Loaches Online Forum

My clowns absolutely LOVE the stack of 2" PVC pipes I have in my tank. They ignore the terracotta pots and slate caves for the most part.

The PVC can be made to look more natural, if that's what you're aiming for.

Very cool!

You might want to put a sponge over the filter inlet to keep it from sucking up the little ones.

Please keep us updated.

I hope you have plans to move him into a bigger tank, dojos get quite large. He should also have some other loaches of his own kind for company, if he doesn't already. As for the bulge, it could be a benign growth or it could be a small pustule (similar to a pimple) that will clear up on its own. I ...

Given the fish load that's already in your tank, I wouldn't recommend much more than your current total of six. One needs to keep in mind that clowns get BIG, and are good eaters. They add significantly to the bio-load. Six is a good number of clowns, but if you can keep your nitrates low and all ot...

Loaches are not algae eaters as a general rule (hillstream loaches possibly excepted). They require a balanced diet of both plant and animal matter. If you are looking for algae control, add a small pleco. Be sure that the species you select will not outgrow your tank. Also, loaches are NOT solitary...

Melanotaenia splendida is the species name. The store sold them to me as "Australian Rainbowfish", which is technically correct but not very specific.

Here's a link for more info about them:

http://rainbowfish.angfaqld.org.au/splendida.htm

My clowns do that twice a day, every day - just before feeding time.

The little beggars...

The weather loaches will be perfectly happy with the currents, they are river fish after all. The golds probably won't be too happy about it, though.

Nevermind, I just figured out that they are harmless detritus worms.

Apparently I am guilty of overfeeding my fish, causing a population explosion among the ever-present worms.

Striata max out at around 4", so a 42 gallon tank should be adequate if it has a large enough footprint (short and wide vs. tall and narrow). However, you'll be somewhat limited when it comes to the total number of fish in the tank, as 6 striatas will already occupy more than half of the theoretical...

Discovered something a bit shocking today when I looked into my aquarium. On the inside of the glass were tiny (less than a millimeter in length), white, spindle-shaped objects, and they were MOVING. Okay, obviously they are worms of some sort, but I have no idea specifically what they are, where th...

I highly recommend rainbowfish (Melanotaenia splendida in my case). I have a group of 6 of them in with my clowns. They work well as dithers, but also have interesting and fun personalities of their own. They don't get too big, usually around 4 inches, and they will generally leave all the other fis...

That looks a heck of a lot better than trying to net the poor creatures, which often ends up in destroyed (or removed) aquascaping and injured fish.

Loaches in general, and clowns especially, are more sensitive to water conditions than most other fish.

Very sorry to hear that you lost a clown. If the tank has been established for 3 years (assuming you haven't added any new fish in that time), it's highly unlikely that your clowns had ich as it has no dormant stage. If I had to guess, I would say that your clowns were stressed out from the temperat...