Clown loaches pregnant??

[Clifford_69]

I have 3 small clown loaches and am wondering if these 2 are pregnant?

2 of them have these bellies, slightly swollen and a blackish colour. And one of them does not have it at all.



Thanks

 

[Clifford_69]

Or is it just full bellies from eating?? I know they lay eggs, just wondering why 2 have it and one doesn't

 

[Keke89]

Ag shame Clifford, they are still babies.
They look really healthy, definitely full tummies. Mine does the same after eating. Looking good

 

[Clifford_69]

Ok that's good, wasn't ready for babies swimming around! Lol

Are they slow growers the clown loaches?

 

[Macdaddydaze]

They are very slow growing and grow at a rate.of about an inch and a half give our take a year

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[J.Mcpeak]

Are they even big enough? I think clowns reach sexual maturity at about 15cm/6inch. So far that's taken mine up to 8 years (I've had the oldest since may 2006, so it is possibly 10+ I think because it was a good size at purchase maybe 3-4 inch)

They grow quite fast at a young age, past 4inch, they slow down loads! Maybe 1/2" a year.

My biggest is at or around 17cm about 7 1/2"
https://www.flickr.com/photos/92891884@N04/13254225313/

(Tank bred clowns is a lucky thing indeed, very few manage it naturally, most of the actual activity is speculation really with a few varied ideas of how when and why they do the dance)

 

[mattcham]

Yeah the farm bred clowns from Asia/China are typically produced artificially by hormone injection. I believe that's where most of the pet store clowns come from.

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[J.Mcpeak]

As far as I know, Asian clowns for the aquarium trade (Sumatra and Borneo) are caught in bamboo tubes.

http://breteschethibault.free.fr/ar...uarium fish trade and conservation issues.pdf

This paper is old, methods may have changed.