does any1 know how to breed clown loaches?

[bettaguy44]

i can't find any sources online about it. everything i read says that it happens occasionally in captivity but no detailed records on conditions. if any1 has or knows how i would greatly appreciate the assistance.

 

[smithrc]

what size are yours?

They wont breed till they are quite old (many fish are sexually mature at about 80% fully grown) if that applies to clowns your be waiting till they are 10"...

 

[Lateral Line]

As far as I am aware, captive breeding of Botias require hormone treatment and special techniques.

 

[judcoynehunter]

clown loaches have never been successfully bred in captiveity due to the fact that they will not fully mature in home aquaria as their true size is bettewn 12@15'' the largest i have seen are 12yrs old and are 9'' which are very large home aquira specimens they were housed in a 500gal tank in a fish shop display tank and have never bred or attempted too sorry

 

[ryan]

As the others have said the Botia species have never been recorded as having been breed in captivity unless hormone or other techniques have been used. I remeber a vague report the only one available of a Clown breeding. Very strange! Apparently the group of 12" fish approx 10 years started killing other fish and feeding on them so they were given a more meatier diet then they would fast and eat and so on..... each stage lasting about 3 days before they finally spawned one morning laying light green eggs. Some fry succesfully hatched and were sold on apparently being more hardy then wild specimens having a higher tolerance to white spot and other diseases, who knows if it is true?

 

[judcoynehunter]

i hope its true

 

[smithrc]

there is a guy selling his tank on ebay that is selling it with his fish... including a pair of breeding clowns... so it may be possible.

Here... nice tank too!

 

[Loach Man]

They can breed in captivity, but they usually don't reach the size they need to be to breed. It has happened but only by accident so there really aren't any steps to follow as of yet. I've been trying to breed them and I was very close but it failed.

 

[mrV]

link

to note here that while the minimum breeding size of this fish is about 20-30 cm,

 

[ryan]

Good read, thanks mrV.

 

[Lateral Line]

Something that article doesn't mention is pressures due to collection of fish for other purposes. Whilst in Malaya, I saw, on several occasions, rivers being dosed with rotenone. It basically kills all the fish which float up to the surface, scooped up and then ploughed into fields as fertiliser. An ugly sight.