Anyone Have Experience With Clown Loaches?

[Will91]

Hi all:

Well, maybe I should have educated myself a bit more about clown loaches before I purchased two from a LFS yesterday. I have just started my 26 US gallon tank about a month ago and so far have a few zebra and tetras in the tank along with one betta. The two fellows I bought are about 2" long or so, and was told that they do not grow big. I did some poking around on Google and have read they can get quite large. Some sites report up to 18" long! Other sites report only 6" long in captivity. I really hope I didn't make a mistake here.

Any input on experience would be appreciated. I was going to post this in the catfish section but wasn't sure if they were even a true catfish or what supgroup to post this message.

Thanks

 

[supermatelot]

Is that 26 UK gallon or US?

Either way-they will out grow your tank eventually or...they will not grow to their capacity.I got the same prob-got 2 of them which I know eventually will have to be re-housed.

 

[WILDER]

They need a 90 gallon tank as they grow big.
http/www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/artikl...own%20loach.htm

 

[Dutchie]

I have asked the same question few months ago as I did the same thing with my LFS........

The responses I recd were slightly different as most members stated you need at least a 50 UK gallon tank....hence my reasons to change my tank to a 59 UK one now instead......

Seems everyone has a different opinion.................... which is healthy...

 

[John59]

All the above it is true but from my knowledge it needs a lot of time at first they grow fast and then slow so you have a lot of time to reconsider it takes more than 8 years to grow that big

 

[crazie.eddie]

What is the dimension of your tank? Yes, they can grow up to or larger than 12", but that will take a very long time. I have only seen 1 owner having a clown loach for that big. I would have to assume that they were passed on to another person as they get bigger, since no 1 owner would see them grow to their full adult size. More likely your children or grand children would.

Keep in mind, clown loaches do better in groups, since they are nervous fish. Just a safety in numbers. You will see more activity in the loaches after adding 3 or more to the 2 you already have. Unfortunately, if you did, you would definitely have to move them over to a larger tank.

 

[Will91]

Thank you everyone for the quick replies.

I have talked with the LFS where I purchased the clowns and was also assured by them that they are very slow growing fish. I was promised that if they grow to the point that they are not comfortable in my tank (or I have not upgraded to a larger tank), they will happily take them back for credit towards other fish. They did show me one that had been there for about 10 years and it was about 6" long or so. It was reassuring to see that it wasn't 18" that some sites report (although I understand this does depend on on a lot of conditions such as tank size, etc.).

I guess I can relax and enjoy them for now. They do seem pretty happy too!

 

[Amunet]

From what I've heard from some people who have them... they will grow fairly quickly in their first year, but after that their growth slows down alot. *shrugs*
Sounds like you're going to just keep them though.... remember, you'll eventually need a larger tank for them if you decide to keep them once they start to get too big for your tank.

 

[andywg]

You are generally looking at fair growth up to around 4", 12" seems to take up to 20 years to attain, so they are not the fastest of growing fish.

There is a website of someone who hs a few around the 10-13" mark, though I forget the site now.