How fast do clown loaches grow?

[yhbae]

The ones I see in the LFS are no larger than 1.5 inches. How fast would these guys grow in a year from now? Of course, this will probably depend on many factors including food, space and water change schedule, but assume all are reasonable.

Thanks!

 

[gadazobe]

Slowly - clowns grow slowly but steadily. I bought mine a couple of years ago at about 1" now they're about 3"

 

[yhbae]

Thanks for the feeeback! (That is exactly what I wanted to hear...)

 

[chefkeith]

Growth rates of clown loaches will vary. Some clowns will reach 6" in about 3 years, others won't grow much at all. On average, a clown loach will grow about an inch per year reaching a max size of about 24" over about 50 years in age. The growth rate will slow down as the clown loaches reach adulthood, which is at about 12 inches/12 years. I know people who have seen the clown loaches that are about 24" long and about 50 years old at the Capitol Aquarium in Sacramento , California.

 

[David]

Wow. That's amazing. I never knew they could get that big. Obviously they don't have the same opportunities in the wild. i might go there sometime, sounds cool.

 

[chefkeith]

Those big clowns are in a 2000 gallon tank. There is pic's of them at http/loaches.com/


Here's a good clown loach profile-
http/www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16

 

[Gix]

Mine got to 3'' in just a couple of months. I feed them a lot, and with high-protein foods like bloodworm. I think it depends a lot on diet and environment.

 

[David]

Those articles were very useful, thank you very much. Now I know why my big males stripes are greyer in colour than my other 2, and I no longer worry about chasing. It's because he's the dominant one. One question though: how come all of the clowns in the pictures are so fat? It looks like they are overfed. They lack the characteristic flat-bottomed stomach of younger, smaller clowns. Is this a characteristic of older/middle-aged clowns, or is there some other reason?

 

[yhbae]

Don't they become "fatter" as they grow larger, kind of like plecos?

 

[loachy]

If you want to know more about loaches, including great pics of some very large clown loaches (basil the greedy) then follow the link below.

http/www.loaches.com

 

[yhbae]

Nice link - thanks!

 

[chefkeith]

Here are 2 of my favorite clown loach site's.

The loach keeper here has 60 clown loaches ranging from 2"-8". He has some real fat clowns.

http/www.cichlidscene.com/img/loaches/index.html

The next is Bob's loaches, which was already mentioned. His Clowns are famous, I wish there would be Pay-per-View to see Sybil and Basil go at it Live.

http/www.bobd.lunarpages.com/loaches/cind01.html

 

[yhbae]

More nice links! Thanks!

 

[Loach Man]

The ones I see in the LFS are no larger than 1.5 inches. How fast would these guys grow in a year from now? Of course, this will probably depend on many factors including food, space and water change schedule, but assume all are reasonable.

Thanks!

Clows grow really slow, most of the time they don't reach full size, the owner usually kills them off accidentally in some way by then

 

[David]

I find the obese ones with white stripes in their black stripes very unattractive: I hope mine don't get like that. They're damn ugly, don't look like clown loaches at all anymore. I'll make sure not to overfeed, lest that happens.