Kuhlies and floramax???

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
What a coincidence...I was going to ask the same question but with regular grain EcoComplete.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
Great minds think alike :) lol i really like the look of kuhlies, but not sure if flora(or eco) is smooth enough for their barbells

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I like them as well. I have a mostly open top and I read that they are jumpers...so it might not work for me.
I have egg crate (the white plastic light grid and not the convoluted foam) that I can cut to fit the top if necessary.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice
 
When I went to the lfs today the loaches where burried in the gravel. Is this normal for them??? Will they come out over time or just at night?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Kuhlis often bury themselves, one reason they should have a soft, sandy substrate. I have kept them on regular Eco Complete and a smaller grain, rounded gravel, and they appeared to do well enough. I did not notice any damage to their barbels. They didn't dig in either of these, but I gave them plenty of caves and such, with wood and rocks.. and two or three of them used to spend time twined at the surface, among a dense cluster of floating plants I had rooting. Used to think they were ill, but they weren't. Just odd, I guess. They seemed to enjoy hanging over the stems.

I fed a lot of live food, had a scud population in the tank that they fed on frequently. They prevented the scuds from becoming too numerous.
 
Fishfur said:
Kuhlis often bury themselves, one reason they should have a soft, sandy substrate. I have kept them on regular Eco Complete and a smaller grain, rounded gravel, and they appeared to do well enough. I did not notice any damage to their barbels. They didn't dig in either of these, but I gave them plenty of caves and such, with wood and rocks.. and two or three of them used to spend time twined at the surface, among a dense cluster of floating plants I had rooting. Used to think they were ill, but they weren't. Just odd, I guess. They seemed to enjoy hanging over the stems.

I fed a lot of live food, had a scud population in the tank that they fed on frequently. They prevented the scuds from becoming too numerous.
Click to expand...

Where can you buy scuds from?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Never had to buy any.. they came with plants. They're a tiny crustacean that's found all over. But you can buy them from labs too, Carolina Biologicals sells them. They're a detritus feeder that also really enjoys algae. I used to keep a separate tank of them and put plants with algae on them in there, for them to clean off. They won't eat plants unless they are starving, but like snails and other detritivores, they'll eat almost anything. Leftover fish food, etc.
 
I will have to check my tank. Bought some plants recently from lfs that had a plant tank. Wonder if they had any in there because i know they had snails

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
They're about a quarter inch long, give or take, come in several pale colours.. white to light or dark grey, some greenish, or bluish. They stick to the bottom, doing a hop 'n glide sort of motion from hiding spot to hiding spot right at the substrate surface. They're quite fast movers, from above they look very slender, as you can't see their legs, which they keep tucked under when they swim. You'll often see one 'riding' another, they are mating when they do that. Females with eggs look a bit bigger. They breed relatively fast, but as I said, bottom feeders and fish who don't mind hunting the bottom find them very tasty, and they are a good food source.

If you end up with a lot of them, you will see them swimming at other levels of the tank at times.. but if fish are hunting them, they pretty much stick to the bottom.
 
I fly fish and tie my own fishing flys. Scuds are a good food source for trout by me :)

Could I get live blood worms or other live worms instead if i dont get scuds???
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
I wish I could find some wild around here.. but the local creek isn't very clean, I'd be leery of such a source. Since I had to take down my big tanks last spring. [ long boring story], most of the scuds went with them. There are just a very few in one tank now, I hope they'll breed, as I have some loaches in another tank that would adore them and some cories who also would adore them. And it's good for fish to hunt their own food, I think.. natural behaviour and all that.
 
Those creeks are 4 hours away...south west Wisconsin and i am in north east illinois

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
And I'm in southern Ontario ! I suppose there must be some in the Credit river.. trick is getting to places they'd be, I guess, without getting soaked. And the water is too darn cold now.. hopefully my pitiful little population will rebound.

I had thought they were all gone, but clearly a few made it, so with any luck, given no predation, there should be more with time.

I wonder if they live in lakes ? Lake Ontario is not very far from me, though I've never been keen on eating any locally caught fish, given the pollution, it is the source of our drinking water, after much treatment. Next spring I must get some rubber boots and go hunting for critters.
 
When i went fly fishing I just had to turn over rocks. Found scuds, may fly nymphs, and caddis fly nymphs. I might see what a local bait shop has for small worms. If they have blood worms I will get those

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Well they didn't list any on their website. Might put a wanted ad in classifieds

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Just takes a couple softball size rocks to get enough to stock a tank with scuds

What other worms are out there for live food options??

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
California Black worms are very good.. suit most fish, though for very tiny ones they're a bit big. White worms, not too hard to culture, they need a soil substrate and are fed something like dog or cat kibbles.

Microworms, very easy to culture, suit small fish and fry.. not true worms, they're nematodes. Also grindal worms can be cultured, similar to white worms I think. And walter worms, which I believe are supposed to be smaller than microworms, and similar in culture.
Oatmeal in a container, with yeast sprinkled on to feed them, and a cover with holes small enough to keep out fruit flies.

Many fish also like fruit fly larvae.. bottom feeders especially like them. Surface feeders will take the flies.. flightless ones are not too hard to culture, the small one, Melanogaster, is easier to culture than is Hydei, which is the size of the wild ones and has a longer life cycle.

Almost any fly larvae are accepted by fish who like live food too. My betta likes house fly larvae, but rarely are these available. They are hard to culture, they need rotting meat to lay eggs on and the resulting maggots need a dry warm place to pupate. So they smell and they're a pain. Every once in awhile I find a few because I feed my cat raw meat, and a piece will get lost under something. So I may find the maggots crawling away to pupate. If I do, I feed them to the Bettas.

For bigger fish, red wigglers may be fine too, they can tear them apart if a whole one is too big and you can cut them up too.. a bit icky but they wriggle after, which attracts fish.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Kuhli Loaches or Otos
Replies
2
Views
1K
Tai
T
B
Feeding Kuhli Loaches
Replies
9
Views
492
Colin_T
C
N
Need some help with my tank
Replies
16
Views
545
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
B
changing substrate
Replies
4
Views
272
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
L
Stocking a 100 gallon?
Replies
6
Views
538
huma-huma
huma-huma

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom