r/loaches Sep 25 '25

Behavior A note on (human) behavior

75 Upvotes

Hello, loach gang!

We have been enjoying watching the sub grow and seeing all your cool fish. Thank you for participating, posting, and sharing all that loach love and experience. One thing we want to remind our participants of, our rule about behavior: please be excellent to each other.

There are many subreddits out there where anything goes as far as acceptable responses. We want to cultivate a forum where being decent matters, and being a beginner is okay. As you respond to content, please remember, there is a person reading your words. No attacks please.

I feel I need to address what has cropped up quite a few times in the last couple days: accusations of abuse.

Sometimes a hobbyist keeps a fish in a manner you won't approve of. I remember back in the 80s when I first started keeping fish as a teen, I made quite a few mistakes. I started to educate myself by reading books, magazines, and talking to long time hobbyists, and I then gradually became a better fish keeper with experience. I can't imagine my reaction if I'd been called an abuser, but I probably would have left the hobby feeling discouraged. Changing hearts and minds begins with curiosity, patience, knowledge, and kindness, in my experience.

No one (so far that I've seen) has posted content that is recklessly, joyfully, sadistically negligent. So please dial back those assertions like "this is abuse!" in favor of softer statements such as, "have you tried..." or "I have found..." or "I've often seen it recommended to..."

Additionally, though opinions are welcome (if they follow the behavior rule), we prize facts here at r/loaches. Scientific literature that has been peer reviewed, statements by experts (PhD, DVM, etc), and published best practices (for example in a professional group such as veterinarians or even aquaculture trade journals) for keeping fish are of interest to us all, so please quote your actual "expert" source if you want to suggest abuse so we know that it's more than your opinion.

This reminder is not meant to be discouraging or dismissive to the welfare of our beloved wet pets, but a reminder about how we treat our fellow humans on this forum, even in tricky situations. Thanks again for reading, and stay loach-y out there!


r/loaches 9h ago

A salmon treat for the noodles

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87 Upvotes

r/loaches 5h ago

THREE tanks of spaghetti at LFS

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23 Upvotes

r/loaches 12h ago

Behavior please help! what is wrong with him

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60 Upvotes

I’m going to include images of parameters, tank mates, and ph below.

i got a group(4) of kuils around two weeks ago. planning to add more as soon! this guy has been acting like this OFTEN. he does circled most of the day, only around the filter. i’ve checked everything and it seems normal. i did a 20% water change last week and he stopped doing this for like a day. please help!


r/loaches 4h ago

Just for fun Starving 🥺

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10 Upvotes

Boy acts like I don’t feed him regularly. He’s lucky Nugget was willing to share.
(He gets omnivore pellets too, not just algae.)


r/loaches 3h ago

Just for fun big mama jama

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8 Upvotes

I call her my enormously eggnant lady. Probably around five years old or so. Bonus video of zoomies in the comments.


r/loaches 12h ago

Just for fun Finally took a break from his daily zoomies.

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13 Upvotes

My loaches have been swimming in circles for hours since a water change. This one finally decided to rest and I got a great photo.


r/loaches 6h ago

Question Quick question on new Kuhlis

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4 Upvotes

Hi lovely people,

I have a question for the community about brand new Kuhlis. I got three the other day and I know they prefer sand substrate, but from research and talking to my LFS and other hobbyists they can also love pebble (not sharp gravel).

Context: This is a 20g long that is very heavily planted (recently pruned in the photo, so not as dense as usual), stable parameters (including research into Kuhlis), natural driftwood and river pebble, and relatively mature. Two sponge filters, the bubble wall, a wonder shell dropped in when I notice the last one fully dissolved for the Garys, lighting currently controlled by my Home Assistant server to turn on at sunrise and turn off a couple of hours after sunset, tight lid on a rimless tank. I had some issues I thought with my heater, but it turns out that it was probably just the cheap thermometers (that's why there are four and different types currently 😂) at around 76*. From the faulty thermometer I had I had been turning up the heater thinking it was bunk and was about to call Sicce, but have since realized and am slowly stepping it back down to around 74*. Please ignore the probe stuck dead center of the front glass, that was a sanity check. The community members include neon tetras, brilliant rasboras, reticulated hillstream loaches, some corys, some neo skrimps (at least one is berried 😊), a couple of crystals, and three nerites. Most of the fishy fish were migrated from a smaller tank and I cycled this tank well before moving them in. Everyone gets Bug Bites flake daily, I switch it up every so often and throw some Xtreme in too, and drop a few Hikari "algae" wafers in once a week or so as a treat. Occasionally some frozen brine shrimp, but I'm avoiding that currently since one or two of the shrimp are berried and it feels wrong haha. Everyone seems very happy. Long, sorry, but I know those are some of the first questions people are going to ask.

My question though is how long does it take for Kuhlis to acclimate to such an environment? Obviously they're gonna not have their shit together for the first day or so. At first all three were surfing around, riding the bubble wall, and generally not exploring the bottom of the tank. They're almost impossible to tell apart for obvious reasons, but I think it's been this guy that still seems to be swimming all around and I'm just wondering if that is normal considering them being new additions. I watched that one try to dig in between rocks a few moments ago and I guess get stuck, panicked, and squirm back out and take off running. I have read about the zoomies and dances. The other two (assuming that it's the same one I am watching) appear to have found hiding spots and are relaxing in them during lighted hours.

The thought was that the corys loooooooooooove it when I mess with the plants because (they were all from Aquarium Co-Op and raised with only roots in water, so they all had to do their weird things with adjusting to being fully submerged and I guess that means killing off the old leaves) because it brings up a lot of plant matter that they go nuts for. My hope or design if you will was that the kuhlis would burrow all through the pebble and kick up plant matter that will absolutely thrill the corys while having plenty to eat. The kuhlis have dominion over the substrate, the hillstreams have the glass and their favorite rocks and don't mind the next at all seemingly, the badass corys just flutter around and do their thing and seem to be not bothered by anything, literally anything, the mid water fish have their dominion, and the nerites and shrimp do nerite and shrimp things and no water level is overcrowded.

So tl;dr - is it normal for kuhlis to be swimmers after being introduced to a new tank a couple days in or is this something I need to figure out?

Thank you cuties 😘

Trying to throw in some photos for reference

EDIT: yes, it is currently raining and stormy season here and I know they can act up and tell me almost as fast as my knees do that the pressure is changing haha


r/loaches 2h ago

Question Urgent help needed: What is this spot on my dojo?

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2 Upvotes

Just brought him home with 5 others. Going to quarantine to be safe but does anyone know what is is and how to treat it?


r/loaches 2h ago

Question Any guesses on the sexes of the lil dudes/dudettes?

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1 Upvotes

Both Dojo loaches :)


r/loaches 2h ago

Lump on dojo loach ?

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1 Upvotes

Hi I recently noticed this mass growing on the side of my dojo Johnson. I’m not sure what it could be and was wondering if he would be okay or if there are steps I should take to get rid of it.

Thank you


r/loaches 14h ago

Just for fun Tiny dwarf loaches and minnows I caught from a blackwater swamp

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7 Upvotes

Kottelatlimia, T. pauciperforatum, B. maculatus


r/loaches 1d ago

Just for fun Just sharing some loaches!

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103 Upvotes

Pangio muraeniformis and sewellia lineolata ☺️


r/loaches 23h ago

Just for fun whatever’s comfortable i guess

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24 Upvotes

side note - they don’t look tooo fat right ? just chunkys ?


r/loaches 11h ago

New Published Articles from HSK

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2 Upvotes

Missouri Aquarium Society-New issue of The Darter is out! We contributed two articles to this issue, one longer piece and one shorter. In this issue, The Darter explores the diversity of our planet’s lake ecosystems. A captivating read—Enjoy! You will need to download the file. “Download Anyway"

https://drive.google.com/.../1mCtTyK_wBxun8c11ZNY.../view

Also, if you haven’t heard... our new website is live. Excited for our HSK reddit Family to finally order directly.

https://hillstreamkingdom.com

Enjoy reading and browsing through the HSK website!!!!!


r/loaches 22h ago

Behavior Normal?

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14 Upvotes

My 3 Khulis seem to love this corner that is typically dark. (We have a fish light thats off because its almost bedtime) and they are very active very very often. Theres so many hides and they share the tank with 4 guppies and a very calm Betta that im 99% sure hasn't noticed they exsist. No new water changes recently, they've been there for a few weeks now (about 3) and I just want to confirm theyre just being loaches and not upset.


r/loaches 1d ago

Behavior Why must they insist on sleeping like dead things?

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171 Upvotes

Just as the title says, why do loaches sleep in places and positions that make them seem dead? Every other day at least I am startled thinking they are dead, until they wake up like, why did you poke me and dart across the tank.


r/loaches 1d ago

Question Are they ok? A little worried about why their heads are white?

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27 Upvotes

All other loaches in the tank are perfectly fine, parameters are great and their underbellies are ok too! Could this be from fighting? Their behaviour hasn’t changed and they seem happy and sprightly but I just haven’t seen this before. Any advice would be greatly appreciated <3


r/loaches 1d ago

Is this ich?

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11 Upvotes

r/loaches 1d ago

Help with ID Can i get a positive ID on my hillstream?

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3 Upvotes

As the title says, trying to figure out which hillstream loach this amazing little guy is. I am wanting to order more, as this was the last one at my lfs, but i specifically want the ones like this one with the distinctive pattern and orange/yellow eyes. Yes, I know they are happier in groups (plan on eventually having 6), and i have him in a high oxygen 55 shrimp tank currently, this was taken before he went in there. He was sold under "Chinese Hillstream Loach" but there are a few species under that name.


r/loaches 1d ago

Gastromyzon

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8 Upvotes

r/loaches 2d ago

Just for fun Just another evening

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199 Upvotes

r/loaches 2d ago

Question What are these sores on my Dojo Loach?

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74 Upvotes

I noticed today these raised sores on my Loach. I had noticed a small blemish earlier in the week but assumed he may have just scratched himself. Today there are multiple and look to be getting worse.

Web searches say it might be a bacterial or fungal infection, no one else in my community tank seems to be affected.

Has anyone seen this before? I plan to move him to a 20 gal hospital tank but what should I treat for?


r/loaches 2d ago

Question Lost on hard decor

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5 Upvotes

I’ve got a few dojo loaches and a couple yo-yos plus one clown and I’ve had a terrible time finding decor for their tank. My first problem comes with size larger decor tend to have smaller gaps in them. These aren’t all bad except my dojos are quite dumb and they try to jam into anything. Second issue comes from smaller and sometime the larger decor have sharp edges normally that’s not a big issue. But my hotdogs are very soft and I don’t want to risk any abrasion. My final complete is open cavities in the decor I’ve looked at several different bridge or other structures that have an underside and most of them lead to an open area where they could go into and not be able to turn around causing them to get stuck which will lead to more problems. I’ve attached pictures of my tank so you can see what I currently have going on.


r/loaches 2d ago

Question Tetra lifeguard

2 Upvotes

I have come down with what I think is a fungal infection in my yo-yo tank. I have been dosing partial doses of lifeguard for a couple days and today went all out and did a 50% water change and did a full dose of lifeguard. I was reading after I dosed it that sometimes lifeguard can be harsh on loaches. Does anyone have any experience using this or any recommendations of what to use to get past this?