the newest kuhli Monty

Earlier last week I moved my adopted kuhli loach into the main tank. It has yellow background, a few stripes just behind the head, and the rest of the body mostly black with spots on the top and belly. I kept think of how its mottled look is similar to Albert's, but with more actual stripes. Somehow that turned into the name Monty.

I wasn't sure how easy it would be to move this one out of the QT tank- which still also houses snails and my new betta, so I wasn't going to empty it out and have bare room to catch him. I set the fish trap with the cap on for a small kuhli-only door. (Which didn't matter- the betta wasn't interested in going after the food). I baited the trap with a kuhli favorite- sinking hikari wafer. The kuhli obviously smelled it and pretty soon was out searching around the usual places on the tank bottom for the food. All around the trap, but never to the entrance. When he didn't find the food near its scent, he started looking everywhere else, even questing up into the tops of fake plants. He'd rest a bit and then search again- all day long. I kept checking because I was anxious to move him as soon as he was caught. I noticed he would systematically go back and forth across each leaf -after looking under them all proved fruitless- so hoping to guide him in I removed the bottle cap door to the trap, and place a leaf like a ramp.

The apple snail went in. I took it out and re-baited the trap with a shrimp pellet. Monty the kuhli kept looking, a bit more energetically this time, with longer pauses in between searches. Then I swear he had a fit of frustration. He suddenly started darting wildly around the tank thrashing his head back and forth, then lay still for a very long time. Dismayed, but still not wanting to chase him down with a net, I took the trap out and fed the disintegrating food pellet to the serpae tetras next door. Then Monty started repeatedly going up and down the tank glass. I placed the net nearby, in a low horizontal position, and left it there for a while. Then once when the fish cruised up, I neatly caught him on the way back down. Phew. The acclimation into his new home went easy after that. He seems happy to be in the bigger tank now with lots of plants, things to hide under, and seven new kuhli pals.

I don't have any pictures for this post because although Monty is out and about with the other kuhlis- especially at feeding time- so I can usually observe him and tell, for instance, that he is healthy-looking and holding his weight- he is very nervous and quick to dart away hiding if I am too close to the tank or move suddenly. I can only watch him if I am slow and sit quiet. Eventually I hope to get photos of him with the others. It's obvious now how the four black kuhlis have their spot under the bolbitis ferns on the left side of the tank, and the four striped kuhlis hang out under bolbitis thicket on the right together. Cute.