Starting a culture

[fish wrangler]

Does anyone have experience with kuhli loaches. More specifically what to feed them?

I have read they have a hard time transitioning to flake and freeze dried foods, so I wanted to start either a bloodworm, black worm, or brine shrimp culture.

Can anyone give me some beginner tips or do's/don'ts to culturing these things?

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[Retired_AF]

Kuhlis are scavengers and will eat almost anything that sits on the bottom. They are also nocturnal so you may have a hard time seeing them at first. Make sure they have plenty of hiding spaces and, if you have a fine substrate, be aware that they will burrow into it and you may not see one or more for several days. If you think you have lost one, stir up the bottom and you may find it again.

 

[fish wrangler]

I have one 6 inch long by 1.5 inch wide by 1 inch tall half log cave, and the tank is about medium planted. I have FloraMax as substrate.

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[Alan79]

I have a 20g tank with a healthy Kuhli population. Retired AF is correct in saying they are scavengers and will eat almost anything that sits on the bottom for long enough. I feed mine a variety of frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen ubifex worms and new life spectrum "community fish" (in 1mm shrinking pellets size). If i want to give them a food to last a day or three i drop in an algae wafer designed for plecos, which they don't seem keen on but will eat when they get hungry.

The frozen bloodworms will bring them out of hiding more quickly than any other food i give them. In terms of feeding them and getting them to actually show themselves to you i taught mine to come out by turning off the filter before feeding and i always drop the food in a selective spot on the tank. Mine were very shy until i got them into a feeding routine. Don't drop food in before lights out or they will stick with their nocturnal habits.

With Kuhlis, the more you have in the tank the less shy they will be, and if they have fairly regularly spaced hiding spots they will feel more confident coming out into the open. I don't really find the live food cultures necessary since they do well on frozen foods.

I haven't been very helpful about the DIY part of this question but i hope i have provided some inspiration about the variety of things you can put in their diet.

 

[fish wrangler]

Thanks Alan! Definitely a big help. If they eat frozen foods so well I don't think I will need to do live cultures.

Here is my tank as of 1-29-2015:


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[Alan79]

Thanks Alan! Definitely a big help. If they eat frozen foods so well I don't think I will need to do live cultures.

Here is my tank as of 1-29-2015:


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You are welcome. Kuhlis are my favorites so i love to talk about them. They should be pretty happy in your tank (which looks great by the way) and will provide you with some enjoyable viewing when they settle in. If you can train them to eat when the filter switches off it will be a big help in making them less shy around you. And they're usually very active at sunrise for me so if you want to watch them doing their crazy thing be prepared to set your alarm for when the sun comes up at least once or twice.

I'm not sure how many of them you have. I have something like 11 left that i know of in my 20g, but started with 6. They do better with a group round them and 5-6 is supposedly the number at which you should start their group. Don't stress to much about the food type though they are pigs and will eat any sinking food.

 

[fish wrangler]

Thanks! My plants are not white at the top, my phone camera white balance can't adjust for it.
I am planning on getting 5-6 this weekend or next week when I am off school??. They will be in QT for 4-6 weeks and then go into the 29 gallon. The qt is semi planted and has a nice cave for them to hide in, plus the 10k t8 light isn't the brightest which should help them. Once i get these guys my stock is done. 20 neon tetras, 10 black skirt tetras, 10+ ghost shrimp, 4 otocinclus, and 6 kuhlies... im a little overstocked. I only wanted 15 neons but the person miscounted in my favor, and i didn't realize it until i had then all in the tank

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