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Chris's Rosy Loach Venture


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And so it begins...

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Here's the tank - a standard 10 gallon I picked up pre-drilled for $10 several years ago. I bought this tank from a LFS that has sinced closed - they bought it from my childhood LFS when they closed. So this tank is quite old (at least 20 years) and I've had a sort of connection to it for years.

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I did some cleaning, and mixed in some crushed coral and aragonite sand into the coarse silica sand that was in there already. Going for mostly epiphytes in this tank, I think, so no need for a very deep substrate. Going to use a couple pieces of Mopani for the scape. Super low light, too - going for a chill environment for these guys.

Keeping this separate from my fishroom journal because info seems to be somewhat scarce on these guys (lots of caresheets, but not much else) and I've been wanting these for years, so I want to put them in the spotlight a bit.

More to come!

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Alrighty, tank is set up - threw a cycled sponge filter in (happens to a large size, so looks massive in the tank - whoops) and grabbed a 50W preset heater. If you've never used them, the preset Tetra heaters are actually pretty okay. They're cheap, and their calibration is iffy. The box says they're calibrated to 78, but some will keep it at 76, and others at 80. But, I've found them to reliable and cost-effective, and when they fail (as all heaters do), they seem to always die in the "off" position. I've never had one cook a tank. For lighting, I'm a clip-on stingray that I've had for years. Super low PAR in this tank, but that's kinda what I'm going for. Water level is low because I'm waiting on a 3/4" elbow to come in.

Anyhow, the tank is still kinda cloudy, and I didn't do an amazing job of cleaning everything up, so it'll be ugly for a while. Not a big deal to me, and will probably help kick start the microbiome.

I'll start planting tomorrow. Probably going to stick with some Anubias and Java Fern that I have sitting. They're a bit neglected, but should spring back.

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Alright, added in a few plants - two pieces of anubias gold coin, a bolbitis fern, and a Java fern windelov. All these plants have been subject to a bit of neglect, so they're small and a bit sickly. Hoping they bounce back in here. I probably won't add much more in the way of plants - I'm considering another anubiad or Java fern for the empty space to the left of the highest wood peak, but I'm not sure. Not going for "prettiest tank" (mine never are), going for "looks okay and everything is healthy".

Did a large water change to get some debris out of the tank. The scape settled down lower and I was unable to get it back upright easily. This tank is on the top rack, and I'm a lil feller. I messed with it for a while and got frustrated and said good enough, lol. 

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All 10 fish arrived alive and looking healthy! Teeny tiny though - as expected. They're each about 1" long, and are completely colorless in the bags. Can't wait to see them grow and color up! Pictures to come soon - not much to see yet.

Oh, and my first experience with @Dans-Fish has been impeccable. They stocked a relatively obscure species of fish, they priced them fairly, sent an e-mail with shipping details and such within an hour of placing my order, individually bagged each fish, used high quality shipping materials, and included a little Aquarium Co-Op ad in the box. I've only got one experience with Dan's so far, but they're doing live fish as well as the Co-Op does dry goods and plants.

Very impressed!

Edited by Chris
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Pretty big behavior change from last night to this morning. Seems like I may be seeing just a tad more color on some, so maybe these guys are old enough to start to sex? Not sure. Super fun to watch, though! They've eaten pretty much everything I've put in there so far.

 

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These guys like hanging out under the wood, filter, and heater. 

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I may have overfed last night - gave these guys the last of the BBS, and there was still a bunch left in the tank after a couple hours. Lots of big, round bellies though. 

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Just now, PonyPlantedTanks said:

They’re quite the active little guys! Fun to watch!

Extremely! Far more active than I expected, honestly.

I've yet to see one sit still for more than a few seconds at a time!

1 minute ago, PonyPlantedTanks said:

Looking forward to following your experience with them. Such cool little fish!

Thanks! I'd love to get these guys breeding, and try them out in community setups, as well as share with locals and people on the forum. They seem like such a good option for nano tanks!

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Not a whole lot to update - I think the biggest thing I've noticed is that these guys are maybe the least picky eaters I've kept outside of livebearers. They've pounced on everything I've added - live foods, frozen, dry, even the calcium blocks that most fish only eat when they're starving. They go nuts for it.

 

Also, it seems they could eat several times a day and be better for it. They can go from crazy big bellies after a meal to looking normal in just an hour or two, and be ready to fill back up. Wondering if that's due to their small size, their activity level, or a combo of the two.

 

Oh, and so far - they've not murdered any snails. Eventually I'll try them with some shrimp, but want to keep it simple for now.

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I totally see why so many people think us NERMs are crazy.


This tank looks empty 90% of the time, and when you can see the fish, it's not like they're the most colorful things in the world. I mean, this is all there is to look at most of the time:

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But, man, these fish are SO COOL! I don't know, there's just something about them.

 

Apologies for the poor video quality, this tank is quite dim, and is above my head, so hard to film. I think I'm able to see some difference in sexes - thinking that the single loach on the left side of the tank about halfway through may be male? Not super sure, but some are definitely more rosey than others.

 

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34 minutes ago, Chris said:

Snapped a picture of one of these guys tonight. They love the driftwood.

 

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Finally! They're definitely one of the most adorable fish in the hobby.

 

I think one of the things that attracted me to them is the way they swim with purpose. They really do remind me of hummingbirds when they're searching for food.

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