Clown Loaches

[ninjaboy]

I was on Aquabid and I noticed a guy had a post that went something like, "Super Rare - Wild Caught Clown Loach". My question is, aren't all clown loaches wild caught? A guy at my LFS told me Clown Loaches come and go at the store because they can only be caught in the wild when the river has flooded and there is an large amount of Clown Loaches that are going to die. If this is true or false, would someone please let me know the answer? Thanks!

 

[Teelie]

They're "wild bred" in large captivbe sections of their native rivers, or so I hear. So in a sense yes, they're all wild caught and at the same time, not. There are also a few subspecies of Clowns with slightly different patterns. Might be one of those he's selling.

 

[Lateral Line]

In the past, all CL's were truly wild caught. The reason they tended to be seasonal is because the fish are seasonal breeders and thus conveniently sized fish were only available at certain times of the year.

Later, the value of larger fish was realised, and some farms in the far east started holding their fish a while. The result was they were available all year, but the size and price fluctuated.

Later still, it was discovered how to force breed CL's by injecting them with hormones. Once this technique arrived, farms were set up in the far east and Florida to mass produce them. From this, the inbreeding and general issues with intense farming became apparent. Force bred fish tend to be genetically similar, (close relatives breeding), the fish are weaker, somewhat more prone to disease, and the number of "oddly marked", genetic mutants, have increased dramatically.

 

[LoachLover]

Some of them are wild caught, some of them aren't. Now that they discovered injecting them with hormones clown loaches are more readily avaliable.

 

[ninjaboy]

For some reason, I dont like the sound of force breeding or injecting anything into fish.

 

[Teelie]

The injections themselves are fairly harmless IMO. Nothing like dyeing that kills or injures the fish but the excessive breeding can definitely be a problem. Genetically identical parents tend to produce a weaker strain of animal and you end up with Guppies and Goldfish. Both are more easily prone to diseases they should be resistent to.

Also, there are subspecies that have different color patterns that aren't the result of genetic inbreeding from farms. They come from different locations than most of the commonly seen ones so they are slightly more expensive.

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> there are subspecies that have different color patterns

There are regional variations, that is certainly true. The markings I refer too are the extra stripes, half or missing stripes, jigsaw marks etc. These were things you very rarely saw, but are quite common nowdays.

 

[Teelie]

I've only been keeping Clowns for a few months now and before that had only seen a few pictures of them online or occasionally hiding in the tanks at the shops so I didn't know how rare the stripe changes were.

 

[Lateral Line]

I've kept CL's on and off for 35 years. It was only a few years ago, (well, maybe 10 I suppose - the days blur with age!), I first saw one with an incomplete mid stripe. Since then, I have seen more and more. I recall seeing one posted in the Members Aquarium Pictures a while back with a jigsaw mark on one side.

I differentiate between extra/missing markings and the natural changes in marking that occur as they grow. In older fish the contrast fades, and the stripes can seem to divide as the black is almost lost from the centre of the former stripes. This only happens on large, old fish though. These odd markings are apparent from youth.

 

[Kopix Nation]

I know how to breed them hehehehe........I have a book that shows how! It is quite simple really. Just get enough hiding places and keep the lights off. A few other things but in the end simple. I am going to try this when i get clown loaches.

claire

 

[Teelie]

Except the book is probably wrong. There are virtually no verifiable reports of them breeding in the tank and certainly none that were purposely induced.

 

[CFC]

I know how to breed them hehehehe........I have a book that shows how! It is quite simple really. Just get enough hiding places and keep the lights off. A few other things but in the end simple. I am going to try this when i get clown loaches.

claire

[snapback]908749[/snapback]​

if it were easy then why arent hundreds of people breeding them?

 

[colen]

I know how to breed them hehehehe........I have a book that shows how! It is quite simple really. Just get enough hiding places and keep the lights off. A few other things but in the end simple. I am going to try this when i get clown loaches.

claire

[snapback]908749[/snapback]​

if it were easy then why arent hundreds of people breeding them?

[snapback]909011[/snapback]​

Obviously it is because they havnt read the book. I wish breeding clown loaches was easy! Or even possible for that matter lol