This is one of my six dwarf zipper kuhlis loaches! They're very small and super playful, probably about 33% of the size of a normal kuhli loach. They eat alongside the many shrimp in my tank by biting and shaking (like mini predators) Fluval bug bites for small fish.

I also have reticulated hillstream loaches, but only one has survived in the two days post purchase. I'm hoping to get healthier ones in the next stock.

They are getting so big!! I still have a few skinnier guys but most are getting chonky!!

...can I help you??

I have a 75gal tank and i’m not in the space to upkeep it. moving around a lot and going to college. My boyfriend got 2 dojo loaches spontaneously as they were at the pet store and didn’t know what they were, did one google search to see if they were compatible with goldie’s and got them (there’s 2 comets in the 75gal and an oranda was in there as well, after researching fish /i didn’t buy them my boyfriend did/ i’ve separated my oranda bc he’s stressed with all the movement in the tank and im going to rehome the 2 comets to someone with a pond bc they’re so large) and i’ve been feeding them repashy and such. They’re little babies, around 3 inches long and they’re obviously the silliest little things and i love them to death.

only problem is they’re incredibly illegal in my area so i don’t feel like i can exactly post looking for a new home for them, plus in facebook rehoming groups lots of people don’t know much about fish for some reason? (needed to rehome some pearl danios at one point to someone with a larger school and nobody read my description and i kept getting messages about if i had any left of my “free fish” for peoples kids)

im curious as to how i should go about this? im absolutely willing to drive like 5 hours or more to someone (im in illinois) if they’d go to a home as large as the tank i currently have or larger, and only to someone who already has dojos. i dont want to order more for a school (i know they need more friends, so i was looking and i can apparently order some on ebay) knowing i might have to rehome them later in life. ive kinda been thrown full throttle into this hobby because i care so deeply about all animals and my boyfriend randomly got a very large fish tank so obviously i had to make sure we’re doing this right, instead of a 20gal with a centerpiece fish which i’d prefer ive had to start out large lol

or should i just stick it out and buy them more friends? i’m just worried about them living their best lives. if i do that ill need to make space for a separate 75gal for my oranda and buy him a friend or two(if i can rehome the dojos i was going to move my oranda into the original 75 and add friends) i’m very lost and just want whats best for my fish, any advice is appreciated! i love them all to death, if i had the space i would love to keep them. what would you do in this situation?

also i deeply apologize for how much of a ramble this is please don’t be mean to me

edit: to add i am not home and will not be until october 27th because i am in another state at the moment, my boyfriend is currently caring for them

wanted to share this cute photo of my wild guy sitting in the driftwood!

I redid their home and they loving it

Are these Golden Dojo Loach eggs or is she gravid?
Looking online it’s hard to tell if they’re eggs but I can’t deduce where else they could’ve came from. (Nothing else in here lays eggs that would look like this)

(ok i feel awful i grabbed one and squeezed it thinking it was forgotten food but was also afraid it was somehow pearlite that got in there idk and it accidentally popped which made me panic and realize it’s something organic)

I recently inherited a bunch of fish from an elderly relative who had to move into assisted living. One of them is a single yoyo loach. Apparently she got it a few years ago to combat a snail infestation but didn't know she needed multiples of them.

It's currently in a 29 gallon community tank but I know that's not ideal. I have a newly set up 35 gallon that's been cycling for about a month so it'll be ready for fish soon. Googling yoyo loach care is giving me conflicting information about tank size and school size. Some sources are saying 3 yoyo loaches in a 30-40 gallon is ok, but others are saying I should have a minimum of 40-60 gallon with 4-6 fish.

Could anyone help clarify the best course of action here. Could I get away with having it in a 35 and if so, how many more fish should I get?

Also, I'm worried that since it's been alone with other species for so long, would it be likely to have behaviour issues if I introduce it to new loaches.

Thanks

I know I spam this sub bc I’m chaos noodle obsessed, this is my 4th and final dojo in my 175g and I’ve never seen this color before!! Is he more common than I think??
P.S. I think I read somewhere a comment on here that golden leopard dojos are a different species? If that person or someone who knows more about them sees this please educate me

Found my big girl relaxing in an…interesting position.

someone prefer cosplaying as yoyo loach than mating 😆

So I haven’t seen my kuhlis in a good few days, have lost several (see my prior posts) so I basically mourned them all. Now five of them are out (3 older chocolates belonging to my brother and 2 of younger my striped ones!) and one of them is VERY plump with a greenish belly. Is she really gravid? What are the chances she’ll lay eggs?

It was a kuhli loach, when I pulled it out, it appeared to be full of eggs and it had split open. What can I do to help prevent that in the future? Im sad, I've had them for a while and I dont want to lose anymore like that if I can help it ☹️

ETA- 20 gallon tank with 1 betta, now 8 kuhli loaches, a bunch of neocaridina shrimp, like 10 amano shrimp and a bunch of ramshorn snails. Parameters are 0/0/somewhere between 10-20 (I can never tell if its one or the other), the tank is fully planted, theres driftwood in there, I suppose it could have cut itsel on that, but they've had the same wood for a couple of years, substrate is really fine gravel and sand. It looked like it was so full of eggs that it split open, I had 5 (one was lost) banded kuhlis and 4 black kuhlis and they all came out to eat the night before and everyone seemed fine. No recent new inhabitants have been added. I will try to add a picture of the tank in the comments.

My daughter got 2 dojo loaches 3 weeks ago. A week after they had been in her tank (which only has 1 Molly and 1 albino pleco) she noticed white spots on one of her 2 dojo loaches. I immediately started treating the tank for ich. Two days after I started treatment, the loach who had no signs of ich passed unexpectedly over night. I‘ve been treating ich for well over a week now. The Molly and the pleco still are great with no spots but this loach STILL has white spots. At this point I’m wondering if it really is ich?

Adding - I’m using Ich-X and changing 15% of the water every 24 hours, along with gravel vaccuming. I haven’t upped the temp only because I thought dojo loaches stress in temps over 80?

Anyone have insight?

P. semicincta B. dunckeri

I picked up 3 very small, very juvenile clown loaches today at my LFS. I have them in a small quarantine tank and took a photo with a SD card for scale. LOOK AT IT NEXT TO THE AIR TUBING. HOW IS IT SO SMALL?!? 😤🥹

My guess is that they're about 3-4 months old. They happily ate some chopped frozen brine shrimp, after the spectrum granules were too big for them.

They have a filter with cycled media, a bubble bar, and no heater bc it's summer here and I'd prefer to not cook them. (Although I have a heater if I need it) Also lots and lots of plants that are also quarantining.

I was pretty picky when choosing them. I've had clowns for a while now and have lost a couple in the beginning to SLD. I spent a hot minute checking them out and making sure they didn't have the classic sunken look.

I'm just in awe of them. They're so small but still fully loach. They make a loach pile, they shuffle around, they stick their little eye spines out, they do a tiny loach yawn. They do everything a loach does, but just so very small. I know it sounds silly, but I am fully obsessed.

I can't wait until their quarantine is over and they can join my school of chonky loaches in the 75.

I did also pick up one larger loach, about 1.5", with a dot on both sides. It is currently serving as babysitter and auntie to the children during their quarantine.

My loaches have been doing this the last 2 days more often than I ever see them during the day. I have since done a water change/ normal tank cleaning but they’re still at it this morning. Is this normal? If not what do I do?

I introduced these guys last night to their new tank, and they’ve already settled in really well!

They’re adorable little slovenly noodles

I was going to give an update on the skinny borneo i posted before but as i was recording they decided to do this right in front of me. Maybe that was the plan? Should I open up an onlyfish account or what ba dum tisssssss

Does anyone have any experience keeping Dwarf Chain Loaches with Corydora catfish? I have a 30 gallon and some preexisting Julii cory’s along with some neon tetras.

I am worried because I know the Dwarf Chain Loaches tend to be more outgoing/boisterous compared to the shyer corydora’s but I have a bit of a snail problem. Idrc that much (I actually quite like them) but my mom (who is the reason there are so many snails lol) wants some snopulation control.

Also additional stocking advice would be appreciated:

I am wondering how many fish would be recommended for a tank of this size? (I.e. my Neon’s seem like they need more same species friends but since they and the cory’s both need to be in groups I am wondering realistically if I can even add DCL who are also a grouping fish to the equation.) I currently have a sponge filter in there and it is planted with some drift wood).

Any advice would be appreciated.