Stella Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 A really interesting article on why fastwater fish suffer in standard set-ups: http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives ... ?read=1253 It is quite complex, but don't let that put you off. You can skim the more tangled bits. The general gist is that because fastwater fish have evolved in a high oxygen environment, they have got haemoglobin with a low affinity for oxygen. Put them in a typical tank with low flow and thus low dissolved oxygen, water that is too warm (for coldwater fish) and far too many tankmates and they basically can't get enough oxygen. There seem to be lots of fastwater fish in the trade that people don't realise are from these sorts of habitats and certainly they aren't treated as any different. I think plecos, borneo suckers and various loaches are fastwater. Does anyone have a list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1CK Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 All of the loaches from the balitoridae family (hill stream loaches) live in fastwater streams (around 3 meters per sec) and high O2 levels, Also many cyprinids (minnows,carp,barbs ect) (A very streamlined fish Sewellia lineolata) Hill stream loaches off wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillstream_loach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 wow! i gather we can't get those here though? I think whiptails and rainbow fish are both fastwater fish? Mine definately look like they're built for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 you do get borneo suckers here quite easily. but may not get them with such beautiful patterns as above. Zev's potm entry was a borneo sucker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted August 30, 2009 Report Share Posted August 30, 2009 Purplecatfish breeds the Tweety Hillstream loach. They are fascinating, He runs a Fluval FX5 in a dedicated river tank. Lots of flow in that thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N1CK Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 What about an article in keeping hillstream loaches http://www.loaches.com/articles/hillstream-loaches-the-specialists-at-life-in-the-fast-lane (the aquarium picture is the same one im my book about loaces ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplecatfish Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 wow! i gather we can't get those here though? Yes we can, they're usually just over $30 in the LFS when they've been available. I've bred them in a 4ft tank with a CF2200 and a seio powerhead. Purplecatfish breeds the Tweety Hillstream loach. It's the Sewellia lineolata that I've bred. The 300L river tank has a FX5 and two tunze 6025 powerheads. The Tweedi's Hillstream Loach is the lizard-like predatory loach that I've got in the river tank. There's only a single one left which is excellent at controlling the swordtail (or guppy) population, dozens of females and no fry surviving more than 24 hours . I've got some available for people who have a decent flow rate in their tank and want to try breeding them. I'd like to see more colonies of them, and maybe after a few generations swap the lines back into each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxim_nz Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 I bought 2 of these little guys many years ago (around 1993) from Hutt Pet Centre (back when Graham Foster had not long moved it to it's present shop position) I believe it was this variant.. Anyway I gave them no special attention, knew little about them, and placed them in my 3 foot community tank. I did however have a decent power head where I had placed the exhaust at rear of the tank blowing behind some slate rock standing up. In hindsight this created an ideal place for this fish. Some stage later I freaked out seeing a mini "Pseudogastromyzon" on the front glass. It was about 10mm long. Only saw it the once, must have been a snack for something larger after that.. Must give these guys a decent river tank and another go one day.. thanks for the article references everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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