Butterfly loach

[Tcal01]

I know thus fish is also called the Borneo loach, hong kong pleco, hillstream loach, and Chinese hillstream loach. Does anybody havany experience with these? I'm looking into putting 3 or 4 in a 30 with a paradise fish, 2gbr's, and 6 rummynoses.

 

[fort384]

I have moved this thread to Freshwater & Brackish - General Discussion

 

[Tcal01]

So sorry. Wont do it again

 

[Tcal01]

Please if anybody has any information of these fish, I could really use it. I couldn't really find much on google

 

[Coursair]

As I posted in another thread. Find out the species of Hillstream Loach, get the Latin name and care guides will be more exact.

There are several species lumped under this and other Common names.

My club members say River Tank set ups are best. Or at least a Power Head. I haven't had one of these fish yet, but I've been researching them as I love the look of them.

Cool, Clean, Fast Flowing, well oxygenated water. Actual algae, you can rotate rocks to keep fresh Algae for them. YouTube has some videos.

I've read many accounts of them dying in regular Tropical Community Tanks. Too warm, not enough Oxygen or flow.

I hope to learn more as well. I found lots of care guides and forum threads on these fish.

 

[Gboy66]

Ya i want some of these too. As far as i know so far, plat smoothe rocks, algea, water flow, between 65-75 degrees. Still researching myself

 

[strokinbyeu]

i have one in my tank and the temp is a lil high but i have a power head and a bubble wand to help add O2 i also leave the water a lil low so the output of my canister filter also helps with the O2. mine eats alge when i have it. its neat he eats in a grid, eats a straight line for about a half inch then moves over and starts over till there is a square cleaned off.

i feed blood worms and myst shrimp and iv watch him eat the blood worms quite often. i know there not just alge eaters.

there neat to watch, very fast and is allways close to the substraight or a rock when swimming.

 

[Gboy66]

Whats your temp? Hiw big are they? I have a powerhead and it injects o2 so im good with that also

 

[Tcal01]

I haven't set up the tank yet and I know they need a temp of about 60. They get to about 2.5 to 3 inches

 

[Gboy66]

Nah they can live in higher then 60

 

[Tcal01]

Oh well Thad good news cuz I Thor for shure thy was gonna be a reason I wouldn't be able to have one. What is the highest temp they can live in?

 

[Gboy66]

75? Do research but its 75 or below i believe. Ya 60 cuts out alot of options for fish haha

 

[Tcal01]

I want to hav a paradise fish, two gbrs, a school of rummys and a school of red phantom tetras along with four butterfly loaches. Does it sound overstocked?

 

[Gboy66]

I want to hav a paradise fish, two gbrs, a school of rummys and a school of red phantom tetras along with four butterfly loaches. Does it sound overstocked?

Yea maybe cut put the rummys and up the red phantoms to like ten? Im assuming that you had less in mind earlier. So itd be
2x paradise fish
2x GBR
10x red phantoms
4x butterflys
Problem is rams prefer warmer water and loaches, colder

 

[Tcal01]

Actually, I was only going to hav one male paradise fish. Could I switch out the gbrs for killifish? I know they can tolerate lower temperatures than other tropical fish

 

[Gboy66]

Not sure iv never had kilis or researched them. If they like low temps then ya. Then 1 paradise fish. Thennn maybe you could get some rummys

 

[Tcal01]

Yah. Hopefully I can find all the fish at my lfs's. I hav no experience from ordering online

 

[Tcal01]

Scratch the killis. Instead of the gbrs, I want to put in a female pearl gourami. And instead of the red phantoms, I would like some celestial pearl danios. All their temps average out around 74-75 degrees.

 

[Coursair]

If you want your Butterfly (Hillstream) Loaches to thrive remember they like a River Tank. Lots of flow. Gouramis don't like fast water. Most normal fish DO NOT like fast water.

It's not all about temperature. If the tank is big enough you might get away with a powerhead on one side with quieter water elsewhere.

Just remember to look at the whole picture and environments they come from.

Hillstream Loaches are very specialized.

 

[Tcal01]

Oh. I've heard that hs loaches need lots of bubbles and fast flowing water but never considered that it would affect the other fish. Thanx. I don't think hs loaches are for me. I dont think i could handle a high maintenance fish like that . Especially because I'm somewhat new to the hobby. Thanx for the clarification