The count you cannot easily check again
A kuhli loach record matters precisely because recounting is hard once the fish vanish into cover. On day one, write the exact number bought, their approximate lengths, and the banding pattern visible on each if you can distinguish them in the acclimation bag. Photograph the group before release and note the source and any loach that arrived unusually pale or thin. After that, record confirmed sightings rather than assumptions: a night entry saying four of six seen, all plump is honest data, while weeks of silence followed by a tank strip-down is how losses go unnoticed for months.
Substrate, cover, and escape details to log
Write down the substrate — ideally a soft sand the loaches can sift and burrow into without wearing their barbels — plus its depth and any gravel areas to avoid. List every hiding place: coconut caves, driftwood gaps, dense plant thickets, and leaf litter, with a simple tank sketch if that helps a sitter. Kuhli loaches squeeze through startling gaps, so record the lid type, any holes around filter pipes, and how you sealed them. Note filter intake protection too, because a loach inside a filter is a classic discovery during maintenance, and the record should show when a guard was fitted.
Water and tank-mate entries for a shy bottom dweller
Log temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate from the start, and note that kuhli loaches favour warm, soft, slightly acidic water with gentle flow. Record every tank mate and its temperament, because boisterous feeders and fin-nippers change whether loaches emerge at all. Write down water-change dates and whether loaches became unusually active afterward — frantic glass surfing across the whole group can follow a pressure or temperature shift, and a dated note separates a one-off weather response from a repeating pattern tied to your change routine. Keep lighting hours in the file as well, since longer bright periods push this nocturnal fish deeper into cover.
Night feeding and body condition notes
Because kuhli loaches feed after lights-out, the feeding record should state what sinking food goes in, when in the evening, and where it lands so it reaches the bottom past faster tank mates. On night checks with a dim red or low light, note body shape: a healthy loach looks rounded, while a persistently thin, hollow-bellied individual may be losing the competition for food or carrying a problem worth investigating. Record any loach seen during the day lying on its side in the open — brief rests happen, but repeated daytime exposure plus loss of appetite or rapid breathing is a reason to test the water at once and contact an aquatic vet.
One file for a fish a sitter may never see
A holiday sitter may feed a kuhli loach tank for a week without spotting a single loach, so the written record does the reassuring. Keep the baseline count, the night-check method, the feeding spot, and the escape precautions together, backed up, with a note on what normal hiding looks like for this group. Update the file whenever cover is rearranged or a loach is confirmed lost. Storing that complete history in KinsLe as a Pet Passport keeps the loaches' records together in one portable packet, so their care survives handovers even when the fish themselves stay out of sight.