Panda Garra’s, and clown loaches… too much of a good thing???

[Magnum Man]

Right now I have a tank slowly starting to take shape… it’s actually the 1st tank I restarted, and hasn’t gotten a “theme” yet… right now it has a shoal ( 4 ) clown loaches ( I’ve never had them before ) and they are taking well to the tank, that has had Rainbows in for quite a while… been adding some new Rainbows lately as well…

The clowns almost seem like Panda Garra’s on steroids… I’m wondering about adding some pandas, before the clowns get too big… the clowns are currently 2 - 2.5 inches long… I ended up adding some baby pandas into my Asian tank, with Ton Foils at 8 inches, and that went way better than expected so curious if you guys have mixed pandas and clowns before???

 

[GaryE]

The usual rule is not to duplicate niches - don't create unnecessary competition. So clowns, which get huge but are delicate in their own way, need space and calm. I wouldn't combine the two.

Clown loaches suffer from being so pretty. People buy them small, then don't have them the space they need as they grow. They are heavy bodied, filtration taxing creatures that have very long lifespans, but crowding them really cuts their time short.

 

[Magnum Man]

I was surprised kind of, how “panda like” the clowns were.. I’ve obviously seen them before, but never had them in my tanks to watch… Mrs really likes the personality of the pandas, so I was getting some female pressure to add them, but seeing the clowns are more than just a pretty face, may be good enough???

But seeing the pandas interact with the Hillstream’s, particularly the Vietnamese lizards, which are 4-5 inches right now, and apparently like to play as well, and the other way the pandas have held up to the huge by comparison adult Tin Foils, makes me think they will interact well with the clowns. As those grow… if I chose to add them…

Now that I’m buying from better sellers, I’m hoping I won’t have issues with the rainbows… all the bacterial problems I had with them previously, I was a little afraid of them… but I’m going to try to add a few more to the few I’ve had now, for over a year… if I continue to do that, I may skip trying the pandas in that tank

 

[anewbie]

The panda and clowns are both passive fishes but the clown loaches will be 10x larger eventually and the pure size difference can create issues. The only 'advantage' of panda is they will from time to time suck the glass but even then they risk getting knocked off when the clown surf. I.,e don't do it.

Also the clown prefer warm waters - the warmer the better and that isn't so great for a lot of the other fishes you mention. In my 600 i have 12 clown loaches and some sa cichild and even that is not a great mix mostly because the clowns are active at night but the cichild retire in the plants at the end and that usually works for them. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE how large clowns can get and they are not a fish that will accept much bullying when larger so you do not want anything that will try to push them around. While younger they are of course a lot more forgiving and passive.