Who would have thunk it?

[Baccus]

As some of you maybe aware not only do I have a few tanks (7 at last count) I also have a 1000L pond in the backyard. Now this pond has long been a bit of a dumping ground for excess stock, usually cull cherry shrimp, endlers and plants that have gone balistic in my tank. But also occasionally the pond has even held short term bristle nose catfish and peppered catfish. So imagine my surprise last night when shining a torch into the pond looking for gudgeons and Pacific Blue eyes and any shrimp worth saving for breeding programs, I spied a little Khuli loach face resting in the plant life at the surface peering back at me. I can only guess that the Khuli population in one of my tanks laid eggs in the tangle of over grown plants prior to me dumping the plants in the pond, and the eggs have since hatched in what is effectively Khuli loach heaven. The pond is nearly entirely covered with lily leaves, has a massive tangle of hornwort and elodea as well as duckweed and probably a few inches of leaf litter on the floor. I tried to catch the Khuli loach (after thinking to get hubby down to see but not thinking about grabbing a photo) but it of course slipped away into the tangle of lily roots and leaf litter. Maybe tonight I will be able to con it out into an open area with food along with any of its brothers and sisters.

I am also in a real quandary know too, on how on earth do I get the loaches out of the pond???? Sure I can remove all the leaf litter, but they will probably be hiding in that too, removing the lily they will probably be deeply buried in the jungle of roots and impossible to see let alone save. And then I have the black sludge that once disturbed turns the entire pond into a black blizzard and you cant see a thing.

I am tempted to attempt making a mini eel trap in the hope that it might catch khuli loaches with less muss and fuss than a day dredging through the pond.

[buck]

thats heaps cool! i enjoy khuli loachs, there so cute! id go with the trap idea. cant hurt to try it before going on a destructive war path haha