A Different Clown Loach

[mikev]

If you are tired of stripes, here is something else:

 

[TammyLiz]

Very cute! Is he yours?

 

[nashnut]

What a cutie!! Is that pvc pipe in the background? I need to get some of those.

 

[mikev]

Thanks!

Very cute! Is he yours? -- yeap, for about ten days now...

Is that pvc pipe in the background? I need to get some of those. -- imho, not worth it generally. I put them in just now and only since Spot is unusually shy (still hides in the driftwood most of the time after ten days), but no one in the tank uses them.

 

[millym]

gorgeous nice to see slightly different markings. we'd LOVE to get clown loaches but do not have the space.

 

[Barracuda518]

Very nice. Ive seen a couple like that, but not in any stores. Nice find

 

[Lateral Line]

It used to be rare to see these oddly marked CL's. 35 years ago, you never did, but all the fish were wild caught then.

I suspect with the intensive breeding and inbreeding now practiced in some farms, these chance mutations are cropping up more often, and may even being selected for, thus we see more of them.

There was a thread in MAP with a "jigsaw" CL a while back, but I can't find it now - perhaps it was one of the many that got lost during the rebuild.

 

[mikev]

It used to be rare to see these oddly marked CL's. 35 years ago, you never did, but all the fish were wild caught then.

I suspect with the intensive breeding and inbreeding now practiced in some farms, these chance mutations are cropping up more often, and may even being selected for, thus we see more of them.

You may be correct.

The entire batch looked a little strange to me. Firstly, there was a second clown with a dot (I did not see him myself---they unf. sold him right away). Secondly, the proportions and shapes of the stripes were not normal: on a number of them, the stripes had a horizontal piece.

The store will probably order more from the same place in a month and I'm going to make sure that this time I see the entire batch when it arrives. Not that I have any room for the seventh clown.....


Inbreeding would be one explanation; the other would be that this is a regional variation (which may also imply imbreeding)

There is some also weird stuff going on right now with CL's exported to Australia who are unusually aggressive -- again, either inbreeding or they found new river to catch them.

Spot, btw, has serious psychological problems and seems unable to deal with other CL's. If, when he goes to the main tank in a couple of weeks, my main group rejects him too, I'm in big trouble.

 

[Lateral Line]

Yes, there is definitely a regional variation, it was discussed in the thread I can't find. The origin of the band below the dorsal for example showed a pronounced change over their range.

Something I have seen over the 35 years I've been keeping them is that some fish as the get older tend to develop lighter patches in the middle of their dark bands.

All CL's become more grey rather then black with age of course, but the effect I am describing doesn't seem to happen to all. A really old fish that has this character can almost look like the band has split into two with the base body colour between the newly seperate bands. It thus appears to have twice as many vertical stripes.

 

[mikev]

Yes, there is definitely a regional variation, it was discussed in the thread I can't find. The origin of the band below the dorsal for example showed a pronounced change over their range.

If you do happen to find it or remember more I'm very interested.

Something I have seen over the 35 years I've been keeping them is that some fish as the get older tend to develop lighter patches in the middle of their dark bands.

All CL's become more grey rather then black with age of course, but the effect I am describing doesn't seem to happen to all. A really old fish that has this character can almost look like the band has split into two with the base body colour between the newly seperate bands. It thus appears to have twice as many vertical stripes.

I know exactly what you are talking about. My understanding is that this happens not with really old fish but with subadults, which for clowns may mean 7"+.

With CL's, I've been actually looking for a "double-stripe" pattern since September! -- very stupidly, but until very recently I was not aware that a 3" CL cannot possibly have it.

A very similar thing happens with Khulis, and -- unlike CL's -- I actually observed this happening in my tank for the last three months.

 

[whip]

A lfs has some adult cl's. They are about 8-10 inches. I noticed one of them was very dark, almost black. It looked like two shades of black. Is this normal? what causes it if not? Is it a color variation, or from stress etc?

 

[emma12321]

Very cute, heres a piccy of my odd one

Emma

 

[mikev]

Very nice!

The strange bend of one of the stripes is obviously related to the dot.

How is your CL with the others? (I'm a bit fearful of the moment when I'll have to move the new one to the big tank)

A lfs has some adult cl's. They are about 8-10 inches. I noticed one of them was very dark, almost black. It looked like two shades of black. Is this normal? what causes it if not? Is it a color variation, or from stress etc?

Probably just a variation. My alpha (3.5") has very dark orange with some black in it.

Out of curiosity: how much do they charge for these?

 

[emma12321]

Hi,

Mine is the boss of the tank, i got them at roughly the same size and you can see how much bigger it is in this post http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=120408 the smaller ones are roughly the same size and go through phases of fighting over who's boss. The odd one is also the shyest and will hide in his pvc tube if you walk near the tank, the others come out a lot more. I only have 3 clowns but they are in with 3 zebras, 3 chain loaches and ? khuli loaches.

Emma

 

[mikev]

Wow! Nice cucumber idea on the old thread. I'll try it.

My odd one and the other new CL (these two are together in a smaller tank for a little while) will be competing for the #3 spot out of 6.

The problem with Spot is that he is unusually territorial and aggressive: he hides in driftwood most of the time, but if someone swims close to his cave, he would jump out and chase the other fish. I saw him chasing the other new loach, barbs, and even a baby yoyo so far. If he does this to the Alpha clown, he might end up very dead (my Alpha killed a fish before).

I only have 3 clowns but they are in with 3 zebras, 3 chain loaches and ? khuli loaches.

24 khulis here if I count right...I so far could not find zebras or sids.