hello from a new loach owner

[michael]

Howdy all,

I've been lurking for a month or so and thought it time to say hello.

I'm fairly new to loaches, but they are my favorite fish by far after only a couple of months. Well, they we my favorites within a day or so, but we've had them for a couple of months. The information you've all provided and contributed has been very helpful and my wet pets have all benefited from it a great deal.

At the moment I have 5 young clowns housed with six medium sized silver dollar tetras(3 inches on a side), a gold nugget pleco, and 3 golden gouramis(a 3-spot variation) in a 90 gallon tank. This tank is only about 3-4 months old, but the filterbox had been installed on my 55 gallon a few weeks ahead of time (thus cycling seemed to go pretty quick). The silver dollar tetras were the cycle fish and despite their tendency to defoliate the tank within hours, they'll be permanent residents. The clowns were added after about 5 weeks (having had very stable water parameters for a couple of those weeks) and have done pretty well.

There was an ich issue once the weather began to change and temperatures varied rapidly from day to day. But copper med doses and increased oxygen seem to have worked and everyone is happy once again. (btw ~ that was 2 doses at 1/2 strength each day, once in the morning, once at night coupled with two additional power heads to stir up the water even more than normal). When they were ill, the loaches would hide most of the day, only coming out for food. Now they're back to their normal loachy behavior playing chase through the tank, begging for food, and sleeping in very odd places/positions. The most unusual is when they cluster on one of the filter intakes (yes, all 5 have put themselves vertically on the intake mesh. They would come off it at will, so I don't think they were stuck, they just seemed to enjoy sitting on it. I had to stick my fingers on the intake to convince myself the water flow wasn't sufficient to harm them).

At the moment the clowns are about 3 inches in length. Once they get big enough they'll be moved to a larger aquarium so they can really grow. Thankfully my wife and I own a house and have the perfect room to install a very large tank once the time is right.

I think I've managed to get around the plant destruction with hornwort and anubias. The silverdollars will still graze on both. However, the plants seem to grow fast enough, and be relatively unpalatable. The loaches leave the plants alone (for now). Right now the favorite food of everyone seems to be leaves of romaine lettuce. The tank can devour a leaf (entirely) in a little less than an hour. The loaches participate in the feeding, often resting on the leaf as they eat holes in it. The silver dollars eat from the edges, inward. So far this seems to be the only food they consistently "click" for. Blood worms, brine shrimp, zucchini, generic tetra flakes, and pellets (both veggie and onmivore) all seem to be accepted greedily, but lettuce is the food of choice.

So now for a few questions. Given a good tank, feeding, and clean water, how quickly will the little clowns grow? And at what point should they be moved to a larger tank (preferably longer if I understand correctly)?

How much feeding is enough? I'm used to feeding only smaller fishes and have been trying to adopt that for the bigger fish. So a small meal in the morning (couple of pinches of flakes or pellets), some veggies mid-day (consumed in less than an hour), and another small meal once the lights are out at night. All the food appears to be consumed quickly (no visible chunks left over to decay). Both NH3 and NO2 seem undetectable. But I'm still not sure about too little vs. too much food. I want them to grow, but don't want to do something stupid. (Nitrate btw is usually only up to around 10ppm before the weekly water change puts it back down to 5. I suppose that's the plants helping).

I've been thinking off adding a few more young fish to the tank to help fill it out a bit more. That would be with the understanding of moving the loaches once they're larger of course. But for now I've been thinking of just adding 2-4 more silver dollars and another small clown or two. I'd be open for suggestions for other fish. Bosemani rainbow fish seem quite beautiful, but I'm not yet sure if they appreciate the same water conditions.

(currently the 5 clowns, 6 silver dollars, 3 gouramis, and pleco, all young).

thanks again,

Michael

[starsplitter7]

Welcome. So glad you have joined us.

You'll need to wait for the more experienced to answer your questions.

Just wanted to say hello!

[chefkeith]

The clowns might grow about an inch per year if they haven't been stunted. Unfortunately, stunted clowns won't grow much more than 4".

Boesmani do well in a loach tank. They like the extra water flow and do well with the higher temps. Mine are breeding like crazy. Started with 10, but have around 30 now.

[FishyLady]

Hi,
I am new here as well!! and I too have only just started keeping clown loaches, they are brilliant aren't they? just one question, how do you keep the romaine lettuce in place? I have a veggie clip but am not sure if the loaches will feed from the lettuce if it is stuck on the side.

Val

[michael]

I usually break the "spine" of the lettuce leaf so it can go out sideways. You can also try placing it an angle to the water flow in the tank. Those usually work for me. And unlike most other veggies which I tend to cook first in hot water, the lettuce seems most appealing when raw. The loaches will rest on the leaf if at all possible and eat little holes through it while the other fish eat from the edge.

The original purpose of the lettuce wasn't to feed the loaches, but rather to give the silver dollar tetras something to work on other than the plants. Oddly enough the tetras have stopped eating the anachris and are now consuming hornwort. I suppose my solace here is that we have a 55gallon community aquarium that's heavily planted. As things need to be pruned regularly, I have a steady supply of plants for them to destroy. heh

Now I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to distract the silverdollars with one kind of food and feed the loaches something else.

Michael

[mickthefish]

hello Michael, good name dat.
i'm sure your always going to have trouble with your silver dollars and plants, but they are a beautiful fish all the same.
try clumps of javafern dotted around your tank as it's not a nice plant to eat, i have a friend with a large shoal of them and know he feeds a full lettuce to his shoal and it's gone in no time.
have you thought abouyt a nice group of loaches for the lower part of your tank like N masyae, they are an inoffensive species that would go well with your clowns.

mick / Michael
i've got used to people calling me mick now, only a hand full os peeps call me by my proper name.

[BotiaMaximus]

Bosemani Rainbows as well as Australian Rainbows and Turquoise Rainbows all do well in a wide range of water conditions and are very hardy fish. They go very well with Clowns. I have all three of those types of Rainbow fish in with my Clowns, Striata and YoYo Loaches and they do great together.

Rainbows also like to be kept in groups, 5 or more. They will school higher up in your tank than the Clowns and fill out your tank nicely. They are beautiful fish and easy to care for. They also like the extra current for a Loach tank and will play in it along with the Loaches.

Set your water conditions for the Loaches and the Rainbows will do fine.

* Rainbows don't show their colors all that well at the Pet Store especially if they are young, but once you get them home and they settle in their colors will come right out.