Will It Affect My Kuhli To Be Moved To A Smaller Tank?

Hello! I have a 65 Gallon High that already has a kuhlI in it and am cycling a 20 Gallon High Aquarium. I have 2 Peacock Eels in my 65 as well as 2 Swordtails, 5 Long Fin Black Skirt Tetras and a Bristlenose Pleco and all of those fish usually go to the bottom of the Aquarium, I have too many bottom-dwellers in my 65 Gallon and since I'm Cycling a 20 Gallon High for fish I can't house in my 65 I was thinking I could move the KuhlI into the 20 Gallon High since I only have one KuhlI Loach in my 65 Gallon (I got sold 2 Peacock Eels for 2 KuhlI Loaches, never wanted the Eels in the first place). I'm wondering if I can move my KuhlI Loach into my 20 Gallon High (Which is as you can tell 3 times smaller) without any bad effects on him. He will be with more Kuhli's in there as well so that isn't a worry. The Substrate is also completely sand, unlike my 65 Gallon which has sand in the middle and large, smooth gravel on the outsides so it'll all around be a better tank for him, except for less hiding places. I've never kept Loaches before and would love some input before I go and move him and him not thriving.
Thanks! Have a nice day.

 

Fish tend to be less active in smaller tanks. The larger the tank and group your kuhlI is in the happier it will be
Sorry I'm not really understanding how you have too many bottom dwellers in your 65 gallon? Aren't the BN and kuhlI loach the only bottom dwellers in there?

 

Fish tend to be less active in smaller tanks. The larger the tank and group your kuhlI is in the happier it will be
Sorry I'm not really understanding how you have too many bottom dwellers in your 65 gallon? Aren't the BN and kuhlI loach the only bottom dwellers in there?

The Peacock Eels never stray far from the bottom, the Tetras spend half their time down there as well. I don't want it to be too crowded as the Peacock Eel gets around 8-12ish inches normally and a max of 14. Adding 5 more would only be worse, since there would be 6 very active Loaches in there. There is a ton of activity at the bottom which is more than likely stressing out the Peacock Eel. I am also going to be keeping one Peacock Eel and I don't wanna run the chance that it will eat my Kuhli's since it will be of course over double the size of them.

 

OK. Sorry I'm just being stupid. Yeah 6 Kuhlis will be fine in your 20 gallon. Many of my fish (danios, guppies, WCMM, platies) stayed near the bottom until I added some taller plants and some floating plants. Maybe if you tried that then the tetras might stay closer to the top.

 

OK. Sorry I'm just being stupid. Yeah 6 Kuhlis will be fine in your 20 gallon. Many of my fish (danios, guppies, WCMM, platies) stayed near the bottom until I added some taller plants and some floating plants. Maybe if you tried that then the tetras might stay closer to the top.

I have 7 Plants in there, 2 of which span the entire height of my Aquarium and one goes about 1/3 of the way up. Two of my 3 Ornaments also span half the height of the Aquarium

The two Swordtails are primarily Bottom Dwellers as well. They clean the sand (One piece of a time, hah) as well as the ornaments and plants. The only one of my two Male and Female Swordtails to go up to the middle or top is my Female. Who started doing that when she was Carrying. Doesn't anymore, they're very very active as well. Probably Nocturnal as well, They're always doing something.

 

agreed with BottomDweller Kuhlis really shouldn't be with eels anyhow. Eventually the eels could eat them and kuhlis are not active around fish they feel are predators. Plus, he needs more kuhlI friends to be comfortable.

 

agreed with BottomDweller Kuhlis really shouldn't be with eels anyhow. Eventually the eels could eat them and kuhlis are not active around fish they feel are predators. Plus, he needs more kuhlI friends to be comfortable.

Exactly! Which is why I'm going to be moving him to the 20 Gallon. I do not want to run the chance that the Peacock Eels will eat the Kuhlis. Peacock Eels are Ambush Predators, and being Nocturnal they're quite good at doing so. I'm not afraid about the other fish either, the smallest fish I'm going to have is a Fire Blue Dwarf Gourami which I'm fairly certain will spend most of its time at the middle to top portion of the Aquarium. Other than that the only worry is my Swordtails which aren't all that much of a worry since most of the time they're schooling and still have to grow.

 

I don't know why the tetras are down there. Could you add about 3 more? Actually in your size aquarium, 10 would be great. I think you would see them come up to mid upper level.

 

I don't know why the tetras are down there. Could you add about 3 more? Actually in your size aquarium, 10 would be great. I think you would see them come up to mid upper level.

I'm most likely going to add one more. My current setup is:
5 Long Fin Black Skirt Tetras
2 Australian Rainbowfish (I will be adding 1-3 more)
2 Swordtails
2 Peacock Eels (One of which I will be putting up for adoption)
1 KuhlI Loach (Will be moved and have some friends in the 20 Gallon)
1 Bristlenose Pleco
What I'm planning on getting:
1-2 Angelfish
1-2 Fire Blue Dwarf Gourami
I'm pretty much at the max my Aquarium can hold, 10 Tetras would be quite a lot.

The Tetras aren't always down at the Bottom. They're generally everywhere in the tank, they're mostly at the bottom searching for uneaten food. Theres almost always one Tetra at the bottom as well and the rest are either in the middle or top. They don't School, which is amazing so they can be everywhere in the Aquarium at once.

 

It sounded like they were hiding on the bottom. My bad,... You're good.

 

It sounded like they were hiding on the bottom. My bad,... You're good.

No, if they were hiding at the bottom they would be schooling or inside some of my Ornaments. I would've done something then, so far the top portion of the Aquarium is theirs and the Rainbows. The Tetras got the Middle and the Rainbows have the top since they love the current my filter and bubble curtain produce up there, darting in and out of it which is lots of fun to watch. The Tetras only school during and maybe a minute after a Water Change or Cleaning, they're not stressed during it either which is amazing. I always put my hand inside the water during feeding so they can eat around it and have them trust me all that much more, so if something is out of place or just bugging me in there I can remove it or move it without any of the fish getting stressed. Overall they're very used to it and me in there, rarely ever stressed (Unfortunately been more stressed because one of them has this annoying Fin Rot which will not go away).

 

The angelfish need warmer water than the skirt tetras and BN pleco. Also the rainbow fish and tetras both need to be in groups of 6+, I think you'd be fine with 8-10 tetras and 6-8 rainbows.

 

The angelfish need warmer water than the skirt tetras and BN pleco. Also the rainbow fish and tetras both need to be in groups of 6+, I think you'd be fine with 8-10 tetras and 6-8 rainbows.

I will be getting 1 more Tetra and 1-3 more Rainbows, I'm set on getting Angelfish and Dwarf Gouramis, as I don't have a very eye-catching fish in there yet. And, No. The Pleco and Tetras Do Not need a colder water than the Angelfish. I have it set at 80F at the moment and gradually lowering it to either 76F or 78F, all of them did well at 82F with no problems. I will not be getting Altum Angels, I will be getting Marble or Koi Angels, whichever one I can find at the stores near me.