Loaches Online Forum

What are the sizes (total lengths) of the fish?

Clown Loaches reach sexual maturity at 4 inches total length.

Could it be reproductive behaviour?

From what you describe I think it may be wise to separate the fish.

Thanks Nancy, maybe I should enter them in the Kentucky Derby! I bought them throughout the month of January 1995. I was going to buy the whole shoal straight after the New Year holiday from the first LFS I ever visited. Here they presented and supplied high quality fish. I rang in advance to check ...

Wow! My six Clown Loaches have made it to 30 years of age! I joined Loaches Online Forum on Dec 26, 2010 and back then I didn't know if my Clown Loaches would even make it to 20 years of age as one of the established members here lost their old Clown Loach which was 19 years of age. But they did and...

I hope so.

Hi there. I guess you could send a private message to the administrator, Shafer, as detailed under the announcements at the top of the Loach Forum home page. I believe that the person who used to do this work left this forum in 2012. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear but at least somebody ev...

I appreciate your thanks, one is acknowledged only rarely. You do not need to go to the trouble of posting a picture for me. I have a serviceable imagination. I don't value fish with unusual patterns more highly. I spend more time on Clown Loach fanatics where fish with unusual patterns ARE very muc...

To post a picture on this old and relatively unfrequented forum I believe you must host your picture on a service such as Imgur, then paste the link(BBcode) to the picture in your post. I just confirmed it is still working by posting a picture I collected from the internet (so not mine and I do not ...

To my surprise all six that I started with are still with me. I was told they would live ten years. I don't consider myself expert or especially gifted, but I do put living things first before other activities and I am consistent. I still have the 70s tank and equipment I started with like undergrav...

My Clown Loaches did not have a previous owner.

I discussed my Clowns with you in 2011 on this forum.

No matter, if you have a fish from 1994 then you have the oldest fish I know about. I bought mine in Jan 1995.

Regarding my first point. Nitrates are produced continuously by the filter and pumped directly into the aquarium water via the filter outlet. Therefore nitrates in the aquarium water will be above zero all of the time even with growing plants present. The nitrates leave the filter and have to circul...

I have two comments to make.

Nitrates are being produced. Therefore Nitrate cannot be zero. Perhaps you do not know how to test properly or your test is not detecting it.

Also, to not bother testing is to be complacent. Testing is done to pick up on problems before they affect your fish.

How do you explain the absence of nitrates?

A cycled aquarium with live fish present will be producing nitrates.

This is the basics of fishkeeping as I understand it.

Something is wrong if nitrates are zero.

There should always be nitrates in a cycled tank.

In the aquarium fish will die when water quality deteriorates. Water quality deteriorates when nitrates and/or ammonia are too high. Nitrates are too high when too much food is being added. Too much food is added when there are too many fish to feed. You have all the tools to manage this. You should...