# hillstream



## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

my hillstream looach has stayed the same inch and/or half for a while...
does it need more food, colder water or faster water?


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2007)

What are you feeding it and what is the temp? Also, how often do you do water changes?


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

It may be that it will never grow. I had a couple of them, and did lots of research about them. I found this article

http://www.loaches.com/articles/suckerbelly-loaches

which says the following:


> Now to explain why I do not consider myself a successful keeper of hillstream loaches. To this date, none of my flossensaugers seem to have grown at all. They are plump, active, and appear healthy in every way, but they just don't grow. In fact, I have never heard of anyone's hillstream loaches increasing significantly from the size at which they acquired them. This may be due to the torture these fishes have gone through to reach our homes. I think it's possible that the high temperatures, low oxygen levels, and extreme malnourishment involved in shipping these creatures may have permanently stunted their growth.


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2007)

The only problem I have with that is stunting usually occurs over long periods. I don't really see how stunting could permanently develop in just shipping the fish.

I don't know...Maybe its possible...


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Like said, some just never grow. But, we need as much info as possible about your setup. They like fast currents, cold water, and under high temps can easily die.

It also helps to know what species of hillstream you have to begin with.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

JustOneMore20 said:


> What are you feeding it and what is the temp? Also, how often do you do water changes?


tetra min flakes and the temp is around 74 degrees... how can i tell which species it is?


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## Guest (Mar 26, 2007)

http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane
There is a good article about them...and it mentions the different species. It also talks about what they usually eat.

You may also want to try supplementing it with algae wafers and bottom feeder pellets/wafers and see if it will eat them.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

heres a link...http://s173.photobucket.com/albums/w63/kuhliloach/?action=view&current=RSCN1080.jpg


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

I couldn't tell from the picture.... He look like this?


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Does your fish actually eat the flakes? I haven't heard of these guys eating flakes at all. Usually algae, algea wafers, and bottomfeeder food is what they eat.


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## Guest (Mar 26, 2007)

That water seems a little warm to me....


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

yes he eats the stuff off the ground...if he didnt eat the flakes then it must be the algae or he doesnt eat at all... and the previous photo's head is a little too buldeged out.


sometimes he will slowly vibrate and raise his head a couple times...is he sniffing the water for food or what?:fish:


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## Kyoberr (Dec 6, 2006)

I would guess that if he hasn't grown by now then he will never grow. Maybe he just isn't getting enough food some how, but I wouldn't know for sure.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

thanks for not being negative about it guys! and who's water was a little warm to u?


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## Guest (Mar 27, 2007)

Yours. 74 seems too warm to me for hillstream loaches. I would try bringing it down some.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

with kuhli's in the same tank i think thats as low as i can get it...


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

I had two hillstream loaches. One lived 3/4 of a year, and one lived 1 3/4 year. I had them like you did, in a community tank where the requirements of the other fish meant that I really couldn't provide them what they wanted. They can live up to 5 years, so I feel I really didn't do very well by them, so I didn't buy any replacements for them when they died. I still think that they are very cool fish, but I won't buy any more until I can set up a tank that's more to their liking (cool water, fast water flow, and a very good crop of algae for them to munch on).


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

same here i won't buy a replacement if it dies because thats just torchering them like a timeline! also i can't tell what kind of algae is on my driftwood, it's like a dark green blanket, it's too thick for it to have much of an effect..


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

If you have plenty of top water agitation and aeration they'll be right happy in my opinion and expierience...


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

i have a small filter and a bubbler... the water's always moving!


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Hmm.. well, kuhli loaches can be anywhere from 65-78 degrees and live pretty happily, they usually do better in cooler temps to begin with. For hillstreams, 68 is best, but I have had them in 79 degree water way back when I knew nothing about them. Of course, higher the temps, more problems and you won't see the best out of the loach. I have a journal on here with my plan that I was going to use for my set-up..

You have a really common species, and btw, they don't really eat the algae, they pick at it and the organisms that live in it. More of a carnivore than anything.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

sounds like u are a hillstreamologist or something! and wheres ure journal?


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

ok never mind that.... what organisms live in the algae?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Freshwater copepods, planaria, nematodes, etc.

http://www.fishforums.com/forum/use...ng-30-gallon-hillstream-loach-river-tank.html

Bare with my typing in that one haha.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

cool i always thought of doing that river tank setup...i thought u couldnt keep a NN with a HS/ and good to someones takeing care of the those copes...do thay just grow with the algae?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

You mean needlenose? If so, no they can't be kept together. 

Copepods are in almost all water, and live in the algae, eating it and breeding it. They'll be all aver the glass, but more of a quantity of organisms in that patch of algae. Keep in mind that while I say they eat the "bugs" in it, they also do kind of pick at the algae itself.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

so if u were to be a cope in a city of algae...


" ahhhh giant nuclear hillstream loach is attacking the town!"


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

*sad news*

always check your PH when ever possible! my hillstreamloach died of the water being too acidic, it was pail and would not move...everything else was fine so i stuck it in my freezer for further alalysis.... the photo's im put in the photo of the month topic were the last photo's before his death...


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## MyraVan (Jan 19, 2005)

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! "too acidic" is certainly a problem we don't have here. Our tap water comes from wells in limestone, and is reliably pH 7.8!


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

your so lucky!


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## Lupin (Aug 1, 2006)

flamingo said:


> You have a really common species, and btw, they don't really eat the algae, they pick at it and the organisms that live in it. More of a carnivore than anything.


Hillstream loaches? I don't think so. They do eat algae along with the organisms harboring the algae.


kuhliloach said:


> my hillstreamloach died of the water being too acidic


How acidic was it?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

And if you would have looked closer, I did state that they _will_ eat it. Just from my experience with them, and everything i've read up on them, asked etc. it points to algae as being a fairly low item in it's diet. And in most cases, it's usually hair algae and the like.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

The water being 'too acidic' could not have killed your hillstream imo.
Most fish are able to adjust to the varying ph of aquariums, and if the ph did get low enough to be able to kill off any fish, you would have had other fish in the tank die or get distressed. Hillstreams IME are a very hardy fish.

Fish become adapted to a particular ph in the wild, and will do much better if the same water parameters are replicated in the aquarium. PH is measured on a scale from 0-14. 0 is extremely potent acids, 14 being full alkalinity. While 7 being neutral. For every increment of 1 there are 10 other divisions (6.6-6.7-6.8-6.9-7.0-7.1 etc..) So saying this, that means a pH of 7, is 10 times less acidic than the pH of 7.
That above doesn't explain as to why the ph couldn't have killed your loach, but if you research more on about pH. It should  

What is the pH of your tank and the rest of the parameters?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

That matter could be discussed more.. but a drop in ph can have the potential to kill _almost anything _off. If it went from say.. 7.5, to 5.0 or the like in a day.. possibility that the loach just couldn't handle it.

Do you know for sure it wasn't high temps, ammonia, low oxygen levels, etc. that did it in?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

Exactly right Dylan, buuut he said that his ph being to low is what killed him. Not a drop in the pH. How long have you had your loach before he died?


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## flamingo (Nov 5, 2005)

Seems like they severely updated the article . It's a good one, I just don't like the whole few pages on drag, etc.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

i etsted the water with a chemical test and it was bright yellow instead of blue!
also i havent changed my filter bag in two months so that could've been it too, i don't over feed it too much...and there were no scars from anyother fish so yeah he does not eat the algae, or no noticable amounts have been scraped off! and i had if for atleast four months.


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## Ringo (Apr 10, 2006)

It wasn't the filter cartridge, I dont touch mine until they start to fall apart 
If the water was yellow instead of blue, then that was a drop in the pH... But exactly how yellow was it? Or even eaiser... What was the pH reading, besides color.


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## kuhliloach (Mar 24, 2007)

around 5 i guess... it was a bout two weeks ago so i can barely remember...


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