tkfury

I've tried doing some research but everything I find seems to contradict itself sooner or later. I'll be picking up a new tank as soon as I'm well enough to leave the house. Its a 15g tank incased in a bambooish stand with everything I need save for a filter. It matches perfectly with the theme I was going for with my female betta. I don't really want to go with cories, otos, shrimp or snails since I'm going with them in my other tanks and while looking through some books the eel-like loaches really caught my eye.

I really like how the kuhli/coolie? looks but all the infomation I've found is split 50/50 between 2 inches and 4 inches for max length. If these little guys will get along with a female betta I'd really like to know how long they get so I can plan accordingly. I am going with black gravel but I've read loaches tend to perfer a softer substrate? If thats true I have no problem switching to a black sand or doing a mixture.

Butterfly

www.loaches.com is the only place I completely trust the information given on Loaches.
http://www.loaches.com/species-index/species-index
As you scroll down you will notice there are many different kinds of Kuhli Loaches.
I have had kuhli Loaches for a long time and I find they are very adaptable as far as substrate is concerned but I do think they prefer sand. I use pool filter sand in my loach tank.They also need lots of places to hide/sleep.
Most of the time kuhlis are very tiny when bought and the betta might think their food or just hurt them out of curiousity. just my thoughts
Carol

tkfury

Oh wow, I wasn't aware there were that many. I think its the Pangio kuhlii that I'm interested in - the site says 4inches so that might be pushing it with three. thank you for the site! If I have to go with sand I was thinking about the tahitian moon sand?

Would it be possible to have the loaches and a betta in the same tank given that the loaches are close to fully grown? If the combination worked I was thinking of putting a few zebra danios in the tank after the cycle to make sure everything was good before moving them into their 10g and adding the betta. Maybe instead of adding the betta first just stick with the loaches? Or should I look elsewhere for some bottom dweller tankmates?

Butterfly

At the monent I have pangio kuhlis (striped) and Pangio javanicus(black kuhkis that are really dark brown ) I find Pangil kulis to be tiny(like thread like tiny) at first. The Pangio Javanicus are a little chunkier but both will be fine as long as they have places to get away from the Betta.
The texture of tahitian moon sand would be great but isn't it dark? would you be able to see the kuhlis?
Once you've had Kuhlis you will be hooked for life. They are really funny fish.
Here are a couple of pics for you
Carol

Attached Images

	kuhlis dinnertime.jpg (32.6 KB, 3 views)
	blk and striped kuhlis.jpg (51.5 KB, 3 views)

tkfury

Yeah, for some reason when I started planning a tank for a betta I was drawn to a dark substrate - I don't know how to really explain it but it just went with the decorations I got. When I saw the loaches I liked how "dragon" like they looked - which also adds to the theme of the tank. Wish I could go out now and pick the tank up and start setting it up now.

So far I've been hooked to all the fish I've had and I hope its the same way for all the other fish I get to add to my home.

Thank you again. Very nice pictures by the way. How many do you have?

Butterfly

When those pics were taken the kuhlis were in a 55g and there were 12 pangio javaniscus and 10 pangio kuhli.
Now all the kuhlis are in the 75 gallon with three Clown Loaches, a 2 inch rubber lip plec and six threadfin rainbows.
carol

tkfury

Saddly the tank I was going to get didn't happen (she sold it to someoneelse just a few hours before I called to pick it up) so I'm going back to just a 10g for the betta. A 10g will be a bit (well, more than a bit) small to have 3-4 of the pangio kuhli as well as a betta, correct? My lfs actually has a few of them so I was rather excited (need to visit them more often) but then I remembered my tank size.