Sewellia Lineolata - Hillstream Loach Breeding Log 1

[cockroach]

Got stuck into the sump yesterday. Cleaned and rearranged.
I removed all media and put it in buckets and the main tank. Rinsed with tank water. I washed all filter socks while doing this - I just throw them in the washing machine with no detergent and rinse.
Siphoned all the gunk out and repacked the media. I planned to leave the black bio balls out as they stop movement on the water surface which has led to mosquitos treating it as a love motel. I decided to put the black bio balls by making a cover from grate and pushing them below the water line with other media as weights.
I will increase the amount of crushed coral again as I took a lot to use in the guppy rack.
I cleaned the glass a bit from calcium build up and wound up with this.........

Cleaned


Repacked and bio balls weighted down.



I forgot to take an after pic of the water stains cleaned up.

 

[cockroach]

Some pics of the Sewellia Lineolata tank which is the middle tier
and the Sewellia Breviventralis tank which is the bottom tier.
I added the spotted Sewellia to the brevi tank which also houses my group of 5 panda garra.
Sewellia Lineolata juveniles and new fry.


The Sewellia Breviventralis tank with new fry, young adult from previous spawns and the brevi adults.

 

[cockroach]

The bottom tank.
I don't think many people realize what a tank of a fish panda garra become. They are a solid torpedo of muscle.
The fully grown spotted hillstream loaches are not far behind.



The middle tank again.

 

[cockroach]

The fry just keep coming. I legit have to start making a plan with the larger fry as the growout tanks are becoming crowded.















I made some homemade food about 2 or 3 weeks ago. The fish seem to be loving it. I let one punnet air dry in the fridge to see how it would hold up. It is great and fish still love it. It doesn't disintegrate quickly and is more like a pellet food now. Doesn't look the best but is working

 

[MultipleTankSyndrome]

If only Martin Thoene could see this. He was trying very hard to breed his Sewellia, going so far as to connect 2 tanks with a water bridge to maximize breeding area for them.

 

[Friller2009]

I love hillstream loaches. the reticulated ones are like $95 a piece around where i am.

 

[Midwater]

Terrific hillstream setup.

 

[cockroach]

M MultipleTankSyndrome I have found a flaw in the whole setup. If setup as a hillstream display tank it would be awesome. However, for breeding, the size the holes need to be in the mesh is still large enough to let fry swimming to different tanks. And that they do!

When the bottom tanks has a spawn, I have taken fry out of the top tank. So keeping the species separated is more challenging. Hence the dump bucket growout tanks where I have to leave them longer to see which species they are as some fry from the different species look similar when small. Also, as I am trying to breed for color patterns on certain fish they have to reach a certain size before I can confidently ID the pattern I am looking for.

 

[cockroach]

Friller2009 That is insane!!! Why are fish so expensive in Aus?? Here an adult is between US$5-8 depending on store.

Midwater Thanks !!

 

[tiger15]

Do any of you have hillstream loaches climb into your HOBs. They like to swim against current and are good water fall climber.