Hillstream Loach quarantine question

[IHOctopus]

I picked up a reticulated hillstream loach from my LFS 2 days ago and placed it in a quarantine tank with no meds. It looks healthy but I'm concerned that I haven't seen it eat. I tried algae wafers, repashy on a rock, and live baby brine. Maybe it eats at night and I'm not seeing it? My plan was to observe in quarantine without meds for a month before adding it to the display tank because I heard these guys are sensitive to meds. (Plenty of algae to eat in the display tank!)

Would you guys suggest I try medicating it so I can hurry up and add it to the display tank? Or keep doing what I'm doing? It's my first hillstream!

[Miranda Marie]

On 2/5/2023 at 10:29 PM, IHOctopus said:

I picked up a reticulated hillstream loach from my LFS 2 days ago and placed it in a quarantine tank with no meds. It looks healthy but I'm concerned that I haven't seen it eat. I tried algae wafers, repashy on a rock, and live baby brine. Maybe it eats at night and I'm not seeing it? My plan was to observe in quarantine without meds for a month before adding it to the display tank because I heard these guys are sensitive to meds. (Plenty of algae to eat in the display tank!)

Would you guys suggest I try medicating it so I can hurry up and add it to the display tank? Or keep doing what I'm doing? It's my first hillstream!

I didn't see mine eat in quarantine for the first several days, and they are surprisingly sneaky about it, even now in the main tank! Unlike my other fish, they grab a couple bites and then zoom off again. They're rarely on the wafer for more than a minute at a time, but quick scootch back for nibbles when they think no one is watching. Because of this, it took me a while to actually see them eating. Now that they're more comfortable/less stressed, they spend longer on the wafer and are less sneaky about it, but it took a couple months for them to get to that point.

So there's a real chance he is eating, but being quick and sneaky about it when you aren't watching. Do you have any hiding spots for him? Mine loved using the aquarium co-op heater as a "cave" while in quarantine and now each have a special hiding spot in the main tank where they tuck themselves. I think they feel safest when they have a "cave" to hide in.

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/5/2023 at 9:29 PM, IHOctopus said:

I picked up a reticulated hillstream loach from my LFS 2 days ago and placed it in a quarantine tank with no meds. It looks healthy but I'm concerned that I haven't seen it eat. I tried algae wafers, repashy on a rock, and live baby brine. Maybe it eats at night and I'm not seeing it?

Very well could be.  Is the QT tank in question seasoned? Does it have wood or rocks?  Where does the loach hang out in general?  Temp?

Some of the time you will get loaches that can be pretty active, but there are plenty of loaches, grazers, catfish, and species like them that would much rather wait until the lights are out and they feel a bit more comfortable to be active.  Mine would basically be in one of two spots, on the top of a pleco cave, on mopani, or on the back of the tank where the flow output was.  95% of the time during the day, they were on the back glass.  They graze constantly, and so seeing them not eating is fine as long as you're seeing them active and moving.

Try a small amount of brine shrimp in a few days and see if you can get it to eat. Even feeding with tongs might work.

The sort of light up they belly to reveal their mouth then suck food in.  Really cool.

[Lennie]

On 2/6/2023 at 8:29 AM, IHOctopus said:

I picked up a reticulated hillstream loach from my LFS 2 days ago and placed it in a quarantine tank with no meds. It looks healthy but I'm concerned that I haven't seen it eat. I tried algae wafers, repashy on a rock, and live baby brine. Maybe it eats at night and I'm not seeing it? My plan was to observe in quarantine without meds for a month before adding it to the display tank because I heard these guys are sensitive to meds. (Plenty of algae to eat in the display tank!)

I agree with @nabokovfan87 as always. They are grazers, so It would kinda worry me if your tank is recently setup. If your tank naturally had time to build up biofilm and algea it should be fine. My borneo sucker has never went for fish food until he really really became confident in the main tank, now he jumps to food faster than everyone. But before then, he was only grazing on biofilm and nothing more for weeks, maybe months. It may take time for them to explore fish food in my experience.

I personally think nerites and hillstreams/borneos/ottos are not any different than shrimp, or in my opinion and experience, even more sensitive than shrimp when it comes to natural growth of biofilm and algae for months

Edited February 6, 2023 by Lennie

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/6/2023 at 12:20 AM, Lennie said:

I personally think nerites and hillstreams/borneos/ottos are not any different than shrimp, or in my opinion and experience, even more sensitive than shrimp when it comes to natural growth of biofilm and algae for months

Well said.  Definitely have some amano's that will jump in and steal the food and run to hide, but most of the time they just ignore it and do their thing. Nice analogy!

[IHOctopus]

Thanks for everyone's input! Unfortunately my qt tank is temporary and therefore not seasoned, so no grazing on biofilm for my little guy. He hides behind the heater most of the time (he has rejected the pvc caves I provided) but does come out when he thinks nobody is around.

If I still don't see him eating tomorrow I'll start pulling stones from my display tank and put them in the qt tank for grazing. They have some algae growing on them.

Has anybody had to use meds on a hill stream loach? Every source online says they are very sensitive.

 

[beastie]

I was considering exactly the same problem, my QT was not set up to accommodate the high-flow high-oxygen algae-necessary fish, so I just put them in the main tank and decided that it was worth the risk. The QT tank will stress them way more and thus creates environment where they might get ich just because of the stress, whereas for me, my main tank with mature stones and layers of biofilm seemed like a better choice.

Even as is, I havent seen them eat any artificial food I put in. In the first few days I havent even seen all of them at once, only recently if I look carefully can I spot all five I bought. I do see them stone grazing and they are absolutely gorgeous. It has been almost two weeks and I havent spotted any issues, so for me the risk was well worth it.

[Lennie]

In addition to @beastie, I would suggest increasing the group size if you can provide them enough tank size, territory and biofilm. They seem to be better in groups of 3 or more.

My borneo sucker seems to be perfectly fine alone, but I didn't know they need groups when I got them. If I got him today, I would get 3. Considering your have just got yours, give this one a tought!