Clown Loach Ideal Conditions

[diet]

Im becoming slightly de newbiew-tised and am seriously thinking about:
a) another tank and spread my fish out
B) return fish to lfs for store credit
c) give fish away to friends and family


It has crossed my mind about a clown loach tank but i think that the ideal number to keep these in is 6 and i can imagine that this would take up ALOT of room.

Plz can someone tell me how many clown loach i will require for a clown loach based tank

and

how many gallons does 1 clown loach require lol: dont worry i can do the math)

Daniel

 

[mlawson]

Clown loaches Botia Macracanthus can grow up to 30cm/12" in the wild
but in aquaria they won't grow any larger than 25cm/10". They should be kept
in groups of 5 or more as they are very social and schooling fish.

Obviously because of their large size they need a large aquarium, 90G minimum for
larger specimens, ideally you should provide larger than this, but they can be kept in
40G for the first few years of their life.

Clown loaches can be a big commitment because of their long life spans, in the right
conditions they have been recorded to live to 50 years (they could outlive you!).

For them to thrive provide slightly soft acidic water and provide many plants and
hiding places. They don't like change, so try to not move the decor around too much.

They require high quality water so be sure to carry out reglular maintenance, and change 25%
of the water a week. Also ensure they have a soft substrate (preferably sand) to be certain
they don't damage their delacate barbels.

Clown Loaches are known for being very prone to Whitespot. It is crucial to prevent this when
adding them or other fish to your setup.

They accept most foods, a staple diet of tablet food is good. Although they quickly learn to grab
flake from the top. Try to supplement their diet with frozen and live food (bloodworm is a firm favourite).
But overall food wise, they are quite unfussy.

They are compatable with most fish and can suit community aquaria.

Hope this helps,

Mike

 

[diet]

Ty mike.

When u say to keep them in at least 90g of water is that for the whole 5 or per fish?

 

[mlawson]

Sorry, I meant you could keep 5 in a 90G.

 

[smithrc]

in the long run they can get to a bulky fish of 10-12"

but they are very slow growing...

I'll be glad when ours need a new tank - at the moment we have 5 in a 350L and another 5 smaller in a 240L

Roll on the lottery wind / big house / HUGE tank and 10x 12" Clowns

 

[Tiger Tiger]

Clown loaches are my favourite second place fish in my list. (ex Cats in the ratings)

They are great fun and remind me of Tiny Dolphins with their behaviour especially lying on their sides whilst the others flip them up.

But i find them very Delicate. As stated they are very nervous fish. If you change your Decor or even say a catfish knocks a bit of bogwood over and you go in and put it right you may not see them for a week!
They hate change and if they get to much the stress will cause whitespot very easily.
They all also have different temperements , characters....You might have a very lazy one that lays on its side 80% of the day or one that flitter around the tank eating everything in sight and if you have one of these and its over 6 inches....Yes it will eat your Guppies!

If you get one get 5 as stated but don't do what i did and that is put them in a new Tank....Disaster!
I will garantee you will have a break out of Whitespot continiously and before you no it you have just spent £50 on Protozin. Wait until its well established first.
Also try to get 5 from the same tank at your local aquariust as you quite often find the lot that are together stay together but will mix in time but its nice to see at the start.
The other thing is if you Have Siamese Tiger fish the Loach will swim with them making a great shoal, i think its because they identify the stripes and think they are one so go together with the Tigers.But offcoarse make sure they are compatable in size........I think that states the obvious
Very amusing

 

[mlawson]

At the moment I've got five in a 40gallon. They're only small and
soon I'm thinking of getting a 125 gallon for them.

 

[Tiger Tiger]

Afte 6 inches their growth rate slows right up. But keep yous together and they will give you years of entertainment....They really are Funny Fish.
One last note of caution do not put them straight away into your new tank. Cycle it well beforehand or you are garantee'd whitespot with these guys.
Funny but nervous of change