Loaches Online Forum

Dear All,

At the risk of starting a contoversy, I would like to suggest that one does not have to have caves and pipes or other hiding places for new Clown Loaches that one introduce into a new tank.

I noticed a lot of people complaining that their new acquisitions (Clown Loaches) are always in hiding and they almost never get to see them. That was my experience as well, when I first started out to keep CLs. I have since done away with such hiding places and my CLs have been doing fine. My own experience is that one should acquire at least a small group of them and they will be fine even without any hiding place. Even with a big shoal of them, there will always be some (the minority of them) which will prefer to stay in hiding if there is any cave, pipe, bamboo pieces, or whatever and they can stay in hiding for months.

Here in Singapore, huge shoals of them are kept in concrete tanks of about 3ftx6ft (with about 12" deep water) for weeks on end before they are packed and shipped overseas - a lot of them ending in your parts of the pond.

I have been keeping CLs for 15 years and personally prefer to keep a big group of them (I have 18 pieces of 4" to 11.5" in a 1200 litre (84" x 30" x 30" tank) and it fun to see them swim around (through all stratas of the tank) during feeding time or just lying around at rest.

My tank is laid with an undergravel filtration set up (with 2 x 1500l/hr power heads, discharging water and air bubbles at about 2" below the surface of the water ) lined with coral chips and topped with a layer of pebbles 2" - 5" diameter; to prevent the big CLs from digging up the coral chips and really "stir up the s@#t"; 4 driftwood pieces complete the "decor" of the tank. In addition, I have an overhead filter system with a 3000l/hr pump, an Eheim Profession II external filter. Over and above that, I have 2x 2600l/hr power filters to push the water at about 8" above the pebbles to give it a "River Tank" effect.
I do an approx. 25% water change every month.

I am no expert and am just sharing my experience with any one who cares to read this.

Best Regards,

What is the kH, gH, Nitrate, and TDS of this tank?

I question the water quality here because of the coral substrate, the undergravel filter, and the 25% monthly water changes.

Seconded.

Photos please!

I myself have 10 8-11 inch clowns(just bought a couple) and i have to say, the biggest calming factor is.....themselves... when i first bought my solitary 11 inch clown and mix him up with some small ones, 5-6 inches...it took quite a while for him to eat..

However, as i noticed when i added more large ones, these new ones acclimate really well and started eating within 1 hour of introduction.(with the large one living in there).

Just my opinion..maybe it may vary from fish to fish.

Dear Mark and Keith?,

Sorry but i do not monitor water parameters - never did. I am kind of a "play-by-ear" type fishkeeper and never pretend to be an expert. I just wanted to give my two-cent worth on CLs and hiding places.

Having said that, I have set up this 1200L tank with big coral chips years ago because I find that finer gravels were not able to draw down all the muck and leave most on the surface. After a few years and when my 11.5" CL started digging the coral chips for food and really stirred things up; I added the pebbles: first with 2"-3" which he/she still threw around quite easily. Hence, I added 4"-5" pebbles.
I do not pretend to suggest that this is a good set up. Am just relating how my tank is what it is today.

In this 1200L tank, I have kept Pachu, Tin Foil Barb, Tapon, Mono, Finger fish, Scat, etc over the years and always with a group of Clown Loaches.

These other fishes grew from juveniles (2"-3") to 15"(Pacu), 10" (Tin Foil Barb), 16" (Tapon), 6" (Mono and Finger Fish), 8" (Scat) - then I gave them away, sell them off or released into our local ponds (tinfoil barbs). The Pacus and Tapons gave me the most problem since they attacked food quite vigorously and there is alot of splashing around at feed time. The Pacus chewed on the air tubes as well!

The CLs grew from 1"-2" to 5"-8". The bigger CLs grew very minimally in length but quite a bit in depth/girth, but not anything like Marge though.

Besides this 1200L tank, i have:
1 x 300L tank for Tanganyika Cichlids
1 x 120L tank for Discus
2 x 120L tank for plants, Cardinals, Rummy Nose, Glass Catfish, Neons, Rose Loach
1 x 8 tonne outdoor pond for 10 x Koi (45bu - 75bu) show grade* - half of these I grew from 10/15cm.
* My 55 bu Kujaku won 1st in Class at the Singapore Koi Show last year (when it was 45 bu).

Again, sorry I can't give you the water parameters of my tanks.

Finnatic,

impressive amount of tanks. ^_^
If you want to give water monitoring a try I can recommend 5-in-1 sticks like these: http://www.jbl.de/factmanager/frame_pag ... e=2&Id=102

Cheap, easy to use and very effective.

-Connor

Posting these photo on behalf of Finnatic.