Bronze Catfish Fact Sheet

Black Kuhli Loach Fact Sheet

Echinodorus amazonicus – Żabienica amazońska

The Black Kuhli Loach, Pangio oblonga, is a close relative of the Kuhi loach, Pangio kuhlii, but is not as popular in aquariums because of its plainer colouring.  The Black Kuhli loach comes from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

 

 

 

Size

 

The maximum length of this fish is about 8 centimetres (3 inches), but because it is a thin eel like shape, this is still a small fish.

 

Water Conditions

 

This is a tropical fish and a temperature of between 23 and 28 degrees C (between 73 and 82 degrees F) is acceptable.  This fish comes from soft acid water and the usually recommended conditions for them in an aquarium are a pH of between 6.2 and 7.2, with soft water.  Although it seems logical to approach the water parameters of its natural habitat, Richard Bias of New Jersey, USA has kept and bred this fish with a pH of 8.0 and relatively hard water with a gH of 18-22 and a kH of about 20.

 

It may be that keeping the water clean and with consistent pH and hardness is more important than the actual values of the parameters.

 

In the wild their habitats often have a sandy bottom.  This is generally recommended for aquariums, but Mr. Bias used small rocks of up to 2.5 cm (1 inch in diameter).  I have also had success with keeping this species using a substrate of small pebbles.

 

Plants

 

Tylomelania towutensis
In the wild they are used to plants and an aquarium should have plenty of live plants.

 

Food

 

Black Kuhli Loaches are omnivores, but their diet requires a reasonable amount of animal based food.  My Kuhlis seem to particularly like frozen blood worms (so do many fish).  I also give them frozen brine shrimp once a week.  They will also eat normal fish foods like flakes.

 

They are bottom feeders and only eat what falls to the bottom.

 

Nocturnal

 

Tylomelania species orange poso.
Black Kuhlis are partially nocturnal.  Combined with this they will burrow into the substrate and are good at hiding in the plants, so you may not see them much.  They are difficult to catch.

The Kuhli Loach, Pangio kuhlii, is a small eel like fish.  It comes from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.  Other names include Coolie Loach, which is a clear miss-spelling of Kuhli; both these words are pronounced in the same way.  It is also called “Prickle Eye” because it has a prickle near its eye. This prickle probably gives this fish some protection from predators.

 

 

 

Length and Longevity

 

The Kuhli loach will supposedly grow up to 12 centimetres (4 and a half inches) long, but I have never seen one this big.  Most of the ones available are much smaller than this.  One of the reasons for this variation is that there are several subspecies of Pangio kuhlii, and the size they grow to varies a lot.

 

They have been reported as living up to 10 years.

 

Water Conditions

 

The Kuhli Loach is an equatorial fish; the main areas it is from are a little to the south of the Equator.  It needs warm water, and a temperature of between 24 and 30 degrees C (between 75 and 86 degrees F) is suitable.  They can survive a slightly higher or lower temperature than this range, but I do not recommend it.

 

In the wild this fish is mainly found in slowly flowing streams with a sandy bottom with a layer of organic matter from the surrounding forests in many places on the stream bed.  The water in these streams tends to have a fairly low mineral content and to be soft and acidic.  There are plants growing in sections of these streams.

Tylomelania patriarchalis

In an aquarium they will adapt to a moderate hardness and can certainly take a hardness of up to 10 dH.  A pH of up to 7.5 is generally tolerated.  The water needs to be reasonably clean in the sense of not having a large build up of fish wastes.

 

Substrate

 

In an aquarium you should avoid any sharp substrates and fine river sand is the normal choice.  I have also had success with using large (6mm or more) rounded pebbles.

 

These fish not only search the surface of the sand for food, they will go right into it.  I have seen them dive straight into the sand to avoid being caught.  With larger pebbles they will go between the pebbles looking for food.

 

Plants

 

These fish seem to like densely planted aquariums.  Including some floating plants is also a good idea.

 

Food

 

Kuhli loaches are omnivores with a requirement for some animal based food.  They will certainly eat flakes and pellets.  One of their favourite foods is frozen bloodworms.  They also like frozen brine shrimp.

Neritina natalensis – Nerite Zebra

This is a bottom feeding fish, so it is necessary for some of the food to reach the bottom.

Catching

The Kuhli Loach has the distinction of being the most difficult fish to catch in a planted aquarium.  It is closely followed in this by the Black Kuhli Loach.

 

Companions

 

Although the Kuhli loach in not a schooling fish in the normal sense, they seem to need company.  A single Kuhli may be able to, live all right in a tank, but will tend to be hidden nearly all the time during the day.  A group of perhaps eight of these interesting fish will behave quite differently and are much more likely to come out and show themselves during the day.

 

This is a small peaceful fish, and is a suitable inhabitant for a community aquarium of small peaceful fish.

 

Sexing

 

Most of the time there is not a big difference in appearance between the sexes, but the male is more muscular in the front part of his body.  The male also have larger pectoral fins with more black on them than the females.

Faunus ater – Black Devil

When they are ready to breed the gender becomes more obvious with their lower body becoming distinctly fatter with greenish coloured eggs visible.

 

These fish probably reach sexual maturity at about 2 years old.

 

Breeding in the Wild

 

The wild Kuhli Loaches usually breed in December and January.  In the areas they come from, the wettest three months are December, January and February, so they breed in the early part of the wet season when the water level is rising.  They apparently breed in very shallow water, in areas which are dry part of the year.  Some of the breeding areas would not even be part of the stream bed, but would be normally a forest area. Neritina pulligera – Military Helmet These flooded forests would have a large amount of food both for the adults and for their babies.  The breeding appears to be communal with a group of Kuhlis taking part rather than just one pair.

 

This fish is not threatened in the wild so they must be breeding successfully.

 

Breeding in Aquariums

 

 

 

There are many reports of this fish breeding in aquariums, but nearly all of these are of accidents rather than planned breeding.  Most of these reports involve community aquariums.

 

 

 

Although I have yet to see a well documented account of this fish breeding when this was planned, there are a number of bits of information which can be pieced together.

 

Weather Predicting

 

This fish will react when it is about to rain.  It is in the same family as the famous weather loach whose rain predicting abilities appears to rival the most advanced meteorological techniques.  Both the weather Loach and the Kuhli loach will swim wildly as if they are ready to spawn when rain is coming.  It is generally believed that they are reacting to a change in air pressure.  Of course we should remember that our Kuhli Loaches are kept inside in an aquarium heated to a constant temperature, and that the pressure they are subjected to includes the pressure caused by the depth of the water in the aquarium.  This depth may vary from time to time.

 

I wonder if we are underestimating these fish.  The change in air pressure is not the only thing that happens before rain.  The rain in the areas they come from will be largely accompanied by electrical storms and the atmosphere before thunder storms has a different proportion of negative to positive ions from normal.  Humans can feel the effects of this.  Possibly this is also used by fish in predicting weather.

 

Conditioning

 

To breed it is obvious that the fish will need to be well fed so they have enough nutrition to grow the eggs and sperm.  Meaty foods like bloodworms, brine shrimp, daphnia etc will be helpful in this.

 

Stimulating Spawning

 

It appears that conditions simulating those at the start of the rainy season in their native habitat are likely to encourage spawning.  These conditions will include an increase in water level by the addition of pure water.    This will reduce the hardness of the water.  A reduction in the water temperature of 5 degrees C (9 degrees F) may also help.

 

Spawning

The Reticulate Loach, Botia lohachata is also called the Reticulated Loach, The Yoyo Loach, The Y-Loach and The Pakistani Loach.  It is similar to Botia almorhae, and shares several common names with that fish.

Origin

The Reticulate Loach is native to India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

 

Length and Longevity

The Reticulate Loach can reach 11 centimetres (4 inches) in length although exceptional individuals can be bigger than this. It has been reported as living up to 20 years.

Water Conditions

This is a mostly tropical fish although its range includes some cooler areas.  A temperature in the aquarium of between 19 and 30 degrees C (between 66 and 86 degrees F) is suitable for this fish. In some parts of its range water temperatures can get lower than this. Kirysek panda – Corydoras panda

Reasonably soft water with a pH between 6 and 7.5 is ideal, but they can be acclimatized to water outside this pH range with moderate hardness.  Reticulate Loaches prefer clean, well oxygenated water, and usually do better if there is no more than a moderate current in the tank; in nature they are usually found either in still water or in slowly flowing water rather than raging torrents.

A well planted tank will make this fish act as if it feels more secure.  This is a reasonably big fish which needs the company of its own kind, so it is very unsuitable for a small aquarium.

By nature they are partially nocturnal, but they adapt quickly to being active and eating during the day time.  By having plenty of plants, including some floating ones the lower part of the aquarium will be in the subdued light that this fish prefers.

Substrate

Reticulate Loaches have four pairs of barbels.  These can be damaged by the substrate of the aquarium, so the sand or gravel should not be sharp.  Loaches have no obvious scales (although they do have some small scales) and are sometimes referred to as being ‘naked’ fish.

Hiding Places

These fish like to be able to hide and will get into small spaces, so you should also avoid any sharp edges on ornaments or stones in the tank.  They like a hiding place that they will just fit into, so there should be a lot of different small caves etc. so they can choose a suitable one as they grow.  Reticulate Loaches generally do not like large open caves that might suit Clown Loaches.

Food

The Reticulate Loach is an omnivore with a preference for animal food.  They will eat any normal fish food that sinks.  Most of their feeding is at the bottom of the tank, but they are capable of eating in mid water. They occasionally also feed at the surface of the water.  Frozen Blood Worms are a good food, but their diet should be varied as much as possible.  Live food including Daphnia and Brine Shrimp are good.  In the wild their food includes snails, worms and small fish.

They will eat slices of vegetables such as cucumber, if these are weighted down so they stay on the bottom.

Snails

The Reticulate Loach, like many of its relatives, will eat some of the common aquarium types of snail.  This fish is sometimes purchased mainly to get rid of an infestation of snails in an aquarium.

Scavenger?

The Reticulate Loach is sometimes kept as a scavenger.  As with any fish, you need to make sure it is getting enough of the right type of food, and you cannot rely on food missed by the other fish.  It will not eat fish wastes.

Frequency

It is better for this fish to have a small amount of food several times a day rather than a lot of food once a day.

Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis or snail fever is a serious disease affecting Humans and their domestic animals, as well as wild animals.  The intermediate host of the parasite which causes this disease is one of a number of species of freshwater snails.  One way of breaking the life cycle of this debilitating disease is to control the water snails.  The snail eating Reticulate Loach is one of many natural controls on the freshwater snail population and plays its part in controlling the disease. Fantom czarny (Barwieniec czarny)

Sound

The Reticulate Loach can make a clicking sound.  This may be produced by forcing air through the gills and may be connected with feeding on the surface of the water; an alternative explanation of the noise is that it is produced by specialized teeth in the throat of this fish that appear to aid in the extraction of snails from their shells.

Air Breathing

Although the ideal conditions include well oxygenated water, this fish has the ability to take in air and force it over their gills so they can absorb Oxygen from the atmosphere when they are in Oxygen deficient water.

Spines

Reticulate Loaches have sharp spines near their eyes.  These are used in a defensive manner, and care should be taken to avoid getting your skin pricked, or a plastic bag used for carrying the fish punctured.

Resting

This fish will sometimes rest on its side.  This behaviour is normal for Reticulate Loaches and some of its relatives and does not indicate any problem with the fish.

Companions

Reticulate Loaches are compatible with a wide range of fish.  I would avoid putting them with slow moving, long finned fish because some people have reported that they can nip the fins of these fish.  They are an active, semi-aggressive, fish which can disturb nervous fish.  However, when it is young it is a suitable companion for all the tetras, all the rasboras and many other fish.  A mature Reticulate Loach is a  bigger fish than many of the tetras, so you certainly should not expect them to be a suitable companion for the smaller tetras like the Neon Tetra and its relatives; especially remembering that in the wild their diet includes small fish.

The Reticulate Loach is not a schooling fish, but it does much better in a group of at least 5 fish.  They also appear to be less aggressive in a group than as a single fish.

The natural food of this fish includes snails and shrimp, so it is not a safe companion for freshwater shrimp. Nymphaea lotus

Intelligence

Observations suggest that the Reticulate Loach is one of the more intelligent aquarium fish.  They have been reported to be able to recognise people as individuals rather than just as people.

Sexing

When they are mature, the females are fatter than the males, and when loaded with eggs can be very fat.  The slimmer males may have some red near their mouth.

Breeding

This fish has very rarely been bred in a home aquarium.

A report suggests that spawning has occurred with a pair conditioned on mainly vegetable food.  The spawning happened at the water surface with a temperature of 28 degrees C (82 degrees F), a hardness of 11 degrees and a pH of 7.  The female laid between three and five thousand eggs of about 2 to 2.5 mm diameter.

The eggs hatched in 16-18 hours.

The care of the fry was reported as being easy and they reached between 1 and 1.5 cm in length after one month.

Commercial Breeding

The Reticulate Loach is bred on a large scale commercially by the injection of hormones.  This is done in Florida and other places.

Breeding in the Wild

They scatter their eggs over the bottom of the waterway they are in.  Spawning appears to be done in pairs rather than in a group.  The parents do not look after their babies.  The babies grow during the wet season.

Common Names

In English the common names of the Reticulate Loach include Reticulated loach, Yoyo Loach, Y-Loach, Painted Loach and Pakistani Loach.  The names “Y-Loach” and “Yoyo Loach” refer to the pattern of stripes on young fish of this species.  At different stages of growth the pattern can look like a series of y’s, and then later like the word ‘yoyo’.  When they are older they get the full net pattern which gives rise to the name “Reticulate Loach”.  The actual pattern on different individuals varies considerably. Eleocharis Acicularis – Ponikło igłowate

Scientific Name

The accepted name for this fish is Botia lohachata (Chaudhuri, 1912).  This is the only scientific name that has correctly been applied to this fish, but there is considerable confusion between Botia almorhae and Botia lohachata among aquarists.  These two fish are similar in appearance and the information in this fact sheet about keeping them could be applied to either species.

Differences between Botia lohachata and Botia almorhae

The native range of these two species is different, but overlaps.  While Botia lohachata comes from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, Botia almorhae comes from India, Nepal, Myanmar and maybe Pakistan.

Botia almorha grows a little larger than Botia lohachata, but this difference could only be applied to full grown specimens, or to populations.

A Botia almorhae is generally wider than a Botia lohachata of the same length.

Conservation Status

Botia lohachata has not been evaluated by the UICN Redlist, but there is no reason to think it is an endangered fish.

Botia almorhae has been evaluated as being a species of least concern.

Pest Fish

Although I am not aware of this fish becoming a problem in ecosystems it is not native to, the normal precautions should be observed to make sure it cannot get into waterways it is not native to.  The Reticulate Loach was introduced into the Philippines in 1991, but I don’t know if it has become established there.

Steve Challis

This fish seems more likely to breed if there are a good sized group of them.  The female can lay up to 400 eggs.  They are strongly adhesive, and stick to plants, including floating ones.

Echinodorus cordifolius Tropica Marble Queen

The eggs hatch in about 24 hours.  The babies are about 7 millimetres long after hatching.  In many cases the fry have succeeded in growing on the food present in a community tank.

 

Common Names

 

Common names for this fish in English include ‘Kuhli Loach”, “Coolie Loach”, “Giant coolie loach”, “Leopard loach”, “Slimy loach”, and “Slimy myersi”.

 

In French, it ii called “Kuhli” or “Loche coolie”, or “Loche léopard" or “Loche svelte” or “Serpent d'eau”.

 

Scientific Name

 

The accepted name is “Pangio kuhlii” (Valenciennes, 1846).

Companions

 

Although they cannot be described as a schooling fish, they seem to do better in groups; the larger the better.

Rotala rotundifolia – Rotala okrągłolistna

They are peaceful fish and can be kept with other small peaceful fish.  They are a good inhabitant for a well planted community tank of at least 50 litres (13 US gallons).

 

Sexing

 

When in breeding condition the females become distinctly fatter than the males.

 

Breeding in the Wild

 

It is believed that in the wild this fish breeds in flooded forests.  The forest floor may well have much organic debris from the trees and the baby loaches probably grow amongst these; feeding on the rich animal and vegetable food which would grows in this environment.

 

Breeding in an Aquarium

 

This has been done, and under sources there is a link to Richard Bias’s account of his success.  It appears to be an unusual feat and not much information is available.

 

I suggest that two likely requirements for success are excellent feeding including rich foods like blood worms, and a substrate that will allow the babies to live and feed in.

 

Although the known single example of successful breeding in aquariums is not enough to make firm conclusions, it suggests that breeding in a community tank is not impossible.

 

In the wild this fish is not threatened and seems to be able to reproduce itself very well.  I suggest that the rarity of breeding success in aquariums could be due to the likelihood of the conditions in the wild that stimulate breeding being quite different from those that the adults normally live in.

 

Common Names

 

In English, the “Black Kuhli Loach” is also called the “Java Loach” and the “Pangia Coolie-loach”.  I have to say that none of these three common names are particularly good.  The first one could suggest that it is a colour variety of the Khuhi Loach, the second could suggests that it in confined to Java while in fact it is a widely distributed species, while the third does not really distinguish it from the Kuhli Loach.

Scientific name

The accepted scientific name is “Pangio oblonga”   (Valenciennes, 1846).
The Bronze Catfish, Corydoras aeneus, is probably the most popular of all the aquarium catfish.  It comes from South America from both tropical and subtropical areas, and in the south its range extends into warm temperate areas.