# Breeding Kuhlii (or ******) Loaches



## AvocadoPuffDude (Jan 20, 2011)

Many books and online informations states that the kuhlii loach has not been bred in captivity. This is not true, for I have bred them, albeit years ago.
I want to begin a thread to document this event and to assist anyone else that wishes to breed these glorious loaches!
My kuhlii loaches bred without my knowledge or intention. I did not discover they'd bred until months later when I was cleaning out the tank, and noticed many more loaches than what I had purchased, many of them juvenile.
Unfortunately, when these bred (around 1978) I did not know enough to test the water parameters or to record what food I'd been feeding them or anything significant, but my recollections of several key points could be considerable.
First, the water was fairly soft, had become slightly acidic (pH around 6.3-6.6 range) and had not been changed in probably 6 months. Although I didn't know about the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle at the time, I'm sure the nitrAtes were off the scale high. (Which surprises me, but it is what it is!)
ALSO of note, I had placed several miniature alcohol bottles (what folks call "airline bottle size") in the gravel so just the opening was above ground, and this is the only hiding places that they had. Probably 5 or 6 were placed in the 55 gallon tank.
Furthermore, the filters hadn't been changed in probably 3 months (I was terrible about my maintenance back then) and so, although I'm kind of embarrassed to say that that is how I was keeping my fish, in my defense, it wasn't a very long period, and I regained my interest in keeping a clean and well maintained aquarium. But, for that period, is when the kuhlii loaches bred!
So, the water was crappy, basically, and I knew I had purchased EXACTLY 10 loaches. When I was cleaning out the tank thoroughly, I counted 9 adults and 10 juveniles. I am assuming one of the adults died along the way.
Since that time, I've spoken to other aquarists that also maintain they've bred kuhlii loaches, so let's get the information out there.
I ask, HAS ANYONE ELSE BRED KUHLII LOACHES AND WHAT CAN YOU ADD TO THIS KNOWLEDGE BASE???????


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## Corwin (May 23, 2010)

Ive read stories of people with undergravel filters, who discovered that their kuhli loaches, which they thought had died out had infact simply started living in the undergravel filter and had been successfully breeding.


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