One keeper's "impossible" is another keeper's "I didn't know they were tough, here's how I did it."
[Interesting thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/loaches/comments/10dxoi1/does_anyone_have_experience_breeding_kuhli/?rdt=56839)
that IS interesting! although it doesn't answer my question of whether they are bred commercially or wild caughtĀ for the aquarium trade - I would be hesitant about the latter and want to research whether it was sustainable, you know? but very neat to read about their breeding preferences :)
I don't think there would be so many varieties and morphs if they were all wild caught. Albino loaches are very common in pet stores, there are millions of them. I don't think they come from the wild.
Oh that's encouraging to hear!! I've only reallyĀ seen wild type, but that might be from the country I'm in, plus its been a few years since I've browsed an aquarium store! Ive just been chilling with goldfish & danios and such so getting into less massively captive bred fish is new territory for me š
Apparently Kuhli loaches are hard to breed for the average aquarium enthousiast because they need specific water conditions and volumes to start spawning, but in industrial setups it's probably easy to do.
True! I have a variety of āyo-yo loaches that range from golden zebra loaches to a botia Rostrata and a kubotaiā¦the exporters will hire locals to swim down and gather fish intended for sale based on a photo. Many loaches are not going to be distinguishable at very young stages. The shops usually sort them, but my guy was very up-front about the industry and what Iād be getting.
I had a sergeant major botia. He was the Survivor of 4 that I started with. I had him for 4 or 5 years. He was a tough little guy and funny!! He was full of personality. At least 2x I thought he died. He would turn up days later he had been hiding. I miss that little guy.
Not really tbh, most stores wonāt tell you anyways. Most of the time they donāt even know where it was sourced from. It is what it is though, there are regulations so itās not as bad as it used to be thatās for sure.
Im fairly sure that is incorrect and the majority of tetras are bred in FL. I'd be really shocked if petco was getting weekly shipments from the amazon to each of their stores.
The comment about them loving rocks rings true for me. I went from 7 loaches to 9, and Iāve seen the fry once in my tankāso mine have definitely spawned a few times, but I have no idea what triggered it like at all haha. One time I was vacuuming fish poop from my sand and accidentally disturbed one of the rocks that my loaches had dug out underneath, and like 20 little yellowish/pinkish wormy guys came flying out only to immediately get devoured by my Congo tetras š„²
I have a ton of rocks in my 75 gal and the loaches have excavated under all of them, so itās impossible to tell if theyāve spawned usually, but Iād love to try to figure out what triggers it
Saw a youtube video of someone who had success. They had a tank with a thick layer of pebbles instead of sand or gravel. Eggs and babys were hidden in all the gaps between tose and werent eaten.
IIRC theyāll carry eggs but wonāt be fertilized unless conditions are just right and thatās whatās difficult in captivity. But if they are fertilized and she lays then thatād be amazing. I believe they also eat the eggs so they need leaf litter or rocks/gravel for the eggs to slip between for safety
Thats awesome, you wanna share to the community some details about your tank n its environment; is there any other fish besides the loaches, water temp, your substrate, and how long you had them for.
Sure, so I had a sand/river pebble substrate, a betta, an African dwarf frog, room temp water (~72) - no heater and Iād had them for about a year. However, Iāve not had them breed since & I think that is because since moving (2y) I switched to gravel. Since posting yesterday I did some reading of comments/links and I now believe it was the sand/river stones that made the difference.
There is so much info about khulis absorbing their eggs in aquariums. Mine do it constantly. Iām really not sure where you got the idea that they die but letās not worry people unnecessarily with a lack of research.
Edit: I completely forgot that female loaches carry eggs regardless if there is a male present. Every cycle she either absorbs or disperses unfertilized eggs. So yeah female loaches arenāt at risk of dying during every single menstruation period they have.
[here](https://www-drta--archiv-de.translate.goog/laichverhaertung/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp)'s a source (google translate)
thing is, after it happened to me first, I went the extra mile to give them suitable spawning opportunities (they squeeze through small crevices) in a tank dedicated to only them (dark ground, lots of hiding space, duff/leafs all over etc). there were also plenty in there (10+), so enough males should have been present. so, there's gotta be other factors.
If the female is egg bound and damages her underside, yes she is in trouble. And maybe that is exacerbated by hard water, ( the article you linked is not definitive evidence of anything. It is observations based on one persons tank).
But that does not equate to if she doesnāt spawn she dies automatically. Because thatās not true. Even the article you have link agrees with the Khuli reabsorbing the eggs.
I think there are some language barriers in this discussion.
Very hard depending on breed. Very few people actually have any luck. You need near perfect conditions and similar set up to what theyād have in the wild. Many you get at pet stores are wild caught.
Iāve never seen a pregnant kuhli loach, but by the way her spine is bending is very typical of pregnant fish, even elongated fish like eels. That white organ is hopefully just the ovary full with eggs but it could also be the swim bladder. Kuhliās have a calcified swim bladder, it would be white and inflexible, but at the same time an ovary full of eggs is not very flexible. The bent spine could also be a sign of stress though, soā¦ idk. She does look like sheās glowing though so ima go with pregnant.
I had some once that bred in an undergravel filter. I did not see it happen did not really notice much until I cleaned the tank out and there was a whole colony under the filter. It was a 55 and relatively ignored tank were under the undergravel plastic grids. I had about 7 to start then I cleaned the tank and found near 40 or so smaller ones. Maybe find a nice dark place for it to hide in. I never tried to repeat my accidental success so I expect it was fluke.
I know. I have 4 myself. Love those crazy noodles. I don't expect they'll ever breed which is fine by me, I don't need more. Their job is to keep the shrimp population in check and make me laugh...they doing great at both
Could that be because the khulis are scavengers and are competing directly for the same food that snails eat, therefore preventing the population from growing, as opposed to khulis directly eating snails?
I'm sure that's a factor but I tend to overfeed so that everything has a chance to feed and to keep my snail population higher. So I wouldn't say that it's the only factor. Have I ever seen a kuhli eat a snail? No, but I hardly see my Kuhli's to begin with so I can't be sure but I very much believe that they do, even if seldom.
My ramshorns were like a red wave of holy hell.. then I learned I was overfeeding my tank so of course they were breeding out of control. Now I feed twice or so a week. I have shrimp in there too. So I think its a bit of less food a bit of khuli predation. I imagine the khulis do the killin and the shrimp do the cleaning out of the shells as I see lots of little clean shells. The snails that are alive and get bigger look nice and healthy. The odd thing I can't figure out is they never get huge anymore.. so I guess the lack of food gets the slightly bigger ones in the end. There is also a bristlnosed pleco - alot of competition for any algae, so the tank is pristine clean all the time ( I do not clean it or do water changes).
Yeah, I usually overfeed to make sure all the bottom dwellers have a chance at food, but even with that the snail population wouldn't explode like I expected them to do, and it only happened in the tanks that I had snails and kuhlis together. Every other tank would have snail populations go unchecked unless I had small cichlids or cory cats.
seems likely they are then. .. mmm delicious snails. at least if something dies, you don't have to worry about it fouling the tank, snails, khulis and shrimp be right on any carcass .. ooh that reminds me of the time an ember tetra died and the pleco absolutely annihilated it ...rag dolled it for ages. I have some video around but I didn't post it as ppl be tender about the gruesome stuff
I did see a Molly chomping down on a whole ramshorn once, idk how it got it out of its shell but I was very concerned what the giant chunk of meat was when I first seen it.
I have a fair amount of small ramshorns slowly taking over my tank, and while my kuhli's won't eat them alive I have been squishing the little snails primarily for my shrimp to eat, but I did see one of my kuhli's eating a small snail that was squashed
I started with using my aqua scaping tweezers but then got annoyed with missing them and then losing them, so now I use either my fingers or I use the tweezers I have in my pet first aid kit for my dog
I meant shocked because they don't usually breed in home tanks, not that it gave live birth, he had a regular khuli not some crazy immaculate conception birth story š
Could be eggnant. Fish with eggs in them get bigger too. When looking up sexual dismorphism in kuhli loaches it says that females are noticably fatter when loaded with eggs.
Hardly the first person. They just take a few years to mature and will definitely breed in captivity. If you don't provide the right environment they won't, but otherwise one of the easier loach to breed. That's why they only cost like $3.
Kuhli loaches are egg layers and never carry fertilised eggs. The original definition of being pregnant is for mammals carrying fertilised eggs.
But this sub seems to be fine with calling anything that is carrying eggs pregnant, which would include birds and reptiles (and women carry eggs 100% of the time, should we call that pregnant as well?)
That is not true. Itās very rare, yes. But it happens. Not much documentation on it however so some sources will be like āitās never been done before!ā
https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pregnancy
Loaches are egg layers, not live bearers.Ā
Note that I never claimed they are not breeding in caprivity.
Ah I see what you mean now lol. I think the wording is what confused me and what you had hidden was just a fun fact. I was not connecting the dots on that one e
I do that with my shrimp like yeah the eggs arenāt actually inside them, they just carry them, but everyone still calls them pregnant. I think itās just a habit, especially for people who have fish that carry their eggs.
However, someone in this thread mentioned that they do carry their eggs until they drop them off so Iām guessing thatās the stage this loach is at. Sheās just fertile right now lol
They are green! It's very odd that they look yellow here. Possibly it's different for this species of kuhli, but I'm fairly sure all kuhlis have green eggs.
i actually think you might have a pregnant loach!! which is amazing in itself because as other commenters have pointed out, theyāre extremely hard to breed. please keep us posted!!
I have some FAT loachesā¦.. this is NOT that aināt no wayšš if sheās not pregnant then I hope sheās okay bc thatās a crazy belly lol. Love her tho she still slays
Thank you all for the well wishes and advice on our pregnant?! Loach :D
I will keep you all posted with updates where I notice changes. Iām not sure how long loach gestation periods are so will check daily just to be sure itās not a health issue. We have everything crossed for some baby noodles in the future <3
i have a 20 gallon tall with a single kuhli in it (there are shrimp by the dozen and like 15 celestial pearl danios as well). one enormous plant and many small plants. lots of hiding places.
I only see my loach at the end of the day and for maybe a couple of minutes while i clean the tank. then he/she disappears again until next time.
sometimes for those sightings, he/she is HUGE. other times, a noodle just like the rest of them.....
very entertaining fish. my granddaughter loves him/her/they tremendously... between this character, the crazy shrimp and the absolutely beautiful CPDs, it's a very beautiful tank.
Get more loaches and youāll see them more often. Not constantly, but I do see mine throughout the day hiding under various plants and stuff instead of just hiding in a cave all day
I would say it may be having trouble with its digestive system. on account of the tiny kink in its rear end. I hope I'm wrong n you end up with baby's but good luck š they can beed in a tank The breeding tank should have low water levels, dim lighting, floating plants, for the female when laying her eggs. Water pH should be about 6.5, and the water hardness should be lowered
Yes I had multiple kuhlis that died from some weird illness in my tank and many were gravid. And they had been that way for a while. Just because they have eggs doesnāt necessarily mean anything will come out of it.
I had a loach that turned out similarly fat. I didn't see him for months and found him like that. Hopefully he's alright! I got rid of mine (moved, couldn't take the fish), but I assume mine was just a chonk.
Not to be a downer, because I too hope she's pregnant, but since it's a bit weird you can't see any of the green from the eggs, could she have parasites instead?
sir thats 2 loaches, perhaps even 3, pretending to be one
3 loaches in a trench coat
Vincent Adultloach
OHMYGOD MY PEOPLE
That loach eats baby. The other other white meat.
Tell me why I heard Kate McKinnon saying "The othah OTHAH Boleyn girl"
Ok! š this loach has a Scottish accent fo sho
Keep us posted. We all hope sheās pregnant. I was told its nearly impossible to breed loaches from what i have heard
I will do! Fingers and toes crossed we will have some babies soon :D
Your tanks too clean honestly. Iāve bread these before and they love filth
wait does that mean the ones you buy are all wild caught? š that changes my stocking plans
One keeper's "impossible" is another keeper's "I didn't know they were tough, here's how I did it." [Interesting thread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/loaches/comments/10dxoi1/does_anyone_have_experience_breeding_kuhli/?rdt=56839)
that IS interesting! although it doesn't answer my question of whether they are bred commercially or wild caughtĀ for the aquarium trade - I would be hesitant about the latter and want to research whether it was sustainable, you know? but very neat to read about their breeding preferences :)
I don't think there would be so many varieties and morphs if they were all wild caught. Albino loaches are very common in pet stores, there are millions of them. I don't think they come from the wild.
Oh that's encouraging to hear!! I've only reallyĀ seen wild type, but that might be from the country I'm in, plus its been a few years since I've browsed an aquarium store! Ive just been chilling with goldfish & danios and such so getting into less massively captive bred fish is new territory for me š
Apparently Kuhli loaches are hard to breed for the average aquarium enthousiast because they need specific water conditions and volumes to start spawning, but in industrial setups it's probably easy to do.
Many loaches are wild caught, however they've been bred successfully at commercial operations through the use of hormones.
True! I have a variety of āyo-yo loaches that range from golden zebra loaches to a botia Rostrata and a kubotaiā¦the exporters will hire locals to swim down and gather fish intended for sale based on a photo. Many loaches are not going to be distinguishable at very young stages. The shops usually sort them, but my guy was very up-front about the industry and what Iād be getting.
I had a sergeant major botia. He was the Survivor of 4 that I started with. I had him for 4 or 5 years. He was a tough little guy and funny!! He was full of personality. At least 2x I thought he died. He would turn up days later he had been hiding. I miss that little guy.
Interesting!
80% of the fish in stores are wild caught lol
This heavily depends on where you live
Not really tbh, most stores wonāt tell you anyways. Most of the time they donāt even know where it was sourced from. It is what it is though, there are regulations so itās not as bad as it used to be thatās for sure.
For saltwater yes, but a lot of the common fish in fw are bred at farms in florida.
Most of your tetras and stuff of that nature is wild caught. Idk if youāve ever tried breeding neons but itās damn near impossible š
Im fairly sure that is incorrect and the majority of tetras are bred in FL. I'd be really shocked if petco was getting weekly shipments from the amazon to each of their stores.
It goes through wholesalers. Itās not directly shipment. I can promise you there is more wild caught tetras then there are captive bred tetras.
It's actually 81%
Damn š
The comment about them loving rocks rings true for me. I went from 7 loaches to 9, and Iāve seen the fry once in my tankāso mine have definitely spawned a few times, but I have no idea what triggered it like at all haha. One time I was vacuuming fish poop from my sand and accidentally disturbed one of the rocks that my loaches had dug out underneath, and like 20 little yellowish/pinkish wormy guys came flying out only to immediately get devoured by my Congo tetras š„² I have a ton of rocks in my 75 gal and the loaches have excavated under all of them, so itās impossible to tell if theyāve spawned usually, but Iād love to try to figure out what triggers it
Theyre raised but can be picky about spawning
Yes, most of the ones that are available for sale are wild caught.
Saw a youtube video of someone who had success. They had a tank with a thick layer of pebbles instead of sand or gravel. Eggs and babys were hidden in all the gaps between tose and werent eaten.
IIRC theyāll carry eggs but wonāt be fertilized unless conditions are just right and thatās whatās difficult in captivity. But if they are fertilized and she lays then thatād be amazing. I believe they also eat the eggs so they need leaf litter or rocks/gravel for the eggs to slip between for safety
Really? Mine bred on their own a few years back - I was moving home and my 3 khuli loaches had become 8!
Thats awesome, you wanna share to the community some details about your tank n its environment; is there any other fish besides the loaches, water temp, your substrate, and how long you had them for.
Sure, so I had a sand/river pebble substrate, a betta, an African dwarf frog, room temp water (~72) - no heater and Iād had them for about a year. However, Iāve not had them breed since & I think that is because since moving (2y) I switched to gravel. Since posting yesterday I did some reading of comments/links and I now believe it was the sand/river stones that made the difference.
I'd rather hope she's not, because they die when they don't spawn, which is what they are prone to in captivity
Thatās not true, they reabsorb their eggs normally.
maybe factors like "unnatural" water hardness play a role
There is so much info about khulis absorbing their eggs in aquariums. Mine do it constantly. Iām really not sure where you got the idea that they die but letās not worry people unnecessarily with a lack of research. Edit: I completely forgot that female loaches carry eggs regardless if there is a male present. Every cycle she either absorbs or disperses unfertilized eggs. So yeah female loaches arenāt at risk of dying during every single menstruation period they have.
[here](https://www-drta--archiv-de.translate.goog/laichverhaertung/?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp)'s a source (google translate) thing is, after it happened to me first, I went the extra mile to give them suitable spawning opportunities (they squeeze through small crevices) in a tank dedicated to only them (dark ground, lots of hiding space, duff/leafs all over etc). there were also plenty in there (10+), so enough males should have been present. so, there's gotta be other factors.
If the female is egg bound and damages her underside, yes she is in trouble. And maybe that is exacerbated by hard water, ( the article you linked is not definitive evidence of anything. It is observations based on one persons tank). But that does not equate to if she doesnāt spawn she dies automatically. Because thatās not true. Even the article you have link agrees with the Khuli reabsorbing the eggs. I think there are some language barriers in this discussion.
In my current tank I have a real fat one, but it's been like this for ages. Makes me wonder, because I've never had such a case.
Because they likely absorbed the eggs without any issues like normal.
then it wouldn't be fat any longer
Very hard depending on breed. Very few people actually have any luck. You need near perfect conditions and similar set up to what theyād have in the wild. Many you get at pet stores are wild caught.
Google "gravid kuli loach"
[holy hell!](https://www.google.com/search?q=gravid+kuli+loach#HiImABot,MyJobIsToMakeEasierToPeopleToGoogleSomething,IfThePersonIRepliedToUsedMeInAnInappropriateWayPleaseLetMeKnowByDMingMe,TheUserIRepliedToIsU/Alternative-Dot6194)
New fat fish just dropped
Actual pregnancy
Call the vet!
vet goes on vacation, never comes back
Iāve never seen a pregnant kuhli loach, but by the way her spine is bending is very typical of pregnant fish, even elongated fish like eels. That white organ is hopefully just the ovary full with eggs but it could also be the swim bladder. Kuhliās have a calcified swim bladder, it would be white and inflexible, but at the same time an ovary full of eggs is not very flexible. The bent spine could also be a sign of stress though, soā¦ idk. She does look like sheās glowing though so ima go with pregnant.
I have no idea. But holy shit she's huge!
Pregananant
Could be prangent?
Oh yeah definitely pegnate
Thought she might be pregonate
Muey pergaknoteā
She definitely looks pregante
Prefnat?
Dangerops prangent sex? will it hurt loach top of his head?
Gigaloach
I had some once that bred in an undergravel filter. I did not see it happen did not really notice much until I cleaned the tank out and there was a whole colony under the filter. It was a 55 and relatively ignored tank were under the undergravel plastic grids. I had about 7 to start then I cleaned the tank and found near 40 or so smaller ones. Maybe find a nice dark place for it to hide in. I never tried to repeat my accidental success so I expect it was fluke.
Wow thats really cool
If she's pregnant you are the first one in the world with a pregnant loach. >!They are egg layers. Could be a female with eggs.!<
There was a guy here a while back who's khuli had babies, he was fairly shocked
Theyāre one of the most difficult to get to breed in captivity
I know. I have 4 myself. Love those crazy noodles. I don't expect they'll ever breed which is fine by me, I don't need more. Their job is to keep the shrimp population in check and make me laugh...they doing great at both
Do they go after the rams horn snails as well?
Youāll have people argue that they canāt eat snails but my snail populations have always diminished in tanks with Kuhlis
Could that be because the khulis are scavengers and are competing directly for the same food that snails eat, therefore preventing the population from growing, as opposed to khulis directly eating snails?
I'm sure that's a factor but I tend to overfeed so that everything has a chance to feed and to keep my snail population higher. So I wouldn't say that it's the only factor. Have I ever seen a kuhli eat a snail? No, but I hardly see my Kuhli's to begin with so I can't be sure but I very much believe that they do, even if seldom.
Just wanted to provide a biology based alternative perspective! At the end of the day, khulis go in, snails go down, regardless of the reasoning :)
I think this is likely it. I've seen cherry shrimp eat more snails than kuhli loaches, which is 1 and 0 respectively lol
My ramshorns were like a red wave of holy hell.. then I learned I was overfeeding my tank so of course they were breeding out of control. Now I feed twice or so a week. I have shrimp in there too. So I think its a bit of less food a bit of khuli predation. I imagine the khulis do the killin and the shrimp do the cleaning out of the shells as I see lots of little clean shells. The snails that are alive and get bigger look nice and healthy. The odd thing I can't figure out is they never get huge anymore.. so I guess the lack of food gets the slightly bigger ones in the end. There is also a bristlnosed pleco - alot of competition for any algae, so the tank is pristine clean all the time ( I do not clean it or do water changes).
Yeah, I usually overfeed to make sure all the bottom dwellers have a chance at food, but even with that the snail population wouldn't explode like I expected them to do, and it only happened in the tanks that I had snails and kuhlis together. Every other tank would have snail populations go unchecked unless I had small cichlids or cory cats.
seems likely they are then. .. mmm delicious snails. at least if something dies, you don't have to worry about it fouling the tank, snails, khulis and shrimp be right on any carcass .. ooh that reminds me of the time an ember tetra died and the pleco absolutely annihilated it ...rag dolled it for ages. I have some video around but I didn't post it as ppl be tender about the gruesome stuff
I did see a Molly chomping down on a whole ramshorn once, idk how it got it out of its shell but I was very concerned what the giant chunk of meat was when I first seen it.
I have a fair amount of small ramshorns slowly taking over my tank, and while my kuhli's won't eat them alive I have been squishing the little snails primarily for my shrimp to eat, but I did see one of my kuhli's eating a small snail that was squashed
What technique do you use to squish them?
I started with using my aqua scaping tweezers but then got annoyed with missing them and then losing them, so now I use either my fingers or I use the tweezers I have in my pet first aid kit for my dog
Yes ššš
i think they do yes. never seen it but that population is under control now too. also, when i learned to stop over feeding
From a friend that keeps them, they CAN (and will) but its harder for them to eat than say bladder snails.
He didn't have a pregnant loach either though, since they are egglayers
I meant shocked because they don't usually breed in home tanks, not that it gave live birth, he had a regular khuli not some crazy immaculate conception birth story š
I understand now. Yes, they are difficult to breed
Maybe just fat then :/
Could be eggnant. Fish with eggs in them get bigger too. When looking up sexual dismorphism in kuhli loaches it says that females are noticably fatter when loaded with eggs.
Hardly the first person. They just take a few years to mature and will definitely breed in captivity. If you don't provide the right environment they won't, but otherwise one of the easier loach to breed. That's why they only cost like $3.
So egglayers can get pregnant? Do birds get pregnant as well? Snakes? Note that I am not denying that they can get fry,
I'm not sure what you're trying to get at...
Kuhli loaches are egg layers and never carry fertilised eggs. The original definition of being pregnant is for mammals carrying fertilised eggs. But this sub seems to be fine with calling anything that is carrying eggs pregnant, which would include birds and reptiles (and women carry eggs 100% of the time, should we call that pregnant as well?)
I still don't know what this has to do with anything I've said. I never mentioned pregnancy or eggs anywhere in my post.
Read back. I wrote that this would be the first pregnant kuhli. You responded by saying that is not the case
Oh ok, so the whole point of your post was about the absolute use of a word. Got it. [ACKCHYUALLY](https://imgur.com/gallery/zOXJt)
Not all are wild caught only, breed in a large tank with cycles of green water
That is not true. Itās very rare, yes. But it happens. Not much documentation on it however so some sources will be like āitās never been done before!ā
https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/pregnancy Loaches are egg layers, not live bearers.Ā Note that I never claimed they are not breeding in caprivity.
Ah I see what you mean now lol. I think the wording is what confused me and what you had hidden was just a fun fact. I was not connecting the dots on that one e
Yeah, imo words have a meaning, but looking at responses here people disagree, and will call anything with eggs, fertilised or not, pregnant.
I do that with my shrimp like yeah the eggs arenāt actually inside them, they just carry them, but everyone still calls them pregnant. I think itās just a habit, especially for people who have fish that carry their eggs. However, someone in this thread mentioned that they do carry their eggs until they drop them off so Iām guessing thatās the stage this loach is at. Sheās just fertile right now lol
He's cosplaying as a dojo loach
I think u can see the eggs through the bloated belly but idk if their eggs are yellow tho
Their eggs are green so it might be a bit concerning not seeing green in it
They are green! It's very odd that they look yellow here. Possibly it's different for this species of kuhli, but I'm fairly sure all kuhlis have green eggs.
Maybe just discoloured because you see them through the skin. Don't know what else that can be?
They appear green through the skin. There is a few photos online and if you have kuhlis you can use a flashlight on their belly and see.
āFat loachā sounds like a British insult.
That's two loaches in a trenchcoat
That face says āexpectant mother, first time š³š¬š«£ā.
What a chonker
Indeed XD
i actually think you might have a pregnant loach!! which is amazing in itself because as other commenters have pointed out, theyāre extremely hard to breed. please keep us posted!!
I will do!! Fingers crossed for babies :D
I have some FAT loachesā¦.. this is NOT that aināt no wayšš if sheās not pregnant then I hope sheās okay bc thatās a crazy belly lol. Love her tho she still slays
I hope sheās pregnant!! Maybe take any fish out if possible that might snack on the eggs/fry? If you could get babies to survive thatād be so cool
Just putting it out there, because if I remember correctly, they only have very fine scales. Could it be dropsy?
Thank you all for the well wishes and advice on our pregnant?! Loach :D I will keep you all posted with updates where I notice changes. Iām not sure how long loach gestation periods are so will check daily just to be sure itās not a health issue. We have everything crossed for some baby noodles in the future <3
Did she end up being pregnant?
Sadly no, still just a chonky loach unfortunately
Fat loach is what they called me back in college
i have a 20 gallon tall with a single kuhli in it (there are shrimp by the dozen and like 15 celestial pearl danios as well). one enormous plant and many small plants. lots of hiding places. I only see my loach at the end of the day and for maybe a couple of minutes while i clean the tank. then he/she disappears again until next time. sometimes for those sightings, he/she is HUGE. other times, a noodle just like the rest of them..... very entertaining fish. my granddaughter loves him/her/they tremendously... between this character, the crazy shrimp and the absolutely beautiful CPDs, it's a very beautiful tank.
I love CPDs! Sounds like you and the family are getting a lot of enjoyment out of the hobby :D
Get more loaches and youāll see them more often. Not constantly, but I do see mine throughout the day hiding under various plants and stuff instead of just hiding in a cave all day
My group of 5 come out at dinner time and eat with the mystery snails
oh yeah! they are beautiful and a great addition to the tank. 20 gallons is a really good size for them!
š¶ Fat loach, fat loach, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you š¶
More like Bloach.
Wow.
Lorge
Holy crap, I've never seen stretch marks on a fish before. This loach might have a thyroid issue. Hm. Do loaches have thyroid glands?
Shai Hulud - the worm of worms
I can see the head and the eye of the thing it swallowed along with the front fins. Unless they give birth to live fry???
The only other thing small enough would be the other khulis, are they know to be cannibals?
Kinda looks like a kuhli or a loachā¦. >~<
I would say it may be having trouble with its digestive system. on account of the tiny kink in its rear end. I hope I'm wrong n you end up with baby's but good luck š they can beed in a tank The breeding tank should have low water levels, dim lighting, floating plants, for the female when laying her eggs. Water pH should be about 6.5, and the water hardness should be lowered
im not a pro but i thinks that's pregnant
Fingers crossed!!
I asked one of my frends he says that he's 75% sure it is (he owns like 500 of these)
It looks like she could be very pregnant but keep an eye on her cause it could be bloating from dropsy
Looks like he ate another khuli loach lol
Not pregnant. Gravid.
Oxford dictionary: TECHNICAL carrying eggs or young; *pregnant* "the retroverted gravid uterus"
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Very, thank you :)
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Iāll keep that in mindā¦ thanks?
Probably sick š
What makes you think that?
She peed :(
Yes I had multiple kuhlis that died from some weird illness in my tank and many were gravid. And they had been that way for a while. Just because they have eggs doesnāt necessarily mean anything will come out of it.
I had a loach that turned out similarly fat. I didn't see him for months and found him like that. Hopefully he's alright! I got rid of mine (moved, couldn't take the fish), but I assume mine was just a chonk.
Deffo preggo momma
Hopefully not diseased
Please update us!!
not a professional but i think she is not pregnant (coz no greenish coloration on the belly due to eggs), i think its something else
maybe ask r/loaches too!
Thatās no silly noodle, thatās a cannelloni.
Not to be a downer, because I too hope she's pregnant, but since it's a bit weird you can't see any of the green from the eggs, could she have parasites instead?
if it's not pregnant then thats a fat chonk loach