New kuhlis hide a lot?

So I'm wondering if it's pretty normal to not really see your new kuhlis very often... I just bought three of the little guys. Unfortunately, as I do not have a quarantine tank large enough for them, they had to go straight into their new home (yes, I know this is a risk). I have not seen much of them (except for just now, as I'm writing this), since I introduced them to the tank. I'm seeing one right now, dancing around the tank.

 

When I had my 2 they would disappear a lot..I pretty sure that's normal for them...they will come out mostly at night when the lights are off.

 

They can be a bit shy at first. Mine were always more active at dusk and a little later in the evening. They also love shrimp pellets so if you drop them out in the open they will get used to eating in the same place each time. oh and the more the merrier
do you have black kuhlis (Pangio javancus) or striped Kuhlis (Pangio kuhli) ?
Carol

 

Same as Carol here.
Ours are in a very heavily planted tank with lots of caves.
We only see them when food gets put in the tank.

 

Black kuhlis.

I figured that was common. I wouldn't even have the little guys if I hadn't known about their propensity towards hiding. The tank they were in seemed to only have the tetras that were supposed to be in it, but there was a huge rock. I found an employee and asked if she would be willing to do a little searching for me. She asked what kind of fish I was looking for, and I told her that I knew which tank it was supposed to be in, just that I didn't know if there were any in there.
She picked up the rock and a bunch of little streaks of black shot everywhere. She had such a problem snagging three of them. They're really fast little devils.
There is currently plenty of hiding space in the slate wall, and more is being added. The tank is not yet fully planted, either, but it's getting there.

I'm hoping that they'll breed, but if they don't in the next few months, I'll probably add three more to bring the number up to six.

 

Breeding is doubtful.
I know of only a handful of cases.

 

That's odd. I've heard that they breed readily (though the most common circumstance, it seems, is with a UGF, and I don't have one in that tank).
Still, I take your experience over the experience of people who, all I know about them, is that they wrote a page or site about loaches.

 

Carol is much more the expect than I.
I know of only one person, personally, who has done it.

 

Well, I pulled out my bottle of shrimp pellets (I haven't had any bottom feeders for awhile), and dropped a few in near the kuhli's current favorite hiding space (it's a piece of slate just high enough off the gravel that all three can fit under it. I just noticed a wriggling mass under there a few minutes ago), and they haven't come out. Of course, this may have something to do with my gold barb going after the shrimp pellet... grumble...grumble...

 

Loach breeding is usually accidental all the way and some of them have never been bred in captivity without using hormones.
There have been several reports of kuhlI breeding but no one knows what the triggers are yet or the signs of courtship and subsequent spawning. First the female gets very full of eggs (this frequently happens and no fry show up) then the aquarist will see tiny kuhlis in the rocks or in the ugf.
Heres some info on them and at the bottom is a link for one such breeding story

Oh by the way they are now Pangio Oblonga- It's hard to keep up with the name changes
Loachesonline.com is a reputable place to learn about loaches of all kinds. And new information is being added all the time.
Carol

 

Good to know. Thanks for the info, Butterfly.
I've done a lot of my research at loachesonline already, and will continue to head back there. Thanks again.

 

who are you at loachesonline.com? I'm butterfly01 (like you couldn't figure that one out )
Carol

 

I've not actually joined the community, just scanned the articles to learn about the different loaches and decide what I was going to add. I spend too much time online already. I don't need to add another community right now. (And if I did, it would beplant geek)...

As a note of correction for anyone looking for info on loaches, the website is loaches.com, the site name is "Loaches online"

 

Actually the board with forums is :

This was the original site then when it was upgraded became the storage site for profiles and information.
Both places run by the same knowledgeable people.
Carol

 

Oh, now you're just trying to confuse me.

 

Oh, now you're just trying to confuse me.

Oh not really
When it was the original site the link was loachesonline .com which is not a viable link now (I keep forgeting) The forums and information profiles were all there.

There are some really good discussions on loaches here. There you will also meet the six people who got together and put together the only book that's been done on just loaches. It's called
As you can tell I love loaches and could discuss them all day
Carol
Hope I didn't confuse you more

 

Nope, it all makes sense now.

 

I got 2 KhulI Loaches about 1-2 weeks ago, and I've seen them out and about abit

 

I got 2 KhulI Loaches about 1-2 weeks ago, and I've seen them out and about abit

yep their cool little critters.
Carol

 

do you have an underground filter they may have sneeked into it.