species loaches... also they are a qtr of the price of the Sewellia loaches the other local aquarium store sells and I read sewellia can be aggressive.

 

[sciencefiction]

Thanks such interesting fish to watch, tho kind of worrying, the biggest loach seems to like climbing the glass above the water line... concerning to watch, I dont think it is a o2 issue or high temp... maybe it is just exploring

Watch out the first couple of weeks until the acclimate. After that they won't venture above water....

 

[alto]

How's the shop on quarantine, treatments?
Any chance fish may have external parasites? - itchy/irritation or short on oxygen could explain the behaviour
I don't think it's "exploration"
BUT it's been ages since I've been a LOL forum regular so perhaps this activity is (well) documented

 

[sciencefiction]

I don't think its anything to worry about. In the wild they climb wet stones so not out of the ordinary but being new in the tank they may try to climb up and fall over. In a while they'll figure out the limits of the tank.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Took the camera out tonight, photo overload below.

Added 2 Sewellia lineolata and 4 more "Borneo Suckers" which I found out are Pseudogastromyzon myersi, tho many of the fish have variations in markings, who is who... I dont know The more yellow loach is a Sewellia I think, there is one big and one small Sewellia, would like to add 2 more of these guys but the store only had 2 left. They seem to have stoped climbing up around the water level and are shuffling all over the tank now, they seem to hide most of the day but came out when the light came on... which was weird! Have increased the intensity of the MML tube to try grow some more algae, tho the loaches seem to respond to algae wavers.

The white clouds dont seem to know what to think of the loaches, occasionally darting at them and then sometimes being startled by the loaches flying about. Will make a video during the week.

IMG_2006 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_2003 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1998 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_2009 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_2008 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1985 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1980 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1978 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1973 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1965 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1960 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1915 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1912 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1906 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1905 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1904 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1902 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1901 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1897 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1898 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1951 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1947 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1942 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1952 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1940 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1935 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1929 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1927 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1926 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1925 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

IMG_1918 by Colm Doyle, on Flickr

 

[sciencefiction]

The more yellow loach is a Sewellia I think

Not sure which loach you have in mine but the spotted loaches are Gastromyzon, either G. Ctenocephalus or G. Scitulus. I posted a picture of one of mine earlier in the thread. They are the ones with blue tails and blue dorsals.

Their natural colour is very dark brown, cream spots on top, with blue tails/dorsals and yours will colour up eventually as well. It could be your light as well giving them that odd colour.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Not sure which loach you have in mine but the spotted loaches are Gastromyzon, either G. Ctenocephalus or G. Scitulus. I posted a picture of one of mine earlier in the thread. They are the ones with blue tails and blue dorsals.

Their natural colour is very dark brown, cream spots on top, with blue tails/dorsals and yours will colour up eventually as well. It could be your light as well giving them that odd colour.

This is the loach i thought was a Sewellia - https://www.flickr.com/photos/colmdoyle/28357901888/

Seems I have 3 distinctly different looking loaches, some spotted and they do look like some kind of Gastromyzon, then some that have more a of a stripe pattern (Pseudogastromyzon myersi) and then the 2 fish I think are Sewellia, they have a more tight dotted pattern, also I have noted what I think is the Sewellia rummaging in the sand which apparently is a trait of Sewellia

 

[sciencefiction]

The bright yellow colour on the spotted ones is a stress colour. It will change when they settle.

I am not sure what type of loach is the one on the flickr picture. It possibly also has a stress colour right now but doesn't look like Sewellia to me.

The one with the small spots, on pic 15, 16 and 18 seems to be Gastromyzon Ctenocephalus.
Pic 12,13,14, 17,19 and 20 looks more like Gatromyzon Scitulus(bigger white spots)
Picture 9,10,11 are Pseudogastromyzon, not sure which type but maybe different from Myersi

 

[sciencefiction]

Also, have a look at Gastromyzon Zebrinis as the oens of yours I thought are Pseudogastromyzon could be that instead, especially if they also have a blue tail.

Pseudogastromyzons have yellow/red dorsals and stripy, non-coloured tails. They've got no blue on them.

If they're gastros, none will breed in captivity. It has never happened yet....They're a bit of a mystery.

Hillstreams do hide. They love staying under stones, on the side of the stones but venture often enough to be seen and enjoyed. The first few weeks they'll be dominance chase around but after that they seem to settle.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

@sciencefiction thanks for all the info! Yes I am sure the colour will change with a bit of time, I took the photos pretty much as soon as I added the new batch of loaches so they would have been stressed, I do really like that yellow looking loach but makes sense that it is a stress colour. Not to fussed about them not breeding, to be honest I have never got any fish I have kept to breed, not even the guppys I keep

You are right they hide! Some times I can't see any of them and I have been checking on the floor behind the stand hoping I dont find any fish back there, but soon enough one will dart out from under / in-between a rock, occasionally they all seem to go hunting around the tank for something to eat. So glad I set this tank up!

How "cool" do you normally keep your tank with hillstream loaches? Temps are dropping here over night and I am worried about the tank getting to cold, tho I am not sure if thats a problem, min temps in Western Australia usually dont get much lower than 15c and my apartment stays much warmer than that, tho I have been keeping the window open next to the tank to keep the temp down.

 

[sciencefiction]

to be honest I have never got any fish I have kept to breed, not even the guppys I keep

Me neither. I've never been interested in breeding fish. I am interested in keeping the ones I have healthy and happy.

How "cool" do you normally keep your tank with hillstream loaches? Temps are dropping here over night and I am worried about the tank getting to cold,

I have a heater set at 20C. I've read they do well between 20-23C. They're cold water fish but still "tropical" cold water. The room they're in is warm because their tub is right next to a large pond that acts as a water heater so I don't think their heater ever turns on except for after a water change. Temp is around 23C right now. I cool them down at each water change but last week the temp may have been way higher as it was very warm.

They're really cool fish and very addictive. My local fish shop informed me they're getting two different species next week so I am going to check them out....I may come back with more loaches...I am in the process of setting up a bigger tank for them but for now they're in a tub

Keep an eye on the spotted loaches if they're eating fish food. Mine didn't at all. They maybe eating some now but the only thing I've really seen them eat is dig for black worms and the algae.....My algae has grown out of hand...fairly ugly but the fish are fat.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Thanks Sciencefiction, I need to look into fans or something to keep the tank cool during summer!

 

[sciencefiction]

It's probably a good idea but depending on how hot it gets and for how long, they are supposed to fair well temporarily in sub-optimal temperatures.

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Quick iphone video of the loaches, I was concerned the loach on the sand was rather pale but after a fair bit of reading apparently they will change colour depending on there surroundings, patchy white spots are bad but full body colour change is ok, which seems what is happening here, yesterday the loach was yellow (after transporting home) and this morning he was back to a dull grey with lighter spots