Should I get a loach?

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Fishies

New Fish
#1
Jul 2, 2010
5
0
0
London
#1
Hello,

I have two lovely chocolate Orandas and because they've gotten really fat I have recently moved them to a 30l tank. They are about 4" in size now and so I understand that even this tank may be to small for them, but it will have to do for the moment as I can't afford anything bigger.

I am therefore wondering if it would be alright to get a loach or two for this size of tank. I want to get a loach because my fish are very messy and short sighted, so eventhough I have greatly reduced their portions they cant actually see the food to eat it in the recommended time. It takes them a while to actually find it first, so if I had one it would probably improve the quality of the water (which gets bad very quickly).

I also have three baby orandas in a separate tank (as my fish do breed), which are just over 1cm in length. Would getting a loach for their tank be beneficial too?

Please let me know what you think,

Nadia
 

O

OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#3
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#3
To house 2 orandas, you will need at least 120litres. I would not recommend adding anything to further overstock the tank.

Once you have the appropriate sized tank, I would recommend something like a hillstream loach, not kuhli loaches, as hillstreams are a coldwater fish. Do not mix coldwater fish such as goldfish with tropical water fish such as kuhli loaches.
 

rotkeil

rotkeil

Small Fish
#5
Jul 12, 2010
12
0
0
ireland
#5
i would be inclined to agree with orange cones,if you add the loaches your bio load wiill increase causing problems with your water qualitty and that isnt really desirable,plus the fact that mixing fish of cold and tropical water does not go well,the bacteria in a cold water tank is different to the tropical bacteria, it could affect the added loaches or visa versa,weather loaches are great for coldwater aquaria,i would reccomend some of those if you get the tank for your birthday regards
Rotkeil
 

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