Loaches Online Forum

what do you think?
I've had tiger barbs but for some reason I haven't had good luck with those. What is your favourite?

avee wrote:what do you think?
I've had tiger barbs but for some reason I haven't had good luck with those. What is your favourite?

Did you have a big group of Tiger Barbs or a small group?

I am still learning about compatibility, but it may help others to know more about your tank. For example:
Size of tank?
How long has it been established?
Does it have plants, hiding places, . . . Free swimming space?
How many Clown loaches? How big are they? How long have you had them?
Pictures are great.

Hello avee,

I always have redtailled shark with my clown loachs every tank I have for last 25 years. They interact very well.

Perhaps you can consider Red Line Torpedo Barbs (Puntius Denisonii) - i have a shoal of about 20 of them (2 - 5 inch) and they do very well with my CLs. They are beautiful and are interesting because they are quite active at all levels of the tank.

I tend to stock a tank with fish at each level.
Clowns = bottom half, so I look for mid to upper level fish.
I also look for different shapes and colors. TB and CL are too similar in color.

Specifically for Clowns I will look for fish that are compatible with a decent amount of water movement and the warmth.

When my 125 is up and running it will have:
Clown Loaches
Black Ghost Knife
Spanner Barbs
Striped Barbs
A Pleco that definitely isn't a Common, probably isn't a Gibby, but looks a bit like one.
Hemiodus gracilis
Siamese Algae Eaters.
Probably some more, but these are all the "Tankbusters" I have. With the exception of the BGK I expect that they will all fit in that tank for the rest of their lives. The BGK is already about 7-8" long. I understand they get a lot bigger, but are not very active. Mine is not, he (she?) has his cave, and is happy. I have no idea how the clowns and the BGK will react to each other.

I had 8 clowns in my 500 L tank with several other fishes - gouramies, tiger barbs, rosy barbs. I introduced couple of new fish recently and lost all my clowns due to ich (or velvet or sth, I don't know.) Other fishes survived, but I am going to give them away and start over with a big group of loaches (ca 20). And we even built them flow.
My loaches were very active, they were always out and about at daytime and went to sleep at night. Maybe they like to have other fish around to become bolder? I have planted tank with several hiding places.

I have rainbows they are very colorfull and have no problem with the current running through the tank. I had a pair of Rams but moved them to a breeding tank.

thanks, Geaston, but what sort of rainbows?

most loaches tend to like other fish to make them feel safe.

my favourite is rasboras. they dont always look their best in the shops, but have beautifull irridenscent colours when they settle in to a nice tank. they are no trouble and not nippy like the tiger barbs can be. other barbs are also good choices.

http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/ab_i ... pefisk.htm

this site is good for having lots of photos of different fish for inspiration, then you can do further research to check temperament, water requirements etc.

at least you have a nice size tank so you could have a small school of some of the larger rasboras or barbs