Clown loach questions

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

bosk1

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
751
Location
Sacramento, CA
I've got a couple of questions about clown loaches. First, some background about my tank. I have a 55 gal., and plan to have about 6 gouramis (2 each of gold, blue, pearl). I also want to have a few clown loaches to populate the bottom of the tank. (I say "plan" because I just got the tank, and am cycling it. It's empty so far)

First question: After wandering the threads on this site and checking some other site, I have discovered that yo yo loaches are amazingly cool, so now I'm thinking about getting a couple of those. Will they likely school with the clown loaches, or do they stick with their own kind? I ask because, if they will all hang out together, I am likely to go with only a pair of clown loaches instead of the 4 or so I was originally planning.

Second: How about rams? There is a tank of gold rams at my lfs that are absolutely stunning. Here is my only concern. Rams, if I recall, are a little timid and also hang out at the bottom of the tank. Although fishprofiles.com says the clown loaches are compatible with rams, I am just concerned that the loaches will stress out the rams since they are such active fish. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance. I am having so much fun learning about my refound hobby! How cool will it be when I actually get some fish?! lol!
 
...Oh, and yes, I know clown loaches can get BIG! I would like to buy them very small, and then just plan to add a bigger tank by the time they outgrow the 55. It's sort of a dilemma in that, if I just got a pair, they would probably be okay in the 55 for quite a long time, but they don't seem to be nearly as happy (or as fun!) in pairs.
 
If you like the clowns go for it. They do best in groups of 3 or more and are very social with each other. If you buy small ones it will be a long time before they outgrow that tank.

Mine get very active at feeding time. They don't bother any of my other fish including dwarf cichlids, tetras and discus. They're great community tank citizens. JMO
 
I have an idea...

why don't you forget the idea about the clown loaches.
and just buy a school of Yo-yo loaches ???

so instead of 2 clown loaches and 3 yo-yo loaches...
just buy 6 yo-yo loaches??

that would be my choice.
 
Check out Botia Striata and Botia Kubotai. They stay smaller and look great and are active. You could keep 6 in a 55 for life.
 
go ahead and get a school of at least 4 of the clown loaches... I love my clown loaches! but i also plan on getting some other types of loaches as well.
 
If it's not nice to as another question here, I can make my own thread. :)

I have one clown loach (I originally had 3, but 2 of them died very early on) that I've had for at least a year and a half, maybe even 2 years. He's about 4 inches long right now. If I bought 2 more and introduced them now, would they get beat up? The loaches I find at the LFS are about 2 inches or smaller. I don't know how aggressive they get as they get older.

Thanks. :)

-j
 
By all means get 2 more smaller ones. Your big guy will love the company. :wink:
 
Clown loaches love company and they are peaceful. IMO they are some of the most entertaining fish you can get. I also have yoyo loaches in another tank. I love them all!
 
Zagz said:
Clown loaches love company and they are peaceful. IMO they are some of the most entertaining fish you can get. I also have yoyo loaches in another tank. I love them all!

That's why I want some. But in my recent research, I have heard similar things about the yo-yos. Behaviorally, how are they different?
 
i have both clown loaches (4) and yoyo loaches (4) in my tank. IME, they don't school at all. the clowns are somewhat reclusive now--they are about 4-5" now. they were a lot more active when they were babies. the older yoyo also hides, but not as much. the 3 small yoyos (1.5") are TOTALLY cute! always runnning around the tank, nosing into the gravel. i notice that my clowns come out a lot after a water change, when stuff gets stirred up, and at feeding time (of course). they are BOTH beautiful loaches, and i highly recommend them. i also have 3 botia kubotai which are absolutely gorgeous and quite active. can you tell i like loaches? (you should see my plecos;)) it's taken a little under a year for the clowns to get as big as they did, so you'll have some time before you have to move them (i have them in a 125g).

i'd say go for both. you can never have too many loaches!
 
I might go with both...I'm just not sure. I don't want to over stock, and I'm going to do my best to be disciplined about it. ...at least until full-blown mts kicks in. :D
 
Back
Top Bottom