kuhli plans

I got another photo of a kuhli in the 20 gal this morning, he was disturbed a bit during the gravel vac (still treating for ich, no more spots or glancing behavior for a while now, hope I've finally beat it). I'm not sure if he looks well- seems like I can almost see the line of his spine through the body- is it supposed to be partially translucent like that? Also looks rather pinkish, but again I'm not sure if this is normal for them. I've been trying to feed them more directly- dropping a bit of spirulina wafer or shrimp pellet into the java fern/crypt "cave" after dark. If I do it too early in the evening, the cherry barbs zoom in on that, and then Pinkie will nudge his way in there and commandeer the food.

I managed to get a few pictures of the "lonely kuhli" in my ten-gallon.

Dropped half a shrimp pellet in there after dark, dimly lit again from lamp across the room- but obviously the other fishes could smell it and came looking for the food. Oliver kept grabbing the pellet and trying to get bites, he eventually broke it apart and the kuhli kept poking around there for a long while after the others lost interest, so I hope he got some too.

They are too few, I've learned. Kuhlis like to be in groups- three or five bare minimum, even more to feel secure. So now plan is when I change out my stocking (move out the barbs and bring in more platies) I'll get less platies and a few more loaches instead. Undecided whether I should move the sole loach out of the tenner into here, or give him a few more companions where he is...

I found a kuhli cave idea online- someone made this one by setting a shelf of plexiglass on bottle-cap "legs" and covering it with matching substrate and stone. It is raised up just enough that the loaches can congregate under there, and you can easily view them against the front glass. Very cool. Mine all hide under the logs where I can't see them. Just an occasional glimpse after hours. So... I've been thinking for a long time I want to get phoenix moss (fissidens) and had been mulling over the idea of attaching it to stones, or another small piece of driftwood, or a mesh that just lies on the tank floor so it looks like grass. Now I'm thinking I might make a ledge cave like this- with a layer of gravel topping it, and the moss rooted on that. It would be a little fissidens moss shelf, that the kuhlis could hide under. I'm picturing this in the main tank, and fissidens rooted atop the skull cave (where Oliver seems to sleep) in the tenner.... Someday.