Clown Loaches

[pinkdolphin_113]

hi! is it possible to breed clown loaches? has it been done before?
how much would 2 7/8 inch clown loaches get me if i wanted to sell them?
i dunno if this is the right place for this but catfish and loaches are different fish right?

x

 

[corrosive]

Doesnt' really help but i think due to the possible adult sizes of clown loaches i dont think they would sell for very much, and possibly be hard to home...?

 

[e11cloud]

hi! is it possible to breed clown loaches? has it been done before?
how much would 2 7/8 inch clown loaches get me if i wanted to sell them?
i dunno if this is the right place for this but catfish and loaches are different fish right?

x

I could be wrong about this, but I believe the last I'd read, they hadn't ever been bred in captivity. One of the reasons is how long it takes to reach sexual maturity. Catfish and Loaches are different, yes. I wouldn't have a clue what you'd get for fry at all. I have some links on hand, but unfortunately I don't know how to make the links work on here, sorry.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

They have been bred in captivity as far as i am aware, but only with the aid of adding lots of hormones to their environment.

 

[CFC]

Clown loaches are not mass bred for the aquarium trade, they have been bred in farms as said by Tokis by using hormone stimulants but it is obviously not financially viable for the farms to do this as they are still taken from the wild the majority of the time.

 

[Lateral Line]

There have been a few anecdotal accounts of them breeding in tanks, I don't think any of these accounts are sufficiently authoratative or well documented to be credible.

The hormone injection breeding done in some farms in the far east is to be able to supply fish of saleable size all year. Naturally, they are seasonal breeders, and wild catches comprise of large, (therefore costly to transport), or very small, (not readily saleable), specimens at some times of the year, in some places.

 

[mikev]

There have been a few anecdotal accounts of them breeding in tanks, I don't think any of these accounts are sufficiently authoratative or well documented to be credible.

One such account:
http/www.loaches.com/loachbreeding.html

Interesting reading, but as LL said, not something that should be instantly believed.

The problem is that there is a technical reason why Botia breeding in a tank is nearly impossible. Spawning may be, and possibly occassionally occurs, but live fry is very unlikely to come out of this, unless a very special tank has been constructed.

The same applies to the entire former Botia genus (now broken into several): Yoyo's, Kubotai's, Modesta's, Striata's....

Otoh, it is possible to breed at least some other loaches *outside* of the former genus Botia.
There are documented cases of breeding Dojo's, Kuhli's, Cheni's, H. Disparis, and -- very recently -- Sewillia.

 

[Lateral Line]

(now broken into several)

That's the problem isn't it, if I'd said Botia's these days, people wouldn't know what I meant!

I think all this re-classification that is going on is somewhat pedantic. It goes in phases, a group of "splitters" comes along and splits everything up, and a decade later, a group of "lumpers" come along and put's it back together again. Still, keeps the publication rates up.

I believe people like Kottelat, if left unchecked, would eventually split every species into it's own monospecific genus.

 

[mikev]

Still, keeps the publication rates up.

I have a bad feeling that this is the major reason for the activities.

I believe people like Kottelat, if left unchecked, would eventually split every species into it's own monospecific genus.

Heh-heh. He should be given a grant to work on something like Zebra Danios. There will be five new families within a year.
(In fairness, he is doing great work, his papers are excellent, but some things should be left alone until there is a really strong reason to change them).

There was a Botia genome study a few months back (in Czech Republic, of all places). It showed that at least some of the new division was done incorrectly.

 

[Lateral Line]

(in Czech Republic, of all places)

I can't speak for it now, but when it was still Czechoslovakia, it had an extremely high reputation in the fishkeeoing world.

In 1992/93, I was part of the species maintenance and breeding program for the CITES listed Cæcobarbus geertsi. To hold and transport these red listed fish required all kinds of permits and inspections. My house was one of 4 sites in England accepted, there were 12 in Germany, the other 5 were in Czechoslvakia. The Czechs were really good, and produced some first class fish. Their paperwork, (of which there was mountains), was always spot on.

 

[mikev]

Fascinating....I did not even know they were into tropical fish. And to comply with your geography, it had some German co-authors.

Anyway, the paper is very interesting; there were very few on loach genetics and this is far the best.

I have a copy somewhere, so if you want it, PM me your email.

 

[Lateral Line]

PM sent!