The term "Hillstream loach" refers to a wide array of fish. Right now you make it seem like " breeding hillstream loaches" doesn't require all that much. But what you are REALLY saying is: _Sewelia's_ don't require all that much. And there is a world of difference between Sewelia's and Gastromyzons. Sewelias are really easy to breed. Tons of videos out there. Go ahead and find me just 1 video of a baby Gastromyzon. As far as my research goes, only 1 person has ever been able to get fry, just once, ever, in the whole world. Edit: Do you have any references where you took all those statements from or did you make them up?
Flyingdutchy33 good info. The title of the video says “sewellia guide” and in the video I put I believe the one I’m working with is “sewellia lineolata”
The statements I refer to in the video are summarized points of things I’ve seen in videos, read on websites, have seen in forums and groups, and heard by word of mouth from other hobbyists. Judging by the response in the comments sections, I believe I’m not the only one with this experience. It’s very possible that some of these sources believed they were working with or talking about sewellia when in fact they were talking about Gastromyzon. It’s my opinion that since these fish are still relatively new to the hobby there is still confusion between the two and I agree clearer lines need to be drawn. I’ve seen some Borneo suckers at my LFS, perhaps I’ll try to be #2 lol
It is unbelievable, I bought 2 Sewellia's a year ago. A week or two after buying them they already had 4 babies! A couple months later they had three babies again. And just yesterday I found another baby! They breed A LOT. There are litteraly 4 generations of Sewellia's in just over a year in my aquarium.
New to fish but I've been wondering about this. With such a small body of water we can't really create zones. I know with reptiles it's necessary to have a hotter basking area and a cooler area. I think the fluctuations would need to be within reason. Within reason would whatever happens in their native habitat.
Great information! I love when people share their actual experience vs what the internet says. I agree that we can find good information as a starting point on the internet but real experience is king. You may have just convinced me to add some of these to my new breeding rack I am currently setting up.
I think most problems were happened at the store. They may starving, have poor diet and sick. When they come to our aquarium with nearly to say bye bye condition, they gone. Actually, if water clean and well oxygenated , it will be just fine. Don’t mind about temperatures.
The one thing I've found out regarding being successful with hillstream loaches is to keep them in water which is not highly radioactive. If you keep them in water which is highly radioactive, you might get things which aren't anything like hillstream loaches, if they are alive at all. I have three reticulated hillstream loaches like the ones shown in this video, and two red tail hillstream loaches. Both species have bred for me, but they have not crossed. That's interesting since they are so closely related. They have bred so well for me that I have enough to replace the parents when the good Lord eventually calls them home, and enough to trade to my local fish store for food. He won't get me a burger for them, but he will throw me the crusts from his sandwich, and sometimes those little packets of salt that carry out places toss in for free. He's always sold out of hillstream loaches, and the only red tails he gets in come from me, so hopefully he's pleased with the bargain. A day with crusts to eat is a day where I don't have to go dumpster divin' at 2 am. I keep my 20 gallon tank in a south facing window, with lights on in the morning and evening. In summer time I won't have to keep the lights on for them. With these guys, it can't hurt to put in a tad bit more API plant fertilizer, or whichever aquarium fertilizer you can get. Don't put in a lot. Just a bit. It will cause the algae to grow on that very well lit south facing aquarium, and you will grow LOTS of food for the Hillstream loaches, the snails, and the shrimp you have in your tank. It's free food! Which is better than most of us get. There are also fish that are way to particular to eat algae. Shame on them for being so picky! Even guppies think they're too high and mighty to eat algae. The Japanese make nori out of algae, and then wrap some kinds of sushi in it. It's damn good! So who are these guppies, turning their noses up at it? You can't trade guppies for sandwich crusts, stores always have too much, and they don't make good eating, so why even bother with them? I know I know, hillstream loaches don't make good eating either, but they make good watching and don't cost a ton to feed. Guppies just breed until there is no room left, and then you can't find anyone to take them off you. The only way you can get rid of them is to buy a predator fish, and give them to it as food. Then your stuck with having to breed tons of guppies to feed your predator fish. Don't get into guppies. It will be instant regret. Do get into hillstream loaches. Even if they don't reproduce, they're a lot of fun to watch. Put a boulder field in the tank like this guy in the video has, but never put a bed in the tank. The constant rhythmic squeaking of the bed will keep you up all night. My impression of hillstream loaches after owning five for a few months? These guys are horney AF!
I've had 6 Hillstreams for only about 6 months. No "highly oxygenated" water, no "fast moving currents", no sandy substrate (just gravel), no special breeding structures, not even trying to breed them. I have baby Hillstreams everywhere. It can't be that tough, or I'm just the luckiest novice ever.
Great down-to-earth advice. Sometimes I personally think some aquarists make it to complicated. While I think it can be a good thing to try to replicate the natural habitat especially if the fish has not yet been bred in captivity but it is easy to be misinformed by popular misconceptions. I started the hobby at 5 years old and am now approaching 69 and I think I have always enjoyed the science of the hobby, The little scientist in me loves checking pH and water Hardness and experimenting and learning. The hobby has never gotten boring in all of these years. Sometimes though, we need to step back and not over complicate things.
They bred for me without doing anything crazy. My tank sits at 75F (I keep a cooler water community). The Tank has a powerhead with an attached sponge, as well as an aquaclear 50. It gets water changes with somewhat cooler water every couple weeks. Nothing extra, and one day they spawned twice!!
I've just added some of these to my shrimp tank recently I've wanted them for years. I'm glad I found your video as its answered all my questions. Thank you 😊
I bought 8 reticulated hillstream loaches (RHL) 9 months ago and now I have about 50+ RHL in my 40 long. I’m not sure if these fish need anything special to bread. I did a lot of research before purchasing RHL to find out how some of the original breaders were successfully. Since they are hillstream loaches, I customized 2 powerheads hooked directly to 2 sponge large filters. The base of the substrate is about 1.5” of pool filter sand. Then in basically the middle area of the tank, in about half of the sand base I put a half inch to an inch or so of pea-gravel substrate. Then I placed 15 to 20 (depending on the size) 2 to 3 1/2” diameter rocks on top of the pea-gravel. They should be stacked 2 to 3 rocks on deep. Also it’s always good to put in some plants , almond leaves and Malaysian drift wood. I bought these fish to bread so there are no other fish in the tank. They love the freedom of being alone I believe. As for food, I feed my fish 4 or 5 basic foods. They will eat any of the foods I give them. I’ll give them frozen brine, both the baby and regular. I also feed them crushed flake food and crushed XL tropical granules. They love them both but crushed flakes are their favorite food of all. When I hatch baby brine shrimp they’re also very happy. I think that the live baby brine and a water change will help get your RHL’s excited to bread. One last thing, I believe doing water changes is not as good as it’s made out to be? If your tank isn’t overloaded with fish and you have a good filter/filters (all of my tanks have sponge) your tanks should only need to have the bottom syphoned cleaned every 4 to 6 weeks for a water change. This is only my opinion after having and breading fish for close to 50 years. Thanks, good day
Thank you for sharing your experience, awesome to hear how much success you have had! Since I’ve only bred them once I very much appreciate you giving your tips on repeating the process. I will try adding some baby brine shrimp and also do a water change to stimulate them. Having them breed once for me was great but really figuring it out and getting it to happen regularly is the goal. Thank you again
Wild Fish Tanks Honestly I believe it’s possible to do too many water changes. I found that disturbing them with water changes that are not necessary hinders their reproduction. I appreciate your kind words. Have a great day.
I did the full manifold system, marbles and sand. Never got any in 8-9 months. Wish I had this info before I moved on. Will get back into them and give it a go again. Thank you
I love your notecards! My temps range from 67-85 over the year. I keep my heater set at 70. No power head, just the biggest Aquaclear hob on a 40b. Everything else like you said - especially the rocks. Round smooth rocks in the baseball to cantaloupe size range piled up under the hob return. White clouds, live plants, lots of light, and 90% water changes every 10-14 days. Mine have been breeding since October. Just found a little fry 3 mm long 2 days ago. I feed Aq Coop fry food and shrimp pellets mainly, and just started with krill flakes. I think high oxygen levels is the most important. But what do I know - I’m just another schmuck in a garage...
I didn’t know you were breeding them also, congrats!! Mine started breeding in October also, twinses!😂🤣. I think I’ll add some more aeration to the tank and see if that helps them get in the mood more regularly.....and hey, two schmucks are better than one
Should be common sense that Hillstream Loach young are being produced and born when the water is warmer because a increased temperature means more food. (That's a pretty good guideline for wildlife in general.) I got a powered head and they are doing fine and breed well during the summer month. I have half of my tank with plants and the forefront is rocks and Pebbles only. In nature, a current will bring all sorts of food which will get stuck in between the Pebbles and rocks which the hillstream loaches will feed on as they cannot live on algae alone, they need a bit of animal protein (like in nature dead animal parts will get stuck in the Pebbles.) It gets very, very cold in the winter where I live and I keep a heater during those days to keep the temperature at around 68 Fahrenheit. I keep my group of hillstream loches with a group of amano shrimps and a large group of white cloud mountain minnows and they are great together (tip for this combination came from a friend who is a ichtyologist and who has been studying and keeping fish herself for over 40 years). The Internet is in general not a good resource of information because if someone posts that the grass is not green but blue than it will stay there forever.Only when there is a exercise beforehand can a person thieve the good info from the rubbish information. Best is to go to a library or resources in open universities and to research how a fish lives and eat in his wild environment and then do the best possible to recreate that environment.
So here's my story - I cycled my tank and bought four. I loved them, but when I did my first water change all four died. I was devastated. I got two more, did a water change and lost those two too. Both occurrences were the very next day after the water change. I want to get more, but I"m not going to until I figure out what went wrong. I'm using API tap water conditioner and I have a 20 gallon planted tank --- I just can't wait to hear from you!
I have a dozen in my 120g display tank with other very small fish. I was doing some cleaning and trimming today and spotted a little wriggly thing - I think I have at least 13 in the tank now! I have been looking online to find pictures or information about very young ones so watched this video. Considering as of today, they are the first fish i have bred and it was by accident, my experience is similar to yours in that there are so many myths in keeping them and breeding them.
Started with 1...she was 2yrs old. Added 3 more....a few months later, had my first spawn. wasn't many, 5 or so. they spawned for me again Dec, I got about 20 out of that one. Small spawn a few weeks ago. Prob 6 or so. I've had them for years and they do well. They are egg scatterers, so if you have little piles of pebbles, smooth river rocks, the eggs will fall between them, and babies more likely to survive Tank conditions Tank Size: 29g planted tank with driftwood, larger thin flat slate stones at the bottom they love to dig under it and make themselves little caves. Also caribsea crystal river sand and river rocks. Temp: 77F to 79F PH: 7.6 Flow: pretty high. but doesn't seem to matter. I am running a tidal 55, have a bubble wall back of the tank, air stone corner Food: They eat anything and everything. It is a seasoned tank. they don't eat algae, but the feed on the biofilm on the algae. However, they eat flake food. I feed Xtreme tropical flakes, Xtreme spirulina flakes Bug bites: Micro pellets Hikari Freeze Dried Daphnia Hikari sinking tabs Sara O-nip tabs...I just drop one in, and they will pick at it as it dissolves
Merci pour ces explication, je vais les mettre en pratique. J'adore votre façon de présenter les choses et de démonter les fausses certitudes. Désolé pour le français.
Thanks for the video, gives me hope for the hillstream loach breeding project I started about a month ago. Diva's videos were also very helpful. Subscribed!
Thanks for sharing! I have three thanks for the recommendations! I brought one from TN on a road trip and survived the trip to our new home in AZ. I put it in a container with holes at the top and it is doing just fine ( 3days of driving )
Thank you very much, brother, for the clarification and for sharing with us your wonderful experience and for your sincerity. Greetings to you, and I keep in touch and follow up on your videos
I had lots of doubts about them, internet actually confused me.... Great info to the point by point.... Hope Im gonna have hilstream babies soon !!! Thanks again !!!
Really good video! Love the format. Thank you for the shout out. I did so much research on this fish and decided to go against the traditional norms with great success. The best site I found in my research was seriouslyfish.com. I think most of the information is just people parroting what they've heard.e.g. hear say. The one thing that was consistent, was creating the whole "river manifold" tank. Ain't nobody got time for that! LOL Hope you guys are safe and healthy down there in Florida!
“Ain’t nobody got time for that” 🤣😂🤣 . I’m doing well, I hope the same for you and yours up in the mid west. I appreciate you being so passionate and sharing all that you learned about them!
Laughed hard at that last card you threw down. Been working at a fish store for 6 months... turns out almost all the common information about fish online is wrong....
Brother you are awesome! Thanks for the great tips. You are very right about everything you said. I have a colony of 8 hillstream loaches. Ive had them for 5 months now still havent bred, but im not rushing it. I'm happy seeing them all over the glass or in the sponge filter tube. Great lil critters n great video thanks man.
I live in Florida too. My garage can reach the 90’s in the Summer. The only thing I could keep in the garage is probably Discus. Do you sell Fish? Now my garage can reach can high 70’s at night and the mid in the 80’s in the day. I enjoyed watching. Thank you for sharing.
I managed to get 2 from my LFS and 2 more from my not so favorite lfs and ended up with 2 pair. Love these little oddballs. Gonna rescape with some more rock. I've been keeping fish for about a year and a half and now have 12 tanks from 5 up to 75 gallons and have breed Appistograma and peacock gudgeons not on purpose. Great video. You got a new sub. Thanks
I love them! Had some that die due to treating itch and raised the temp 86 for too long should have just left them alone and just did ich x. I'm going to try to breed after this video, very good advice thanks bro.
I bought 8 Sewellia and put them in my 125g Roseline (Denison Barb) tank at 77*F . Added some round rocks from the yard after cleaning them up. Have only feed the Roseline's meat with the occasionally pellets thrown in. 1 month later spotted a few baby's so they must have breed the day I put them in my tank. 2 months now and I have at least 12. I am pretty sure that I have a lot more as the rock pile in the corner always has a lot in them. I am upgrading my tank tomorrow so I will know how many as now I have to try to catch them all....lol
I'm with you on most of this! Mine just happened to start breeding, drift wood and big gravel in mine, mostly only feed them Tetra shrimpwafers. They love it. I do have a power head and no heater average temp is 75 inside and a bubble sponge filter.
Not sure how much they go for across the pond, they are pretty spendy over here but worth it! Hoping that as they get more common and more people start breeding them the price will drop
Awesome video here, I have had a couple of them in a tank but no breeding. My theory is while they LOVE strong water flow from observations of mine, they probably seek low flow or no flow zones to breed, so very high flow may be kicking people in the nutsack if they intend to breed them. I ll prob try it out once I have a few extra floating plants to throw in the tank, and kill that flow. But yeah they really don't care about repashy for me, I tried soilent green and morning wood. They do go for fish flakes very actively but will by far prefer biofilm and algae. I think introducing live rotifers/moina in my tanks also helped A LOT to make the tank setups better for fish life and even shrimps. Amazing food source for anything but they need a great habitat to breed and survive without being hunted to extinction.
I've bred these after keeping them for nearly half a year. Tank is at 25° ph7. Fluval roma 125 with fluval 307 with spray bar. Stocked with some tetra, corydoras and an orange spot pleco. Absolutely love this fisj and was one of the first I fell in love with
I feed my veggies twice a week along with frozen food and cory tablets and Dried foods on a daily and they feed on all of it. I have a mix of the dried foods ground to a dust which I feed specifically for the juvenile gold rings
From my experience, if they have good flow (power head) cooler temps....you will breed them easier and faster....it's more they real for their environment....only a little water changes....i don't even have a filter
So I tried keeping them in medium temperature, medium flow tank and in a span of half a year I was left with 2 out of 7. The tank is 112 L/30 gal, temperature is about 24 C/75 F, the flow is 205 gal/h / 780 L/h external filter + 130 gal/h / 500 L/h powerhead. Heavily planted, lots of stones and driftwood. The loaches never displayed any signs of hypoxia, nor any external symptoms of illness, they just got too weak to feed and died. Not sure what happened, but not feeling like trying again.
My Sewellias bred about a week back(7 fry). No special care. I feed them Tetrabits complete and algae wafers. No powerheads, just 2 hobs. At the time they had bred i hadn't changed the water for 15 days. Water temp 27C - 29C Interestingly I keep them in a community planted tank that includes a bosemani and 2 Madagascar rainbows, none were interested in the fry. The only thing I regret is keeping Sewellias with borneo sucker, 1 sewelia male killed 3 borneo suckers😶.
Congrats!! Awesome to hear your success story and thank you for sharing the details. Thank you for the tip about keeping them with other suckers, I’ve seen the Borneo ones at my LFS and have considered them. Now I know if I do get them, not to mix.
we have the same type (with the lines down the side) i've personally found them aggressive at feeding times, both between them but also against other loaches.
I thank you SO MUCH...for saying this. You hear so many things on the Internet. You cant do this. Can't do that. They won't breed like this. You have to do that. Like you said...REAL experience is the best. I have done many things as a amateur hobbyist that people said you can't do...successfully.
Yesterday I bought a pair of hillstream loaches for my planted tank they were hanging around all good. But today am not find them anywhere in the aquarium. So can you please help my where it can be?
This was a great video thank you. You've gained a new sub! How many would you keep in a 25 gallon thats well seasoned and got a rock pile. 5 be ok do you think?
Would you think Pearl Danios would be a good tank mate? My understanding is the Pearls like a good flow also. This is going to be in a 55 with 2 Aqua Clear 50 HOB filters. So plenty of room for 5 or 6 HSL and about the same Danios 5 or 6 plenty of good rocks, stumps and branches, roots and plants to play around in. Also on a side not I tried HSL back in the late 80s and couldn't keep them alive long. I think back then they were more wild caught and really did need the cooler temperatures. Now being more domesticated they have adapted to warmer water.
A tip for those in colder climates. The cold temperatures on the outside of the glass can kill hillstream loaches. Don't set your tank up near drafts, windows or anywhere its unheated really
Water is a much better radiator of heat than air. If you have a heater in the tank, the outside temperature shouldn't interfere with temps that much at all.. The glass will most likely be the same temp as the water due to the general thermal physics.
Or, don’t listen to unsubstantiated claims. That literally doesn’t make sense, the glass is going to be the same temp as the water in the tank, you can verify this with a thermometer - stores sell ones that stick to the outside of the glass, this will be approximately what your internal temps are.
I just brought home my hill stream loach and when I went to float the bag we saw tiny kinda clear babies. Do they give live birth? I have separated them for not because I don’t want the other fish to eat them but there was about 8 of them in there if not more. Thank you.
Hey congratulations....that's very cool. I have 3 in 1 tank but have no idea if they are male or female.... never really planned to breed them, I just find them to be beautiful. Again, congratulations, that's always an amazing experience to find the unexpected in a tank!
That's Soo crazy mine bred in the freeze we had last month! I don't keep heater in theirs n it's always 72-73 but in the cold it was 68-69!! That's when they laid eggs!! Babies r tiny rn but def Hilly's my tank is species only!
Hey Ryan, I just ordered some reticulated hillstream loaches, going to try your recommendations, Have you ever bread those Harliquin Rasboras in the tank? I would love to add to my school of 24 harlequins, love the way they swim together.
Lots of moving water and lots of oxygenated water. These fish climb waterfalls so they love aggressive water flow. Mine love the Nano5 and the power head.
Pleco Babies Everywhere! th-cam.com/video/DkEGdpEmLPs/w-d-xo.html
The term "Hillstream loach" refers to a wide array of fish. Right now you make it seem like " breeding hillstream loaches" doesn't require all that much.
But what you are REALLY saying is: _Sewelia's_ don't require all that much.
And there is a world of difference between Sewelia's and Gastromyzons. Sewelias are really easy to breed. Tons of videos out there. Go ahead and find me just 1 video of a baby Gastromyzon. As far as my research goes, only 1 person has ever been able to get fry, just once, ever, in the whole world.
Edit: Do you have any references where you took all those statements from or did you make them up?
Flyingdutchy33 good info. The title of the video says “sewellia guide” and in the video I put I believe the one I’m working with is “sewellia lineolata”
@@WildFishTanks Any references to the statements? Because it sounds like you got statements about gastromyzons and applied those to sewelias
The statements I refer to in the video are summarized points of things I’ve seen in videos, read on websites, have seen in forums and groups, and heard by word of mouth from other hobbyists. Judging by the response in the comments sections, I believe I’m not the only one with this experience. It’s very possible that some of these sources believed they were working with or talking about sewellia when in fact they were talking about Gastromyzon. It’s my opinion that since these fish are still relatively new to the hobby there is still confusion between the two and I agree clearer lines need to be drawn. I’ve seen some Borneo suckers at my LFS, perhaps I’ll try to be #2 lol
@@WildFishTanks Hahaha, beat you to the #2 position though ;) Got one in my tank now
It is unbelievable, I bought 2 Sewellia's a year ago. A week or two after buying them they already had 4 babies! A couple months later they had three babies again. And just yesterday I found another baby! They breed A LOT. There are litteraly 4 generations of Sewellia's in just over a year in my aquarium.
Wow. Something so simple as the right size rocks makes such a difference
I think most creatures appreciate temperature swing to simulate seasons and day/ night
That is a good point. Daily temperature swings and yearly temperature swings are normal in nature for most climates
New to fish but I've been wondering about this. With such a small body of water we can't really create zones. I know with reptiles it's necessary to have a hotter basking area and a cooler area. I think the fluctuations would need to be within reason. Within reason would whatever happens in their native habitat.
I agree and we maybe see this lovely creatures in a cold place but being underneath those rocks where they grew and and live maybe warm too
Great information! I love when people share their actual experience vs what the internet says. I agree that we can find good information as a starting point on the internet but real experience is king. You may have just convinced me to add some of these to my new breeding rack I am currently setting up.
Thanks Trent, no substitute for trial and error. You should definitely add some once your new fish room is up and running!
I think most problems were happened at the store. They may starving, have poor diet and sick. When they come to our aquarium with nearly to say bye bye condition, they gone. Actually, if water clean and well oxygenated , it will be just fine. Don’t mind about temperatures.
😆😅🤣😂😆😅🤣😂😆🤣😂 time stamp 8:41 so true ....you just got yourself another sub dude love it
I was excited as well when I saw my first hillstream loach baby! Now I have dozens patrolling the substrate! Love them!
The one thing I've found out regarding being successful with hillstream loaches is to keep them in water which is not highly radioactive. If you keep them in water which is highly radioactive, you might get things which aren't anything like hillstream loaches, if they are alive at all.
I have three reticulated hillstream loaches like the ones shown in this video, and two red tail hillstream loaches. Both species have bred for me, but they have not crossed. That's interesting since they are so closely related. They have bred so well for me that I have enough to replace the parents when the good Lord eventually calls them home, and enough to trade to my local fish store for food. He won't get me a burger for them, but he will throw me the crusts from his sandwich, and sometimes those little packets of salt that carry out places toss in for free. He's always sold out of hillstream loaches, and the only red tails he gets in come from me, so hopefully he's pleased with the bargain. A day with crusts to eat is a day where I don't have to go dumpster divin' at 2 am.
I keep my 20 gallon tank in a south facing window, with lights on in the morning and evening. In summer time I won't have to keep the lights on for them. With these guys, it can't hurt to put in a tad bit more API plant fertilizer, or whichever aquarium fertilizer you can get. Don't put in a lot. Just a bit. It will cause the algae to grow on that very well lit south facing aquarium, and you will grow LOTS of food for the Hillstream loaches, the snails, and the shrimp you have in your tank. It's free food! Which is better than most of us get. There are also fish that are way to particular to eat algae. Shame on them for being so picky! Even guppies think they're too high and mighty to eat algae. The Japanese make nori out of algae, and then wrap some kinds of sushi in it. It's damn good! So who are these guppies, turning their noses up at it? You can't trade guppies for sandwich crusts, stores always have too much, and they don't make good eating, so why even bother with them? I know I know, hillstream loaches don't make good eating either, but they make good watching and don't cost a ton to feed. Guppies just breed until there is no room left, and then you can't find anyone to take them off you. The only way you can get rid of them is to buy a predator fish, and give them to it as food. Then your stuck with having to breed tons of guppies to feed your predator fish. Don't get into guppies. It will be instant regret. Do get into hillstream loaches. Even if they don't reproduce, they're a lot of fun to watch.
Put a boulder field in the tank like this guy in the video has, but never put a bed in the tank. The constant rhythmic squeaking of the bed will keep you up all night. My impression of hillstream loaches after owning five for a few months? These guys are horney AF!
I've had 6 Hillstreams for only about 6 months. No "highly oxygenated" water, no "fast moving currents", no sandy substrate (just gravel), no special breeding structures, not even trying to breed them. I have baby Hillstreams everywhere. It can't be that tough, or I'm just the luckiest novice ever.
Great down-to-earth advice. Sometimes I personally think some aquarists make it to complicated. While I think it can be a good thing to try to replicate the natural habitat especially if the fish has not yet been bred in captivity but it is easy to be misinformed by popular misconceptions. I started the hobby at 5 years old and am now approaching 69 and I think I have always enjoyed the science of the hobby, The little scientist in me loves checking pH and water Hardness and experimenting and learning. The hobby has never gotten boring in all of these years. Sometimes though, we need to step back and not over complicate things.
They bred for me without doing anything crazy. My tank sits at 75F (I keep a cooler water community). The Tank has a powerhead with an attached sponge, as well as an aquaclear 50. It gets water changes with somewhat cooler water every couple weeks. Nothing extra, and one day they spawned twice!!
What age(sexual maturity)did they breed?
I've just added some of these to my shrimp tank recently I've wanted them for years. I'm glad I found your video as its answered all my questions. Thank you 😊
I bought 8 reticulated hillstream loaches (RHL) 9 months ago and now I have about 50+ RHL in my 40 long. I’m not sure if these fish need anything special to bread. I did a lot of research before purchasing RHL to find out how some of the original breaders were successfully. Since they are hillstream loaches, I customized 2 powerheads hooked directly to 2 sponge large filters. The base of the substrate is about 1.5” of pool filter sand. Then in basically the middle area of the tank, in about half of the sand base I put a half inch to an inch or so of pea-gravel substrate. Then I placed 15 to 20 (depending on the size) 2 to 3 1/2” diameter rocks on top of the pea-gravel. They should be stacked 2 to 3 rocks on deep. Also it’s always good to put in some plants , almond leaves and Malaysian drift wood. I bought these fish to bread so there are no other fish in the tank. They love the freedom of being alone I believe. As for food, I feed my fish 4 or 5 basic foods. They will eat any of the foods I give them. I’ll give them frozen brine, both the baby and regular. I also feed them crushed flake food and crushed XL tropical granules. They love them both but crushed flakes are their favorite food of all. When I hatch baby brine shrimp they’re also very happy. I think that the live baby brine and a water change will help get your RHL’s excited to bread. One last thing, I believe doing water changes is not as good as it’s made out to be? If your tank isn’t overloaded with fish and you have a good filter/filters (all of my tanks have sponge) your tanks should only need to have the bottom syphoned cleaned every 4 to 6 weeks for a water change. This is only my opinion after having and breading fish for close to 50 years. Thanks, good day
Thank you for sharing your experience, awesome to hear how much success you have had! Since I’ve only bred them once I very much appreciate you giving your tips on repeating the process. I will try adding some baby brine shrimp and also do a water change to stimulate them. Having them breed once for me was great but really figuring it out and getting it to happen regularly is the goal. Thank you again
Wild Fish Tanks Honestly I believe it’s possible to do too many water changes. I found that disturbing them with water changes that are not necessary hinders their reproduction. I appreciate your kind words. Have a great day.
I did the full manifold system, marbles and sand. Never got any in 8-9 months. Wish I had this info before I moved on. Will get back into them and give it a go again. Thank you
Best of luck the second time around! They’re awesome fish to keep
Just discovered your channel it’s a shame you don’t upload anymore
Keep this "The Internet says..." format Bro... it's fresh and awesome.
I love your notecards! My temps range from 67-85 over the year. I keep my heater set at 70. No power head, just the biggest Aquaclear hob on a 40b. Everything else like you said - especially the rocks. Round smooth rocks in the baseball to cantaloupe size range piled up under the hob return. White clouds, live plants, lots of light, and 90% water changes every 10-14 days. Mine have been breeding since October. Just found a little fry 3 mm long 2 days ago. I feed Aq Coop fry food and shrimp pellets mainly, and just started with krill flakes. I think high oxygen levels is the most important. But what do I know - I’m just another schmuck in a garage...
I didn’t know you were breeding them also, congrats!! Mine started breeding in October also, twinses!😂🤣. I think I’ll add some more aeration to the tank and see if that helps them get in the mood more regularly.....and hey, two schmucks are better than one
How do you keep oxygen levels high in summer?
Should be common sense that Hillstream Loach young are being produced and born when the water is warmer because a increased temperature means more food.
(That's a pretty good guideline for wildlife in general.)
I got a powered head and they are doing fine and breed well during the summer month. I have half of my tank with plants and the forefront is rocks and Pebbles only. In nature, a current will bring all sorts of food which will get stuck in between the Pebbles and rocks which the hillstream loaches will feed on as they cannot live on algae alone, they need a bit of animal protein (like in nature dead animal parts will get stuck in the Pebbles.)
It gets very, very cold in the winter where I live and I keep a heater during those days to keep the temperature at around 68 Fahrenheit.
I keep my group of hillstream loches with a group of amano shrimps and a large group of white cloud mountain minnows and they are great together (tip for this combination came from a friend who is a ichtyologist and who has been studying and keeping fish herself for over 40 years).
The Internet is in general not a good resource of information because if someone posts that the grass is not green but blue than it will stay there forever.Only when there is a exercise beforehand can a person thieve the good info from the rubbish information.
Best is to go to a library or resources in open universities and to research how a fish lives and eat in his wild environment and then do the best possible to recreate that environment.
Like Eric Bodrock always says…”BE THE FISH”
So here's my story - I cycled my tank and bought four. I loved them, but when I did my first water change all four died. I was devastated. I got two more, did a water change and lost those two too. Both occurrences were the very next day after the water change. I want to get more, but I"m not going to until I figure out what went wrong. I'm using API tap water conditioner and I have a 20 gallon planted tank --- I just can't wait to hear from you!
you have to research , đont rely on anyone
I have a dozen in my 120g display tank with other very small fish. I was doing some cleaning and trimming today and spotted a little wriggly thing - I think I have at least 13 in the tank now!
I have been looking online to find pictures or information about very young ones so watched this video. Considering as of today, they are the first fish i have bred and it was by accident, my experience is similar to yours in that there are so many myths in keeping them and breeding them.
Great video and I love 8:41 🤣
Started with 1...she was 2yrs old. Added 3 more....a few months later, had my first spawn. wasn't many, 5 or so. they spawned for me again Dec, I got about 20 out of that one. Small spawn a few weeks ago. Prob 6 or so. I've had them for years and they do well. They are egg scatterers, so if you have little piles of pebbles, smooth river rocks, the eggs will fall between them, and babies more likely to survive
Tank conditions
Tank Size: 29g
planted tank with driftwood, larger thin flat slate stones at the bottom they love to dig under it and make themselves little caves. Also caribsea crystal river sand and river rocks.
Temp: 77F to 79F
PH: 7.6
Flow: pretty high. but doesn't seem to matter. I am running a tidal 55, have a bubble wall back of the tank, air stone corner
Food: They eat anything and everything. It is a seasoned tank. they don't eat algae, but the feed on the biofilm on the algae. However, they eat flake food. I feed Xtreme tropical flakes, Xtreme spirulina flakes
Bug bites: Micro pellets
Hikari Freeze Dried Daphnia
Hikari sinking tabs
Sara O-nip tabs...I just drop one in, and they will pick at it as it dissolves
Very helpful video. I wanted to keep them from long time ago. Can I keep them with shrimps? Do they eat shrimp??
Most informative information is at 8:41 great video man keep it up
Merci pour ces explication, je vais les mettre en pratique. J'adore votre façon de présenter les choses et de démonter les fausses certitudes. Désolé pour le français.
Thanks for the video, gives me hope for the hillstream loach breeding project I started about a month ago. Diva's videos were also very helpful. Subscribed!
Great video. I got 2 of these little fish and I thank you for the tip on the fresh veggies. I am going to get them a cucumber today!
Best of luck with them!
They love cut green beans as well and algae pellet's
Awesome video Ryan! This stresses the point of just doing it. Find out for yourself. BRAVO!!
Trial and error. No substitute
Stumbled on your channel. Love your information dude! Hope you’re making more videos in the future
I dont have a powerhead or wave maker in my 75g tank and they are breeding like crazy. I have two 110 hob's that create a lot of water movement.
Thanks for sharing! I have three thanks for the recommendations! I brought one from TN on a road trip and survived the trip to our new home in AZ. I put it in a container with holes at the top and it is doing just fine ( 3days of driving )
Thanks for the video, very informative. You do a great job presenting the info.
Thank you very much, brother, for the clarification and for sharing with us your wonderful experience and for your sincerity. Greetings to you, and I keep in touch and follow up on your videos
🤣🤣🤣. This was a great video!!! Great info and made me laugh the whole way though!!! Keep up the great work!!! 😉
Glad you enjoyed, thanks for checking it out!
I had lots of doubts about them, internet actually confused me.... Great info to the point by point.... Hope Im gonna have hilstream babies soon !!! Thanks again !!!
Best of luck Richu!
Great fish don’t have any right now but have in the past. Your making me think about another tank. Hello my name is John and I’m a tankaholic!
Haha hey there John! It’s ok, you’re with your people here...the MTS runs strong!
I have hillstream loaches and love them. They haven’t bred.
They are awesome little fish. Hopefully with a little more time and the right conditions they will for you
How many do you have? And have you sexed them? When I finally sexed my loaches it turned out they were all female, haha
Someone's been reading loachesDotcom...lol! Great vid, my friend.
Haha thanks Dan
Great info been debating getting hillstream loaches and using a 40 breeder for them.
I think you’ll have success in a 40 breeder
Really good video! Love the format. Thank you for the shout out. I did so much research on this fish and decided to go against the traditional norms with great success. The best site I found in my research was seriouslyfish.com. I think most of the information is just people parroting what they've heard.e.g. hear say. The one thing that was consistent, was creating the whole "river manifold" tank. Ain't nobody got time for that! LOL Hope you guys are safe and healthy down there in Florida!
“Ain’t nobody got time for that” 🤣😂🤣 . I’m doing well, I hope the same for you and yours up in the mid west. I appreciate you being so passionate and sharing all that you learned about them!
Awesome video! I realize this is 2 years old but just now doing research on this type of fish 😁 Thanks! Will be my next purchase for sure.
Really an amazing video bruh i had kept Hillstream loaches but never thought of breeding them now I'm sure that I'm gonna do this thank you broov
Good luck!
Laughed hard at that last card you threw down. Been working at a fish store for 6 months... turns out almost all the common information about fish online is wrong....
Brother you are awesome!
Thanks for the great tips. You are very right about everything you said. I have a colony of 8 hillstream loaches. Ive had them for 5 months now still havent bred, but im not rushing it. I'm happy seeing them all over the glass or in the sponge filter tube. Great lil critters n great video thanks man.
Sounds like it’s only a matter of time for you, best of luck Steven! When they breed, come back and let me know
just wondering did you finally abble to breed them ?
I had 2 at a time 2 separate times and both times they have died. I would love to keep them but I have been having bad luck. 2 year established tank.
I live in Florida too. My garage can reach the 90’s in the Summer. The only thing I could keep in the garage is probably Discus. Do you sell Fish? Now my garage can reach can high 70’s at night and the mid in the 80’s in the day. I enjoyed watching. Thank you for sharing.
WOOOOW THAT IS AMAZING! AWESOME JOB! CONGRATS AMIGO!!
Love a good species profile! Great work as always dude!
Thanks Reece, I Appreciate the support man!
I managed to get 2 from my LFS and 2 more from my not so favorite lfs and ended up with 2 pair. Love these little oddballs. Gonna rescape with some more rock. I've been keeping fish for about a year and a half and now have 12 tanks from 5 up to 75 gallons and have breed Appistograma and peacock gudgeons not on purpose. Great video. You got a new sub. Thanks
Thanks for the video on Hillstream loaches. I definitely want to get 2 for my 20 long planted tank. 👍👍 Great video 👍👍
I love them! Had some that die due to treating itch and raised the temp 86 for too long should have just left them alone and just did ich x. I'm going to try to breed after this video, very good advice thanks bro.
This channel is super cool. I’ve been looking for a fish tank channel that makes it fun and feel more trendy.
Thanks Clay
You covered all the important points, thanks!!
Glad it was useful, thanks for watching!
What litre tank would you recommend having for hillstream loaches
I bought 8 Sewellia and put them in my 125g Roseline (Denison Barb) tank at 77*F . Added some round rocks from the yard after cleaning them up. Have only feed the Roseline's meat with the occasionally pellets thrown in. 1 month later spotted a few baby's so they must have breed the day I put them in my tank. 2 months now and I have at least 12. I am pretty sure that I have a lot more as the rock pile in the corner always has a lot in them. I am upgrading my tank tomorrow so I will know how many as now I have to try to catch them all....lol
wonderful and informative video delivered in a wonderful style. loved it!
Thanks Biggs! Glad you enjoyed
Great video 👍 I love my hill stream loaches. Keep the videos coming I truly appreciate them. Take care be safe
Thank you Frank! Such a unique cool fish, you stay safe as well!
“A Schmuck in a garage..” loved the vid! I’m now in love with Hill stream loaches.... and I’m usually cussin at loaches.
I love this review for my favorite fish, even I lived here in Asia very helpful.. thankyou
I'm with you on most of this! Mine just happened to start breeding, drift wood and big gravel in mine, mostly only feed them Tetra shrimpwafers. They love it. I do have a power head and no heater average temp is 75 inside and a bubble sponge filter.
"Ants in my agua, that's a problem!" LOL! Another great vid!
Thanks for the great informative video - I’ve been looking at these fish and wondered if they were difficult to keep 🇬🇧🐠👍
Not sure how much they go for across the pond, they are pretty spendy over here but worth it! Hoping that as they get more common and more people start breeding them the price will drop
I want some but cannot find them anywhere! Any ideas on where to purchase these?
Awesome video here, I have had a couple of them in a tank but no breeding. My theory is while they LOVE strong water flow from observations of mine, they probably seek low flow or no flow zones to breed, so very high flow may be kicking people in the nutsack if they intend to breed them. I ll prob try it out once I have a few extra floating plants to throw in the tank, and kill that flow. But yeah they really don't care about repashy for me, I tried soilent green and morning wood. They do go for fish flakes very actively but will by far prefer biofilm and algae. I think introducing live rotifers/moina in my tanks also helped A LOT to make the tank setups better for fish life and even shrimps. Amazing food source for anything but they need a great habitat to breed and survive without being hunted to extinction.
I've bred these after keeping them for nearly half a year. Tank is at 25° ph7. Fluval roma 125 with fluval 307 with spray bar. Stocked with some tetra, corydoras and an orange spot pleco. Absolutely love this fisj and was one of the first I fell in love with
I feed my veggies twice a week along with frozen food and cory tablets and Dried foods on a daily and they feed on all of it. I have a mix of the dried foods ground to a dust which I feed specifically for the juvenile gold rings
You make perfect sense. Will, you consider for first fry SPIRULINA cloud.???
I hold them with discus on 28°C i just got 30 new borns but i took them away in new tank... cuz they gonna be food for discus did i do well?
From my experience, if they have good flow (power head) cooler temps....you will breed them easier and faster....it's more they real for their environment....only a little water changes....i don't even have a filter
Awesome information.. Cleared most misconception... Thanks a lot.. Now I can keep them with my betta and HQ rasboras.. subscribed.....,❤️❤️❤️
So I tried keeping them in medium temperature, medium flow tank and in a span of half a year I was left with 2 out of 7. The tank is 112 L/30 gal, temperature is about 24 C/75 F, the flow is 205 gal/h / 780 L/h external filter + 130 gal/h / 500 L/h powerhead. Heavily planted, lots of stones and driftwood. The loaches never displayed any signs of hypoxia, nor any external symptoms of illness, they just got too weak to feed and died. Not sure what happened, but not feeling like trying again.
My Sewellias bred about a week back(7 fry). No special care. I feed them Tetrabits complete and algae wafers. No powerheads, just 2 hobs. At the time they had bred i hadn't changed the water for 15 days. Water temp 27C - 29C
Interestingly I keep them in a community planted tank that includes a bosemani and 2 Madagascar rainbows, none were interested in the fry.
The only thing I regret is keeping Sewellias with borneo sucker, 1 sewelia male killed 3 borneo suckers😶.
Congrats!! Awesome to hear your success story and thank you for sharing the details. Thank you for the tip about keeping them with other suckers, I’ve seen the Borneo ones at my LFS and have considered them. Now I know if I do get them, not to mix.
what do you think is the best stream direction? like in which angle
we have the same type (with the lines down the side) i've personally found them aggressive at feeding times, both between them but also against other loaches.
This Video Answered all my questions I just bought these loaches earlier and I want to breed too because i like em thanks to this tips man🎉🎉🎉
I thank you SO MUCH...for saying this. You hear so many things on the Internet. You cant do this. Can't do that. They won't breed like this. You have to do that. Like you said...REAL experience is the best. I have done many things as a amateur hobbyist that people said you can't do...successfully.
I just got mine, not planning to breed them but they are AMAZINGLY beautful
thanks for the great tips
Also I have an open top aquarium with duckweed for natural cover, do you think the loaches will jump off. the height of my tank
is two feet
Yesterday I bought a pair of hillstream loaches for my planted tank they were hanging around all good. But today am not find them anywhere in the aquarium. So can you please help my where it can be?
I've heard lots of people say they hide for a while.
*throws paper down*
"Epstein didn't kill himself"
I just subbed.
Same
This was a great video thank you. You've gained a new sub! How many would you keep in a 25 gallon thats well seasoned and got a rock pile. 5 be ok do you think?
Would you think Pearl Danios would be a good tank mate? My understanding is the Pearls like a good flow also. This is going to be in a 55 with 2 Aqua Clear 50 HOB filters. So plenty of room for 5 or 6 HSL and about the same Danios 5 or 6 plenty of good rocks, stumps and branches, roots and plants to play around in. Also on a side not I tried HSL back in the late 80s and couldn't keep them alive long. I think back then they were more wild caught and really did need the cooler temperatures. Now being more domesticated they have adapted to warmer water.
That last note card had some serious knowledge on it.
Hi👋
Im looking forward to get hillstream but i don't know on how many can i put in my 29gallong planted new tank tho. Please help me😊🙏
Can you add salt to a tank with hillstream example tablespoon per 10 gallon for a healthy check
Thanks for sharing the “truth” about hill stream loaches!
Thanks for checking it out!
Thanks for this video. Loved all the info. Do you sell them?
A tip for those in colder climates. The cold temperatures on the outside of the glass can kill hillstream loaches. Don't set your tank up near drafts, windows or anywhere its unheated really
Water is a much better radiator of heat than air. If you have a heater in the tank, the outside temperature shouldn't interfere with temps that much at all.. The glass will most likely be the same temp as the water due to the general thermal physics.
Or, don’t listen to unsubstantiated claims. That literally doesn’t make sense, the glass is going to be the same temp as the water in the tank, you can verify this with a thermometer - stores sell ones that stick to the outside of the glass, this will be approximately what your internal temps are.
I just brought home my hill stream loach and when I went to float the bag we saw tiny kinda clear babies. Do they give live birth? I have separated them for not because I don’t want the other fish to eat them but there was about 8 of them in there if not more. Thank you.
Do you sell any of these? I also live in Florida. =)
what a gorgeous video, my loaches have lots of babies, and they love zucchini and green beans
Amazing information Ryan.
Wow I am impressed and thanks I am setting up a tank now for said fish
Hey congratulations....that's very cool. I have 3 in 1 tank but have no idea if they are male or female.... never really planned to breed them, I just find them to be beautiful.
Again, congratulations, that's always an amazing experience to find the unexpected in a tank!
That's Soo crazy mine bred in the freeze we had last month! I don't keep heater in theirs n it's always 72-73 but in the cold it was 68-69!! That's when they laid eggs!! Babies r tiny rn but def Hilly's my tank is species only!
Hey Ryan, I just ordered some reticulated hillstream loaches, going to try your recommendations, Have you ever bread those Harliquin Rasboras in the tank? I would love to add to my school of 24 harlequins, love the way they swim together.
had a female a few months now. got my male today. hoping for the best
what are the absolute smallest breed of these style loaches?
Lots of moving water and lots of oxygenated water. These fish climb waterfalls so they love aggressive water flow. Mine love the Nano5 and the power head.