Asian catfish/loach tank.

[Cory_lover]

Hey all~

I've got so many south american/amazonian biotope tanks for corys and dianemas and hoplos etc etc...so now i wanna convert my 2ft tank into a southeast asian or asian tank.

I was thinking a couple (maybe 2-3) clown loaches, 1 Suckerbelly loach (Pseudogasteromyzon cheri), 1 Lizard fish (Homaloptera sp.) and a few glass catfish for the midwater inhabitants. How does this sound? Too congested???


P:S: I know this site is for catfishes, but loaches are similar, so i thought i posted this question here.

[Silurus]

The habitat requirements for clown loaches, glass catfish and the other loaches you mentioned are dissimilar. Clown loaches and glass cats are large river fish, and can get by with lower oxygenation and weaker currents (in fact, glass cats cannot tolerate too strong a current). The balitorid loaches, OTOH, need very good oxygenation and strong current.
There is also the issue of a large size disparity between clown loaches (when they reach their full size) and the other fishes, which may be a problem.
If you google search the web, you can find a few sites which can give you ideas of the fish to put (most are short on catfish, though). I don't really like many of them, since they tend to mix fish from different areas of Asia (e.g. Indian with Southeast Asian species). Guess I'm a purist.
I have several ideas for an Asian biotope tank, which I think I posted in this forum earlier.

[Sid Guppy]

a 2 feet tank is tiny!
I'd go for a loach-only tank, add a nice powerhead indeed, and stack up some Balitoridae loaches, like the ones already mentioned. If you keep them in groups (they're social, and territorial disputes lead into great displays, at least with Gastromyzon and the like) that tank should contain enough fish.

Maybe some Hara jerdoni to finish it, but I'm not sure if they're from oxygenated water, maybe Silurus knows.

[Graeme]

In a 2ft tank i would only recomend Botia Sidthimunki or Botia Nigroineata.



Graeme.

[Dinyar]

There are quite a few small Asian cats. Silurus is an expert on several of them. Hara jerdoni would definitely be cool. Problem is that as with Asian cats in general, the small ones are hard to find. Glass cats are common enough, though, and may work in your situation. They don't appreciate being blown away by the current but can adapt to moderately srtong current if it's broken by plants or some other barrier.

As others pointed out, the clown loaches would definitely be a big mistake, as they grow to 30 cm. But besides Botia, there's much more to "Loaches". In addition to Homaloptera, you could try Pangio (kuhli loaches), also Schistura.

A coarse sand or fine gravel substrate, some Java fern and/or Cryptocoryne, and something like a Penguin 170 could complete the setup.

Dinyar

[Cory_lover]

With the clowns, if i put them in my 2ft tank, when they grow too big for the tank, i have another 3ft (35gal) tank for them. It is an amazonian tank, but i am willing to accomodate them in the tank.

anwyayz, my substrate is a mix of sand and gravel (it looks good). If i get Kuhlis, they might bury in the substrate and make netting almost impossible.

Secondly, Jara species are not available in Australia (which totally sucks. Did u know the stupid government banned Zebra plecs from Aus cause they're afraid they might endanger the local fauna if released into the wild!!!!!!!!! ) So, i think Jara's are out of the picture.

Thirdly, Botia sidthimunki are also unavailable due to the above reasons!!!!

So the only options would be clowns, kuhlis, glass, and those Balitoridae loaches.

P:S: Should i remove gravel because of those kuhlis (if i'm getting them)???

[Silurus]

At a full-grown size of 30 cm, even one <i>Botia macracantha</i> is too big for a 35 gallon tank, much less two or three. You can pretty much forget about clown loaches.
If you want to keep <i>Pangio</i> and yet not want the trouble of digging them out of the substrate, I recommend reducing the thickness of sand in your tank (to about half an inch) and provide more leaf litter instead. They love burrowing into the leaf litter and you can easily catch them by lifting the whole chunk of litter with one scoop of the net.
The problem with keeping <i>Pangio</i> and balitorid loaches is the fact that all that leaf litter will not go well with the strong current needed for the balitorids (the current will cause the litter to fly every which way in the tank and clog filter inlets).
The way I look at it, it's better for you to choose one over the other (<i>Pangio</i> or balitorids). I would go with the <i>Pangio</i>, if only for the fact that you probably cannot obtain Asian torrent catfishes that you would need to complement the balitorids (the glass cats would do well with <i>Pangio</i>).
Have you thought about adding other Asian fish in the tank? Seems to me that a tank containing just <i>Pangio</i> and glass cats would look better with more active mid-swimming fish like barbs or rasboras.

[Cory_lover]

hm...i was considering Harlequin rasboras..how are they for midwater fish?? Sorry, don't know much about asian midwater fishes. any suggestions??

[Sid Guppy]

And perhaps some nice, small Labyrinthfishes (Anabantoids) to go with them?
I can think of several Pseudosphromenus, Parosphromenus, Betta, Trichopsis and Colisa species that would do very OK with Pangio's, Glass catfish and small Barbs.

I currently have Betta picta; a small -5 cm- mouthbrooding species; great fun to watch and very well-behaved (the bubble nest builders are much more temperamented)

[Silurus]

Harlequin Rasboras are fine for midwater fish. You can also try <i>Rasbora dorsiocellata</i> or <i>Boraras maculatus</i>, if they are available. Barbs are fine, only if you get the smaller species (something like <i>Puntius gelius</i>) as most of them grow a little too large for a 2-foot tank.
For non-ostaripophysans, you can add a couple of anabantoids or some <i>Badis</i>.

[Cory_lover]

ok guys, thanks for the great info