PFK Articles: A fishkeepers guide to kuhli loaches

[AquaticQuotient.com]

Ian Fuller takes a look at the kuhli loach group. Here is an abstract of the article.

My first encounter with the Kuhli loach, often more affectionately referred to as the "Coolie" loach, was almost 30 years ago during my early days in fishkeeping.

Their eel-like appearance and comical high-speed dashes are what first brought them to my attention, and when I delved deeper into their family history, I discovered that there were actually quite a lot of them. Well, to be more accurate, I found that there were at least 16 described species at that time belonging to the Cobitidae family of loaches, genus Acanthophthalmus. This genus has now been replaced by the name Pangio (Blythe, 1860).

Today there are more than two dozen species of Kuhli loaches, Pangio, many of which will have turned up in the hobby at some time or other as contaminants in shipments of the so-called common Kuhli loaches, P. kuhlii (Valenciennes, 1846), but it is doubtful that many of them would have been recognised by all but the discerning hobbyist.

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The Kuhli loaches belong to the family Cobitidae which contains some very popular aquarium fishes. All are fairly widespread over most of South-east Asia, from India through Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, the Malay peninsula, Borneo and Indonesia.

Generally speaking, these fishes are extremely hardy and are suited to life in community aquaria. They need clear, clean water, but are tolerant of a wide range of water parameters: pH 6.0-7.5, 4-10 GH.

Cooler temperatures suit them better, between 21C and 24C/70-75F, but higher temperatures are tolerated for short periods of time.

A substrate of fine, smooth gravel or sand with the addition of a little leaf litter emulates their natural mountain stream and river habitats. If you let a little of the natural mulm that forms in the aquarium build up and lie around the base of plants, rocks or bogwood, the conditions would then be ideal.

Kuhli loaches, although not regarded as shoaling fishes, are gregarious and seem to enjoy the company of their own kind. Kept in groups of at least six, they will often be seen congregating in what can only be described as tangled clumps.

In planted aquaria, they are often seen lying motionless in shaded areas among plant leaves, the roots or under any aquarium furnishing. They also like to spend a large proportion of their time buried in the substrate with only the tip of their spouts protruding.

In aquaria using undergravel filtration, they soon take up residence beneath the filter plates, only venturing out during the hours of darkness.

When disturbed, their laid-back coolness disappears in an instant and they become frantic tearaways, dashing around the aquarium. One thing is certain; catching them in anything but an unfurnished aquarium is almost impossible, as many fishkeepers have found!

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