Things You'll Need
- Fish tank Filter and heater Aquarium gravel (one pound per gallon) Pump (optional) Basic Test Kits (pH, dH.) Fishtank decorations Pet fish food 3 or more coolie loaches
Instructions
Know the identifying features of the coolie loach. It has a long, eel-shaped body with no scales, and grows up to 4 inches. It has a yellowish, light-brown body with a salmon-pink ventral surface. Dark-brown bands cross the body vertically, stopping short of the ventral surface. The very small eyes are hidden in a dark band, and have transparent lids. There is a sharp spine above each eye. It has four pairs of barbells (see Tips below) extending from about its mouth. It has small fins, with a dorsal fin is situated some way back along the body, just behind the pelvic fins. The rounded caudal fin has a dark area at its base. There is no way to tell if a particular coolie loach fish is male or female, except when breeding, at which time the female becomes quite fat.
House your coolie loach in a 36-gallon aquarium. Clean out the tank if it is newly acquired. See Resources below on how to clean a fish tank.
Set up the aquarium for your coolie loach. It loves to burrow into the tank's substrate, so it is important to provide fine-grained aquarium gravel or sand. Spread at least three inches of aquarium gravel in the tank.
Install an aquarium filter to maintain the quality of water in the tank. Attach your heater to the tank, setting it to maintain the water temperature at 75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius).
Maintain optimum water conditions for coolie loaches. The tank water should stay within the range of 6.0 to 7.5 pH, and water hardness of between 2 to 10 dH. Monitor these water conditions with the aquarium test kits on a regular basis.
Feed coolie loaches with tropical fish flakes, supplemented with meaty foods. They are especially fond of worms. They are scavengers, feeding on any food that settles at the bottom of the tank. Typically, they eat in the night.
Provide your coolie loaches with at least two fellow coolie loaches--at a minimum--for company. Although they are not schooling fish, they are very social and will often be found in small groups. They also get along well with other non-aggressive loach species such as clown loaches. It is a bottom-level swimmer. Avoid keeping it in the same tank as territorial, aggressive fish.