Will this work as a coldwater/subtropical tank?

[sealife]

- Tank is 122cm x 36cm x 46cm
- Eheim 2217 filter
- Wavemaker for oxygen (hate air pumps)
- Heater on very low, around 22 degrees.

Fish:
1 x Ranchu Goldfish
1 x Ryukin Goldfish
8 x White Cloud Minnows
2 x Peppermint bristlenose.

Thats it.

There is quite a lot of water current in tank. Even the Eheim canister filter creates strong current, let alone the wavemaker...I will need to position these correctly to not affect fish.

Will the stocking work?

I wouldn't mind a Hillstream loach too, but not sure if that's overstocking or it gets eaten.
Thanks.

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[Delapool]

Perhaps a bit borderline for the bn on temp - just my experience though. Otherwise look forward to pics!

 

[sinibotia]

Well, normally I don't recommend hillstreams for tanks with goldfish, but it sounds like you have a lot of flow so I think you'd be OK.

 

[em1981ma]

No hillstream loach they need pristine water conditions. Goldfish massive bioload. Take it from someone who has experienced this combination. The Goldie's will eat any man-made food you put in for hillstream loach ie algae wafers. Hillstream loach don't do well in captivity. Species only tank is only success story I know of.

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[FWFishTanks]

I had a hill stream in a subtropical tub ponds and he survived and is still doing well, and that tub had pretty bad water quality I would assume

 

[em1981ma]

How long have you had the hill stream loach and what do you feed ? Out of interest

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[sinibotia]

I had a hill stream in a subtropical tub ponds and he survived and is still doing well, and that tub had pretty bad water quality I would assume

I would call that an exception, and a credit to the fish, not a good recommendation. Freshwater fish have survived millions of years by being tough enough to survive some very harsh conditions, but it's best not to put a fish at the limits of what it can take. Hillstream loaches are highly adapted to clean water and intense flow.

As far as no goldfish with hillstreams- I think you're actually right about that, em. I could see it working with common goldfish in a gigantic tank, but I think that enough flow to make the hillstreams happy would be too much for fancy goldfish. I think that maybe with enough maintenance it could be pulled off with a lot of planning by a very experienced fishkeeper.

 

[em1981ma]

I would call that an exception, and a credit to the fish, not a good recommendation. Freshwater fish have survived millions of years by being tough enough to survive some very harsh conditions, but it's best not to put a fish at the limits of what it can take. Hillstream loaches are highly adapted to clean water and intense flow.

As far as no goldfish with hillstreams- I think you're actually right about that, em. I could see it working with common goldfish in a gigantic tank, but I think that enough flow to make the hillstreams happy would be too much for fancy goldfish. I think that maybe with enough maintenance it could be pulled off with a lot of planning by a very experienced fishkeeper.

I think Hill stream loach need a power head to create the right speed of current and your right its a little too much flow for fancy goldfish. Personally I don't think they should be kept as pets , that's just my opinion. They tend to die of starvation as they need cultivated green algae which in England was hard to create at home. They aren't v interested in man made foods and can only survive so long on microscopic organisms on the tank walls. I have heard there is a gel you can buy them. But was never able to find this. In a species only tank they may eat algae wafers but with fancies they didn't get a look in. Cucumber was the only thing I could get mine to eat when I had them. I had 2 in with 2fancies in a 42gallon when I first got them. They lived for 8months. Even when I moved then into a powerhead highspeed flow tank of there own with wcms and a few danios after about 4months. They still didn't touch algae wafers or survive.
They also as I've heard do better in large groups.
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[sinibotia]

There's a dedicated following for hillstream loaches. People build elaborate one-way flow systems with 15+ volume turnover per hour just to house them. But outside of that kind of system I mostly agree they shouldn't be kept.

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[FWFishTanks]

I feed the loach cucumbers and algae wafers like you would any other loach, and of course, the natrual greenery in the tank. I know the setup isn't perfect , but it is probably better than where the hillstream was gonna go anyways. I think that experimenting is part of the hobby, and if it works, that's great, but if it doesn't, it's a good lesson for all of us.