Black & Banded Kuhli Loaches

[Riso-chan]

I've got a dilema of the not so serious kind, yet it makes me anxious. I'm going to trade my swordtails in for some kuhlis, and ttoday I found out one store has only the black variety and another store has both. I can't decide which type to get. I had my heart set on the banded type, but i've heard they can be less hardy than the black variety. I was also wondering if it is possible to put two banded and two black together. I don't know these two types tolerate eachother.

 

[Betta-Gurl]

yes they do tolerate eachother, and banded kuhlis i think are better but you can get 2 of each

 

[nursie]

My LFS had both kinds together, they seemed to be ok.

 

[Riso-chan]

I recently added three hiding areas in preparation for them.
1. A rock stacked cave
2. Another just the same, but greenish rocks
3. a small jar buried sideways in the gravel

This sound decent for 4 kuhlis? Plus, I know they are sensitive to malechite green, and the if the green rocks were malechite would that hurt them?
BTW, I did a calculation for how many inches of fish I'll have. Danios=9in White Clouds=6in Ottos=2in & Kuhlis=16in Total Estimate=33in

Don't know how close that is, but you guys let me know if this is a decent stocking limit.

 

[maaltan]

I've got the black ones (a more proper name is "java loach" i think). I would have prefered the real kuhli loach but nobody had them. I was not aware they were sensitive to malichite green I dosed mine full using the extended regimin i read somewhere when i had a 3rd reoccurance of ick in the tank and they seemed fine.

I think malichite green is just a name for a dye that is supposed to look like Malachite rock. The rock is copper based doing a brief search so i don't know if its safe for fish or not.

here is a couple of pictures i found real quick of the mineral. Im not trying to leach peoples images, the first one had no originating html and second was in italian and the pic was way at bottom. google has lots of info

http://www.theimage.com/gemstone/malachite/320malachite2.jpg
http://www.ursea.it/gite/agliana/Giancarlo Mangoni - Malachite.jpg

If you bought rock from pet store for aquarium its PROBABLY safe. but then again i saw peacock eels being sold as "fancy bettas" so...

I recently added three hiding areas in preparation for them.
1. A rock stacked cave
2. Another just the same, but greenish rocks
3. a small jar buried sideways in the gravel

This sound decent for 4 kuhlis? Plus, I know they are sensitive to malechite green, and the if the green rocks were malechite would that hurt them?
BTW, I did a calculation for how many inches of fish I'll have. Danios=9in White Clouds=6in Ottos=2in & Kuhlis=16in Total Estimate=33in

Don't know how close that is, but you guys let me know if this is a decent stocking limit.

 

[Riso-chan]

No those aren't what my rocks look like. Probably fine if it hasn't caused a problem yet. BTW, I just did a water change on my tank, about 10-15 gals. My nitrates had been at 40ppm and that managed to lower them to 25-30ppm. Lfs said they should decrease more because of the new lighting, with weekly changes as well. I noticed a growth spurt in my plants. My anubias has always seemed to grow at pretty decent rate, now the crypts are all starting to pop up out of the gravel. The anacharis seems fine, I just cut it into seperate bunches, so its taking its time to settle in. It has had to be replanted a few times due to the swordtails pulling it up.