Best live foods for kuhlii loaches

[bereb]

I've been having a blast with live foods lately, and I've been pretty successful in growing them too. I've got a setup for Moina and Lumbriculus variegatus (blackworms) that's working really well. It's a simple plastic tub, maybe 10 litres or so, with some substrate, floating plants, and an airstone wrapped in a sponge. Every couple of days, I add some pure spirulina powder to the water and throw in either cooked zucchini or dried fish food. Both species are thriving, which is pretty amazing considering I don't do much else besides add food and harvest.

I've got three tanks to feed, and live foods make up about 40% of their diet. That's a lot of fish – 53 to be exact. The tanks are 280L (9 hengeli rasboras, 19 rosy tetras, and 1 Bolivian ram cichlid), 105L QT (12 beckfordi pencilfish and 11 black kuhlii loaches), and 54L (male betta fish). The cost is minimal, easily under €1 per week.

I've been quarantining the loaches and pencilfish for over a week now, and I don't think they get much live food. The Moina swim all over, so I'm guessing the loaches don't catch any. The blackworms bury themselves in the substrate when left on the bottom, and they retract when disturbed. The other fish can catch them just fine, but the loaches can't really hover above the substrate to catch them.

So, I'm looking for live foods that'll stay on or near the substrate, without being able to hide in it like my blackworms do. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd love to find something that'll work for my kuhliis. Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any advice or experiences you can share.

[sageSe]

I decided to dive into what kuhlii loaches eat in the wild, hoping to find some inspiration for live foods that would work for them. Unfortunately, there's a surprising lack of studies on this topic. The best I could find was a mention of "insect larvae" as a food source.

I did stumble upon some research on similar freshwater loaches, specifically those in the Cobitis genus, which share similar ecology and behavior with kuhlis. These studies suggested that copepods and water fleas might be suitable options, but also reinforced the idea that insect larvae, such as those from caddisflies and midges, could be a good fit. Of these, copepods and water fleas seem like the most straightforward choice, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to culture the insect larvae.

[bereb]

I decided to dive into what kuhlii loaches eat in the wild, hoping to find some inspiration for live foods that would work for them. Unfortunately, there's a surprising lack of studies on this topic. The best I could find was a mention of "insect larvae" as a food source.

I did stumble upon some research on similar freshwater loaches, specifically those in the Cobitis genus, which share similar ecology and behavior with kuhlis. These studies suggested that copepods and water fleas might be suitable options, but also reinforced the idea that insect larvae, such as those from caddisflies and midges, could be a good fit. Of these, copepods and water fleas seem like the most straightforward choice, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to culture the insect larvae.

Thanks for looking into that for me, I really appreciate the effort you put into researching what my kuhliis might eat in the wild. I think you're on the right track with the insect larvae, but I can see how that might be tricky to culture - I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with adult insects, especially if they have wings.

My moina are pretty similar to water fleas, so I might try feeding some of those at night when the pencilfish are less active. The loaches don't stand a chance during the day, the pencilfish are just too good at hunting them down.

Unless someone else has a better idea, I'll probably just have to stick with frozen foods for my kuhliis, and maybe supplement with moina at night in the hopes that a few will make it to them. Thanks again @sageSe for the suggestion.

[sageSe]

Thanks again for looking into that, I appreciate the effort you put into researching what my loaches might eat in the wild. I agree that culturing insect larvae could be a bit of a challenge, especially if we're talking about insects with wings.

I think I might have a decent alternative, though - my moina are pretty similar to water fleas, so I could try feeding those to my loaches at night when the pencilfish are less active. That way, the loaches might have a better chance of catching some.

It's worth a shot, at least. If not, I suppose I'll just have to stick with frozen foods for now, and hope that some of the moina sneak past the pencilfish.

[bereb]

I decided to dive into what kuhlii loaches eat in the wild, hoping to find some inspiration for live foods that would work for them. Unfortunately, there's a surprising lack of studies on this topic. The best I could find was a mention of "insect larvae" as a food source.

I did stumble upon some research on similar freshwater loaches, specifically those in the Cobitis genus, which share similar ecology and behavior with kuhlis. These studies suggested that copepods and water fleas might be suitable options, but also reinforced the idea that insect larvae, such as those from caddisflies and midges, could be a good fit. Of these, copepods and water fleas seem like the most straightforward choice, but I'm not sure how feasible it would be to culture the insect larvae.

I'm glad to hear that frozen foods will do just fine for my kuhliis. I've currently got a stash of frozen bloodworms, but I'm almost out - next time I'll be stocking up on a variety of frozen foods.

It's interesting, when my tanks are cycled but empty, I get huge seed shrimp colonies - they'd be perfect for the loaches, but I think I'd need a dedicated culture tank that's pretty big to make it worthwhile.

My loaches are actually really active during the day, especially when I'm feeding - they all come out and start snuffling around for food, it's great to see. I was surprised, as I'd heard kuhlii loaches are usually really shy during the day, but mine seem to be the opposite.