manda2753

I'm thinking about setting up another tank (I have a 30-gallon community tank right now) and trying my hand at kuhlii loaches. I've never had any kind of loach, so I have a few questions!

Is a 20-gallon sufficient for a kuhlii tank? How many could I have if so? What about a 29-gallon?

If I wanted to put my two young angelfish in with them, would they be ok together? If so, how many kuhliis could I have then?

Do kuhliis eat algae/do tank cleanup? If not, should I put something in that does? I have otos and corys in my community tank, they do a wonderful cleanup job.

What is the best substrate to use with them? I don't have experience with anything but the run-of-the-mill tank gravel.

Any other comments/suggestions are welcome!!

Sabi

1-A 20 or 29gal wood fine for kuhlis.

2-It is best to keep them 3 or more as they will be more active, if you keep one it is very likely you wont see him 90% of the time.

3-I would say keeping Angels with them will be fine as they are'nt aggressive.

4- As far as i know they do a good job of cleaning up, that is besides algae.

5- Sand is the best substrate for them as they can get scratched on graveletc.

I guess you could have a whole group of kuhlis if you like as long as you dont exceed the stoking limit and you could put an otto in the tank for the algae.
Hope that helps.

armadillo

One small note, though: we've noticed that our kulhis were getting fin-nipped by our dwarf puffers, and angels can be quite territorial so, basically, you'd need to watch out for angel aggression I'd say.

Sam Livingston

Puffers are a lot more aggressive than angel fish most the time, especially dwarf puffers they are the most aggressive of a very aggressive species, I've had my 2 angel fish with a wide variety and they've never been aggressive to anything, even a green spotted puffer. But it all depends on your angelfish, if they have been passive most the time since you've had them then they will definitely get along with khuli loaches, even if your angels are territorial they shouldn't have problem with khulis because the khulis stay at bottom of tank, mostly underground or under an ornament.

armadillo

Yep, for sure puffers are more aggressive than angels. Although angels can be right bullies too.

Sam Livingston

Haha yeah I've heard I got lucky with my two angels as well as my green spotted puffer because neither have had an aggression issue, must be something in the water.

Butterfly

LOL we are into reviving old threads tody I see
Carol

KittieKat

i have had khulis for quite some time and love them. try to keep them with less aggressive fish because they dont fight back. i have rounded run-of-the-mill gravel and it works perfect. make sure its like a medium size. give them plenty of caves or plants and theyll never bury themselves. mine enjoy swimming around looking for food and sleeping in their cave with the rainbow sharks. best of luck!

dsmfishgal

In agreement with KittieKat. I have 4 kuhlis and also kept them in the past and have had positive experiences the whole way. Have never had one die on me yet. They're peaceful scavengers but pretty useless when it comes to algae unless it's a wafer. It's so cute to watch them "dance" around the tank at dusk. I provide mine with driftwood to hide under and lots of plants. And I too use regular gravel (small to medium pebbles mixed up), which doesn't seem to bother them.

Happy Holidays!

Sabi

Poor me! My kuhli's never come out and play...

armadillo

Do you know what they love? A pile of pebbles. Just buy a small bag of pebbles and make a stable pile in a corner of your tank. They see the spaces between each pebble as an endless network of galleries. Only problem is that then they spend their time playing in the pebbles and you only see their heads or tails poking out once in a while.

Sabi

Yeah, i only see their heads poking out under the rocks! But i'll try with the pebb;e idea... Thanks

FishPerson

so those plastic coated papples are fine for these guys?