Kind of a newbie...need some help

[bassbonediva]

Hey all! I have had bettas for the better part of two years, but my "collection" has expanded greatly since January when I moved into a house and had more room for more tanks. Since then I have gone from one lonely crowntail male betta (Al) to six males (the same crowntail male still plus five veiltails), nine females (one crowntail and eight regulars) and three oto cats. I have five tanks going: a Hex5 that the male crowntail is in by himself, a divided ten gallon with three males in it, two 2gals with a male each, and, until recently, an 18gal Eclipse 1 system that was home to the females and the oto cats. However, for my birthday, I decided to upgrade my 18gal and made the jump to an extremely nice 46gal bowfront. It's a little hodge-podge on decorations because after buying the tank (for only $50 including everything but the gravel!), I didn't have money leftover for new decorations, so I just used anything extra I had. Anyway, I got it set up and cycled and added my girls and the oto cats. Everyone is healthy and happy in their new big home. Now comes my question...

I am wanting to branch out from bettas in the 46gal. The girls will remain in there, but I am looking to gradually add a small school of black mollies, another small school of penguin tetras, and, if funds allow, a small school of Glofish (with a blacklight for at night so they'll glow!). Today, however, on a somewhat impulse, I bought a black kuhli loach. He's doing fine in the tank and the girls have completely left him alone after the initial "What the heck are you?" phase that lasted all of two minutes. Now my question is, do I need to feed the loach sinking pellets or something like that, or will he be fine eating the flakes I feed the girls? The otos get one algae wafer between the three of them every couple of days 'cuz they're so tiny. Any help is appreciated!! *BOUNCINGS

 

[sheamurai]

I don't have any now, but when I did I never fed my loach separately. I think with the flake and algae wafers she will be fine.
Of course, there's nothing wrong with throwing in some pellets or frozen brine shrimp as a treat once in awhile! Your girls will love the brine shrimp too...

 

[FroggyFox]

kuhli loaches like to be in groups...so you might add a couple more to your stocking plans. Beware that if you do put a blacklight on the tank it can stress the fish out, so you wouldn't want to make it something that was on all the time. Sounds like you're thinking it out well, so thats always good

 

[bassbonediva]

I decided to forego the Glofish because they're so expensive (relatively speaking) and because I think my son (who is "half owner" in the tank) likes the black mollies better. I checked out one of the sites someone posted to check your stocking percentages and adding all the fish I wanted to put me way over my limit. Although, the site didn't include the filter I have (Penguin 170). Anyway, I thought about getting a couple more kuhli loachs, but almost everyone I've talked to has said they do better by themselves. Weird.

Oh, and my girls LOVE their brine shrimp. They get some once a week, as do all the bettas (16 in total now that I just purchased a new male last night...he's dark blue with steel blue fins). They won't touch bloodworms, but they go nuts for the brine shrimp.

 

[sheamurai]

Anyway, I thought about getting a couple more kuhli loachs, but almost everyone I've talked to has said they do better by themselves. Weird.

that IS weird - most of what I've read said more was better for kuhli's!

 

[Violet]

I have had kuhli loaches and black loaches many times over the years, they do not get big and do appreciate a group. I haven't worked out your tank space, but I would have a total of four myself at least. I have dojo loaches now (which do get big) and they behave pretty much the same way, always piling on top of one another and staying together. Remember that they do burrow in the substrate, so you haven't "lost" any if you can't find them. Neither should you panic if you see a head or tail poking out. I have also heard that if you have gravel, it can damage their little whiskers (can't think of the word, barb-something) I haven't had a problem with this myself, but it's worth thinking about.

 

[bassbonediva]

Barbles. That's what their whiskers are called. Well, I'm not going to worry about getting any more loaches. I was gone for a day and a half over the weekend for my birthday and came back to my kuhli loach dead in the bottom of the tank. Not sure what happened. I left a weekend feeder in the tank and even added a couple of extra sinking pellets for the otos and the loach. I haven't seen him since I got him on Wednesday (I think that's when I got him), so I don't know where he was hiding. I do have gravel (river pebbles, actually, so they're bigger rocks than actual gravel). I think I'll just stick with the mollies then.