Kuhli Loach

[Grumpy_Marine]

Ok i bought two kuhli loaches and they like to hide... well today after changing water i figured i would move the statues around. They like to get inside them and hide... well today no loaches. They are not inside any statue they are not on my floor, there are no bones or flesh floating. They were there this morning but now they are gone. My LFS where i purchased them said that they can dig into the gravel and hide there. I have sifted through the gravel and nothing but the LFS said they can swim fast in gravel. Does anyone else have Kuhli Loaches that bury themselves in gravel? When will they come out how do they eat then?

 

[animal lover]

look inside your filter. I don't think they are hiding in the gravel, if you can't find them then there is probably something wrong.

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

I have looked in filter... there is cover preventing anything from getting sucked in. The slits are only big enough for a fry to go through it. I did however check the filter and nada. I researched online and found that during the daylight hours the kuhli loach will bury itself in gravel and not come out till evening or feeding times. Since they are new they probably will come out during store feeding times, until they realize my feeding times are different. I will kep hope going for a few more days till i worry.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Yeah, the kuhli loaches like big gravel to hide in... mine like to hide under a big rock (not in the cave like intended). They don't ever really come out, they do stick their heads out when they get fed or at night. They are a bit more social if you have more of them, or if the light on the tank is dimmer, or if they are the black kind instead of the striped ones.

Try looking at night with a flashlight, see if you can spot them. Or if you turn the light on quick, see if you can see them dash under cover.

 

[Lotus]

They're almost certainly in there somewhere. Some bloodworms usually bring them out

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

alright guys thanks for your input... the kuhli loaches i have are all black with orange stripes... but internets says they are orange with black stripes...lol. I will keep an eye out for them and let you know if i ever spot them again...lol

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

Well good news is both my kuhli loaches are alive. I went out to look at tank and turnd on light... boy they scattered like the wind... SO that is a relief no more worry. learning has occured today with me and the loaches...

 

[echoofformless]

I have at least one kuhli loach out of the pair I put in my tank eight or nine months ago. I know this because I saw him yesterday for the first time since a few days after I put them in!

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

my biggest concern is how do i know they are not dead when under the rocks? will they get enough food from shrimp pellets and flake food that fall to bottom?

 

[echoofformless]

Evidently mine have gotten enough food, and I am a notorious underfeeder even with just the flakes I give my top feeders. Even when I drop sinking pellets in, my other fish rip them apart if I don't distract them with the flakes. (Sometimes that doesn't even work!) I had assumed they were dead for all this time and hadn't dropped a sinking pellet in that tank for months.

So I suppose you needn't worry at all. At least one survived for over six months in my tank on just...who knows. So with some extra feeding and maybe the sinking pellets, expect them to do more than fine.

 

[Shadow_Africa]

Mine are weird. I have 6 now [added 3 more today] I ALWAY see mine day and night. They do bury themselves in the sand st times but mostly they are slithering inbetween my live plants. They also love to follow my 4" "King" Dojo loach around XD
I love them, They share there bottom with 2 kribs.

 

[Fuzz16]

ive heard stories about the fish. one tells how his little guy got out of the tank everynight, squirmed down the hall, and climbed into the bathtub


might want to look around your house. i wish you luck finding him

 

[Big Vine]

I think Grumpy_Marine said he found them already.

I've had kuhli loaches before, and I've found that they come out a lot more if there are at least 5 of them in the same tank together.

Glad you solved this mystery!

Big Vine

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

i am tempted to buy more of them but i want to get my tank fully cycled first. Right now i have 1 weather loach(4 inches and fat) 1 spotted dojo loach(baby) 2 Kuhli loaches and one black loach. The black loach seems to get along well with the kuhli as they all burry themselves in the gravel. I have placed some breeding grass in bottom for the guppies... well the guppies don't like it but the kuhli and black loaches love it i always see them in there now. I am practicing with live plants in my 10 gallon. Once i find some that i like i will be putting into my 29 gallon tank. I only want ground cover though not to fill the entire tank with live plants from top to bottom that is not what i am looking for.

Big vine what is that creature in your avatar? I would like two please...lol i am looking for blue lobster for my tank but wife thinks they are ugly... but she allows me to get what i want anyways... so that will probably be next purchase.

 

[Fuzz16]

oh btw i have also heard that if you turn the lights off when you feed them frozen brine shrimp or frozen bloodworms they will eventually not hide so much anymore and come out looking for food

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

Fuzz to answer your question i have not heard of loaches escaping and crawling down a hallway. I have read they are escape artists. But to keep them from escaping get a cover for tank, i have big hole in back of mine which will be replaced someday. Right now i cover with towel. The filtrs nowdays hav covers so the can't get in or out of it that way. I would have to say this myth is false. Sorta spooky if it were true though.

 

[Fuzz16]

id say so.
although my dad tells me how his plecos would get out of the tank, and a story of one swishing its tail around until it eventually moved and how one fell down the stairs.
i guess it could happen.

but ill look into them thank you

 

[Grumpy_Marine]

well i stand corrected i have read the article of a loach going from tank to tub, seems fiction as the guy built stairs for the loach... sorry but i wont share my shower with a fish...lol.

I did find out however that the dojo loach can get out of tanks hence the escape artist claim... and they can survive outside the tank for a couple days with no hazzardous side affects... that is sorta cool but wierd at same time. I will keep mine in the tank, i am working on getting my dojo to eat out of hands almost had it tonight but he got spooked off by the barbs.

 

[exhumed07]

I got 2 dojo loaches and they feed out of my hand and let me pet them and I had t kuhli loaches one did pretty quick and the other buried itself in the gravel. didn't see it for 3 weeks. I did a gravle vac and came accross it's remains. never bought them again. and with the loaches out of the tank and living for a few days it's more like a day and the one I found a day later is still alive the one I found 2 days later well it was a lil srivled up fishy.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

...lol i am looking for blue lobster for my tank but wife thinks they are ugly...

not lobsters......