Haif Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 (edited) Figured I'd share here, hopefully we can get more people successfully breeding them in the hobby. I've had my colony over 2 years at this point, I started with 5 fish I got from my lfs and now I have over 50. Something really important to keep in mind is that when you buy panda loaches they're usually around 4-6 months old. It takes about a year and a half before they reach maturity and can start spawning. I feel like the main secret to success is setting up an environment where the eggs can hatch out and survive the first few weeks without being eaten. Panda loaches like to spawn in natural caves under rocks, but what keeps the eggs alive is having a larger-grain gravel substrate for the eggs to fall down inbetween and hatch safely. The male will herd the female into his cave of choice and they'll blast a cloud of eggs towards the back and leave. No parental care. Babies live in the gravel layer for the first 1-3 weeks until they are large enough to start coming out into the open, thats part of why its important to have a mature tank so there is plenty of natural food available for them. Each spawn is usually around 5-8 survivors in a community tank. I let my water temps fluctuate between season, tank goes from 65-75 degrees over the course of the year. My ph sits around 7.5 and the water is fairly soft, about 3-4 degrees gh and kh. Feeding is fairly simple. You want a tank thats at least fairly biologically mature and I supplement their feeding with a combination of meaty and green foods every day. I haven't tested whether flow is needed but they definitely prefer having decent water movement. As long as you have a filter that's sized for the next size up your adult loaches should be fairly happy. tldr: gravel bottom, lots of large rocks, wait for them to reach spawning age Edited May 8 by Haif 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted May 8 Share Posted May 8 Very nice aquarium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtboat Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 what is the flow rate in your tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haif Posted May 12 Author Share Posted May 12 On 5/11/2024 at 11:47 PM, dirtboat said: what is the flow rate in your tank? Its about a 20x turnover. 33 gallon long running a 600gph pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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