would clown loaches be good for...

[shayfish]

I want to get my dad a couple of fish for his tank but I am not sure what exactly would be a good idea. My first idea was clown loaches cause I thought some bottom type fishies would fit in. He has...

33gal tank, some kind of HOB filter (aquaclear I think)
I tested his water when I was housesitting and they were good (0-0-20 or so)
He has 3 big african clawed frogs, 3 gouramis (don't know what kind... one is larger, say 3.5 inches and the other 2 smaller, about 2" or so) and one black lyre-tail mollie.
I don't know what temp he keeps it at, but I will peek next time I'm there
Also, I don't think he's too rigid about tank maintenance and has a tendency to overfeed, so no delicate/sensitive fish will do.

Would clowns be a good choice? I wonder if they might get too big for 33 gal. Any recomendations?

 

[Gloomy]

I have heard clown loaches get anywhere from 8 inches to a foot. Have you seen cory cats yet? There are different types that vary in size. Albino corys seem popular in LFS and get 2-3 inches. They also have neat personalities and if you get 4-6 they don't hide as much.

 

[EXM]

I am housing cory cats right now and they lack large amounts of maintanence and are very hardy. They eat just about anything that reaches the bottom as long as it is edible. So I agree with Gloomy

 

[Cinder]

Clown loaches do get too big for that size tank. They should be in a 120 gln. minimum. It's always great to have someone ask the right questions before buying the fish. I'm concerned about the frogs. They will eat any fish they can catch and fit in their mouths so that limits your choices. I'm thinking in that size tank you might be able to add a school of Barbs. They have a tendency to be more active and aggressive themselves. You might want to research some of the possibilities in that family. You just want to make sure that if you get a schooling fish you get at least six. It is possible though that they would pick on the Gouramis so ... oh, this is hard. I suggest spending some quantity time on the web searching fish that would be compatible with the frogs first and then with the Gouramis. Good luck.

 

[skibar70]

I've had clown loaches for years in a 75 gallon tank and mine were fed very well. They get along well with most fish as long as they have somewhere to hide. Mine never got larger then 4-5 inches. Those were in there for at least 2 years. Maybe in the wild they get that big but I wouldn't worry. They are a fun fish to have. Start with just 2-3 and see how it goes.

 

[shayfish]

I like the idea of cories. They are super cute, especially the pandas which I am looking for for myself right now! BUT... I am a little concerned with getting anything too small, however. The acfs he has are freaking SAVAGES! They ate the other 2 lyre-tails that he got. I never thought that would have happened!
So I would have to be extra careful about something that will be sharing the bottom of the tank with them.

 

[Zagz]

You could get some yoyo loaches, they are great as snail eaters if you have snails and they are quite entertaining. I don't know if anything will get along with his ACF's. I have an ACF that is about 5" and she is in her own tank. Can't trust any fish with her.

 

[EXM]

Yoyo loaches are good at eating snails but aren't very hardy and probably won't be able to tolerate a beating from an ACF. I would recommend the snail dwelling cichlid which only gets about 2-3 inches and can take down giant sized apple snails. They would be able to hold their own against the ACF acting more like a barb than a cichlid. You can keep them in softer environment unless you wish to breed them. Otherwise, that is what I would do.

 

[lovemybarbs]

Apple snails are a really good idea.

I wish I could have one.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I personally wouldn't add any bottom feeders with the ACFs in the tank. When the fish sleep at night they would end up as ACF food....especially small cories. Yoyo loaches may be ok...I still wouldn't trust the ACFs around them though. Any chance he could move the ACFs to their own tank? That would open up more options and give him a chance for some fish bottom feeders. Then he could go with loaches (Yoyo, Polka dot, Zebra, Chain) or a huge group of cories.

I would hate for you to buy a bunch of fish and they end up as ACF food.

 

[crazyred]

I have a dwarf gourami in with my big fat ACF, Kermit, and have had for almost a year and Kermit hasn't bothered him.....but I think he's too wide for Kermit to stuff into his mouth. What ever fish you go with, make sure they are too big to fit in the ACF mouth and have no flowing fins!!! When I put Kermit in with a betta, he grabbed those fins and started stuffing his face. 8O I had to work to free my betta.

 

[shayfish]

Okay, I guess I cant get him any kind of bottom feeder. The gouramis seem to do great with the acfs and for some reason that one mollie has remained unscathed. Maybe I need to find some kind of top-of-the-tank fish. I doubt that the frogs will be getting their own tank anytime soon. I feel a bit bad actually because I got him the frogs thinking they were adfs (before I knew better). That was about 4 or 5 years ago! What will we ever do with these crazy frogs...!!

 

[crazyred]

I don't know, but it's def. a long haul thing because ACF's can live for 15 years. My flame dwarf gourmai added some nice color to the tank....he's flame red with a blue dorsal fin. Kermit managed to eat a crayfish that I had to put in there (he was destroying my plants in my 29). I didn't mean to send my little mudbug to his death, but I underestimated Kermit. You would be totally surprised what those frogs can fit in there mouth. I think he could eat the dwarf gourami, but he's pretty fast and doesn't have any long dangly fins to grab.

I finally heard Kermit sing the other night. I thought it was a cricket and went in search of it.....turned out it was crazy frog. I thought it was a neat sound once I realized it wasn't an icky bug.

 

[shayfish]

Well, we do really like the frogs I just wish that we had known better what we were getting into. They are big and funny but I think I will offer to him to set up another tank for them if he ever tires of them. I couldn't believe it when they ate the mollies. I thought for sure that they were big enough to make it. Its weird that one of them has done so well. She was scared the first few days (duh!) and cowered at the top and we were going to take her back, but then she seemed to settle in and cruises that tank like she owns the place!

I will keep my eyes peeled for big fish with no dangly bits.