How to Care for Loach Fish

Loaches are intelligent and social freshwater tropical fish. These playful fish, with their slender and often eel-like bodies, are native to Europe, parts of Africa and Asia. Loaches are mainly bottom-dwelling fish that enjoy digging and sometimes burrowing. These excellent scavenges rest on driftwood or aquarium plants when they are not foraging for food. The loach is an omnivorous fish that possesses a well-developed sense of both taste and smell.

Things You'll Need

  • Aquarium stand
  • Plastic foam, cut to the size of the stand
  • 60-gallon aquarium
  • Fine-textured aquarium gravel
  • Aquarium chlorine remover
  • Canister filter
  • Aquarium heater
  • Test kit to measure pH of the water
  • PH booster agent
  • Three pieces of driftwood
  • Eight to 10 aquatic plants
  • Plastic peg
  • High quality flake food
  • Bloodworms
  • Aquarium canopy
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Instructions

    • 1

      Find a level piece of floor in a section of the room that does not receive a constant draft or full sun. Too much sun encourages growth of nuisance algae.

    • 2

      Position your aquarium stand on the level section of floor and place a pre-cut piece of plastic foam onto the stand. Place your aquarium on the plastic foam.

    • 3

      Place a 1-inch layer of pre-rinsed, fine-textured aquarium gravel into the tank. Slope the gravel gently toward the front glass, to allow debris to accumulate near the front, where it can be easily removed with an aquarium net.

    • 4

      Fill the aquarium with tap water. Add 6 tsp. of aquarium chlorine remover.

    • 5

      Adjust the thermostat on the aquarium heater to between 75 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit and place into the aquarium. Turn on the heater.

    • 6

      Connect a canister filter to the aquarium. Turn on the filter.

    • 7

      Use a pH test kit to determine this value. Add a pH booster agent to achieve a pH of 7.0 or slightly less.

    • 8

      Add three pieces of driftwood as decoration and to offer hiding and resting places for bottom-dwelling loach species.

    • 9

      Position eight to 10 aquatic plants around the driftwood, toward the rear of the aquarium. You can leave the plants in their tiny plastic pots and hide the pots behind the driftwood.

    • 10

      Place two hollow logs or hollow aquarium ornaments into the tank to offer hiding and resting places for midwater loach species.

    • 11

      Open the plastic bag in which your loaches arrive and secure the bag to the aquarium rim with a plastic peg. Add 5 or 6 tbsp. of aquarium water to the bag every 15 minutes to acclimatize the loaches to your water parameters. Release the fish into the aquarium after an hour.

    • 12

      Feed the loaches a high quality flake food on a daily basis. Supplement this diet with a pinch of bloodworms every third day.

    • 13

      Place a canopy onto the aquarium. This is to prevent the loaches from jumping out.