Clown Loach growth rate?

[Stan510]

I've kept them for years before I took a 10 year time off from the hobby. Then in 2018 I got back in and around 2019 I added Clown Loaches again. Five with two just dying for no known reason. The other three are doing excellent..active,playful rush up to the food. Now,I also have found on YouTube vids of huge and old Clown Loaches..12-14". My largest first time around reached 5" I think it was and that took years.
My newest were tiny when I bought them 1 1/2 inch maybe that much. They now three years later and the largest is 4" and the other two about 3.5" Stocky too.
Whats the growth rate on yours? What do you feed them? Live food? Back when I grew them up on live tubifex worms growth was a little faster. I use shrimp and beefheart now.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

They grow slow. I got 3.5-4 inch clowns in late 02 or early 03 and now they are in the 10 inch range.

I will not feed beefheart to any of my fish, ever. I have kept discus and I would not feed it to them.

As for what my clowns get:
My custom blend of flakes.
Sinking sticks to include a mix of these sticks: brine shrimp, blood worm, black worm, soldier fly larva, veggie, and mysis shrimp.
Meaty wafers.
Frozen: Blood worms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, brine shrimp gut loaded w/ spirulina. These are nomally all mixed when I feed,
Repashy gel foods: They absolutely shred the Igapo Explorer. I feed Bottom Scratcher and Spawn and Grow each of which is mixed with 20=25% Soilent Green.
For Repashy Infor go here https://www.store.repashy.com/

 

[Stan510]

Whoa! Fantastic. 10" Clown Loaches are hard to top in freshwater for color. I would like to have at least six,but then again a trio has less competition for food and room to grow. Plus that growth inhibitor thing all fish seem to do.
At 4" they now seem like proper fish. Looking forward to 6" and beyond that? Who knows?
10" Clown Loaches? I would guess they are worth, $250 or more each. The prices on CL's since Covid really pushed up the cost of these fish. At least with them you have a great chance to see them live very long lives. Probably outlive me these days.

 

[Stan510]

What's interesting about Clown Loaches from almost all other popular fish sold is that ability to get to a large size but it takes decades. I can't think of any other fish that reaches over 12" and takes that long to get there. It's why I asked. You might think you have stunted loaches because they take years to look like something.
I should mention the one food that is above all other for them are live tubifex worms. Back is the day I would buy inchling Clowns and feed them that.. It was a faster growth rate. These days,the beefheart has to suffice and lots of chunks of cooked shrimp,tetra flakes,krill. Looking at the holes in some plants- they like greenery too on occasion.
IF you get an opportunity to get large Clown Loaches- jump on that deal.

 

[itiwhetu]

What's interesting about Clown Loaches from almost all other popular fish sold is that ability to get to a large size but it takes decades. I can't think of any other fish that reaches over 12" and takes that long to get there. It's why I asked. You might think you have stunted loaches because they take years to look like something.
I should mention the one food that is above all other for them are live tubifex worms. Back is the day I would buy inchling Clowns and feed them that.. It was a faster growth rate. These days,the beefheart has to suffice and lots of chunks of cooked shrimp,tetra flakes,krill. Looking at the holes in some plants- they like greenery too on occasion.
IF you get an opportunity to get large Clown Loaches- jump on that deal.

Kissing Gouramis seem to take forever to get to the 10" plus mark

 

[Stan510]

KG do seem to top out at 6"...and then you see a mega one for sale. Its hard to feed them enough food to get big growth. They eat slow so other fish can get food faster. I wasn't sure if big KG were grown or wild.

 

[itiwhetu]

KG do seem to top out at 6"...and then you see a mega one for sale. Its hard to feed them enough food to get big growth. They eat slow so other fish can get food faster. I wasn't sure if big KG were grown or wild.

My breeding pair were around 10" long. The person who had them before me fed them on porridge (Cooked just like you would eat it, no salt), I continued to do that. It was the high carbohydrate diet that made them do so well.

 

[Stan510]

Oh wow,great to hear. I thought I was the only one to remember that Braz Walker in the 60's pushed cooked oats for his fish. "Cloudys the water a bit,but it recovers" he would admit. Great for Leporinus,Anostomus,Pacu. Some cichlids. Other fish I would not have thought of as oat eaters.

I would rarely see KG about that size and most were green. I think that's why I wasn't sure if they were grown big or imported big. At that size the lips weren't as Mick Jagger as the 2-6" fish were.

I should try the oats again. I think the loaches might like it and I can see the Rainbows for sure would.

 

[jams]

Got these in 2019 from a friend about 1.5". Now the largest is 4", the others range in size 2.5-3".

 

[Stan510]

They look great. I tell you Clown Loaches are a great investment. They are fish bitcoins. You see what a Clown Loach of say 6"? would sell for? Off the charts these days. You have a very good friend!

 

[itiwhetu]

Oh wow,great to hear. I thought I was the only one to remember that Braz Walker in the 60's pushed cooked oats for his fish. "Cloudys the water a bit,but it recovers" he would admit. Great for Leporinus,Anostomus,Pacu. Some cichlids. Other fish I would not have thought of as oat eaters.

I would rarely see KG about that size and most were green. I think that's why I wasn't sure if they were grown big or imported big. At that size the lips weren't as Mick Jagger as the 2-6" fish were.

I should try the oats again. I think the loaches might like it and I can see the Rainbows for sure would.

I ended up with 2000 kissing gourami babies. At one stage just about every kissing gourami in New Zealand had come from that spawn. I got about 25 cents a fish. Selling them to wholesalers.

 

[enricosonic]

I've recently seen some crazy asking prices for really big loaches. Hundreds of dollars. I thought I'd made a mistake in stocking my tank with them due to their eventual growth, but it seems one can keep them for years before having to re-home/sell them due to size. Mine are about 1-1/2" and haven't appreciably grown in 4 months in 75 gallon tank.
Here are two of them:

 

[Back in the fold]

I've never had them but I have seen some really big ones from time to time and they are magnificent when really big.

 

[enricosonic]

My concern originally was that it may stunt their growth being in this tank, but it doesn't seem to be the case based on what I've read, including the info shared in this thread.

 

[itiwhetu]

There was a time on this forum where members were telling people that. The fishes internal organs keep growing and the fish would eventually explode, I have never thought that to be the case, I love clown loaches and don't see anything wrong with keeping them in a tank that is large enough four feet and over would be my recommendation.