*sigh* my wife...

[mkoff32]

My wife is finally on board with the 90 gallon tank I want and we even went and she helped pick it out. I showed her clown loaches and she thought they looked pretty cool... so I was 2 for 2. When she asked what else we could put in there... she hated everything I showed her because it wasn't "colorful" enough. She spent the rest of the time on the saltwater side asking if any of that stuff could go in with the clown loaches. Talk about frustrating. The only other freshwater stuff she liked were some of the cichlids. My question is this... what kinds of cichlids are safe to keep with clowns, if any? Also if there are any other brightly colored, cool looking freshwater fish you can think of... please share!

[Diana]

Most Cichlids are pretty aggressive about defending a bottom territory. The few that are not, are not a good match for Clown Loaches. I have Discus with my Clowns, but that is going to change; Not enough water movement for the Clowns, or too much for the Discus. They do like the same water, though, warm, low pH, soft...

The most colorful Cichlids are usually the African Rift Lake fish. The water that these fish thrive in is hard, alkaline water. Also not a good mix with Clown Loaches.

Look at:
Congo Tetras
Some Rasboras (the larger species)
Barbs (lots of pics about Barbs in the Freshwater Forum here.) Not tiger Barbs.

[mkoff32]

The guy at the store told me that they had a snail issue in their african cichlid tank and he put clowns in there without any issue. But I would imagine after a while it would have been a problem. Thanks for your suggestions!

[DirtyBlackSocks]

You won't find them in your average LFS but anything out of the apistogramma species of dwarf cichlids and/or blue ram cichlids are both very colorful and too small to pick on clown loach, although you will see quite a bit of action out of the two!

http://www.southernapistos.com has a good stock list to get an idea of what they all can look like.

You may be able to find the more common fish such as blue ram, bolivian ram, apistogramma agasizzi, apistogramma cauctatoides...but the more rare guys generally need to be shipped from specialty dealers such as Mike.

If you do decide to ship some out, give Mike Jacob's a call, I've gone through him in the past and he's an excellent guy. Would highly recommend him.

Also, if you're having trouble deciding based on a picture alone and can't find your fish locally. Try checking out Youtube.com and search for the fish on there.

Best of luck!

[TammyLiz]

Well, there's nothing wrong with a saltwater setup but thats a whole new game!

If you're looking for something colorful to go with clowns check out barbs or rainbows.

[mkoff32]

I know there is nothing wrong with saltwater... the fish are beautiful. But I've got my heart set on clowns... and besides... I can't justify spending anywhere from 100-300 dollars on a fish for a saltwater tank.

[kimura]

i second barbs and rainbows. they are beautiful and active with good personalities to match. you can regularly find australian rainbows at petsmart for 1.99. they dont look like much when small but in a nice planted tank they glow like a neon sign. dwarf rainbows, black ruby barbs amd odessa barbs are beautiful choices also.

[MTS]

Check out rainbow fish. There are many varieties and they are colorful. It might be hard to convince the wife because they often don't look as good at the fish store as they do when you take them home. Show her some pictures on the net and she will be impressed with the colors. http://members.optushome.com.au/chelmon/Melano.htm

I have angelfish with my clown loaches. The clowns would probably prefer more current but I don't think they need current as much as the hillstream loaches. The combination seems to be working out very well. The angels are like dithers for them and the clowns are out most of the time.

[crazy loaches]

MTS brings up a point I was going to make - fishes colors wont be as brilliant at the lfs anyhow... especially things like rainbows or perhaps congo tetras. Roseline sharks (puntius denisoni) look nice and need a bigger tank, also I think pearl gouramis (Trichogaster leerii) - especially the male - look stunning and are cheap. I have had a couple apistos in my tank in the past and never saw any fighting. For a smaller schooling fish you may want to look at cardinal tetras or rummynose, they look nice in large groups (dozen or couple dozen). Hmmm, I seem to be rattling off my stocking list for my 240g minus the loaches...

[helen nightingale]

apisogramma are beautifull little fish, but the current that a clown loach needs will be too much for them, i am afreaid. apistogramma tend to originate from very calm waters that can dry up into puddles in the dry season, so the fish are not used to lots of water movement. their habitats are so different to that of most loaches

i liked MTS's idea of showing your wife photos on the internet. there are wonderfull photos here and elsewhere that do those dull fish in the shops justice

[Mike Lang]

I can appreciate your frustration. I set up a 75 gallon tank a year ago for CATFISH, which of course hide much of the time. My wife insisted on a school of guppies for some activity and color.....NOT what I had in mind. Although, the guppies are pretty and add very little to the bio-load of the tank, so I guess it's not all bad.....but they wouldn't have been my first-second-or third choice!! haha Maintaining harmony in the home is more important than having guppies in my catfish tank....I guess.

[mistergreen]

don't forget tetras like rummy nose, neon, and cardinals.

They're small compared to clowns but they're colorful and are good tank mates.

[mkoff32]

How do red tailed sharks and clowns usually get along?

[geaston]

I have rainbows with my clowns ,and 2 pairs of blue Rams plenty of color and the rainbows tend to swim into the current and enjoy it .

[mkoff32]

What size is your tank geaston?