Too fat kuhli loaches?

One of our kuhlis is really quite fat and, although I like to see healthily plump kuhlis, this one's really taking the mickey.

She/he has no other causes for my concern, no symptoms or anything, no worrying behaviours.

Of course I have no picture. I'll try, but you know how it is. As soon as you want to take a picture of a particular fish, it puts itself in the most unphotographable (word?) spots.

So anyways, my question is: should we put our kuhlI on a diet, or do we just let it get nice and plump? Of course, there's also the chance that it's pregnant, but I guess that would not be that likely - does that happen often in home aquaria?

 

They have been bred in the home aqauria.
I happen to know someone who has done it.

They are egg scatterers.

The fish I know about, bred in clumps of java moss over a sand substrate.

 

Oooh, then maybe that's what it is? Mmmmh. Watch this space.

 

If you were to succeed in breeding them I'd love to hear a report on the breeding.

It is most difficult to consistantly breed kuhlI loaches. Dino has a friend that finally succeeded in breeding kuhlis after spending years and years trying to breed them. They usually have to be atleast 4-5 years old, I believe.

Best of luck!

 

Oh I doubt we'll successfully breed them, as they're in with dwarf puffers, so am sure the DPs will eat the eggs as soon as they see them - if the fish is in fact pregnant. But you never know.

I'll post a picture later. I've got some good shot of him/her.

OK, so here's some pictures of her. What got me to notice her weight issue was not so much that she was plump, but that the plumpness starts quite abruptly, her belly is not a smooth slope if you know what I mean.

So what do you reckon? Preggers, sick, or plainly bulimic?

 

I would say that is a females filled with eggs, not on overweight fish.

 

Wow. That's so awesome. I hope she's pregnant!

We read up on how to breed them and I think we'll be lucky if it works out, but we'll definitely give it our best shot.

This is a really interesting article on the subject: .

The guy says to use java moss and java fern, and to do a large water change just before a storm.

 

Heres an interesting article on Pangio breeding. The striped and black kuhlis are Pangio species

A picture of a female loaded with eggs

Enjoy!!
Carol

 

Wow. That article about the accidental breeding in Richard's aquarium was amazing. We're going to add pebbles too, to increase the chance of fry survival.

Actually, someone in the article asks whether egg layer's babies can be referred to as fry. Do you know?

We also read another article about providing lots of java moss and java fern, as apparently the fertilised eggs that fall to the floor run the risk of being scavenged by the parents if they find them.

Oh, and those pictures of the gravid females? Spitting of ours. There is no doubt in my mind she's egg-laden.

Do you know? I am so excited about this! I really hope something comes of it.

 

All baby fish between free swimming and say a couple of months old can be referred to as fry.
Yep I thought she looked pretty gravid also I heard that loach eggs were kind of green.
Glad you enjoyed the pics. Now lets have some fry!
Carol

 

What happened with this? Any eggs or fry end up surviving?

 

Actually nothing, nada, zero. And they're still really fat. I guess overweight it was, hey.

 

lol....

"congratulations on the babies"

"what babies.."

"ermmmm"

"I'm not pregnant!"

"oh your just fat lol.."

best misconception of all time. sorry though, it would have been so awesome if you had baby loaches.

 

Yeah, it was a bit disappointing. We were getting ready to nurse a whole bunch of the cutest fish on earth. Ah well..

 

Hmm, unless she needs certain water parameters etc... Do lay the eggs? She may be holding them until everything for her is perfect or near it.

Have you got the substrate for them to breed/lay on, the water conditions, temperature, water flow, lighting, plants etc...

 

Nobody seems to know what the trigger is to stimulate Kuhlis to breed. Females frequently fill with eggs and sometimes get grossly fat, then they get slI'm again. I don't know if they re-absorb the eggs or lay them and somebody eats them. Most people who are successful breeding them just wake up one morning with tiny little Kuhlis and have no idea how
Carol

 

I guess it's pretty common for folks with UGFs to find a small colony of babies under the thing.