Loaches Online Forum

Hi!
I have finally gotten hold of a 720l tank for my clowns The plan is to expand the group to approx 20-30 clowns. This will primarily be a clown tank but I would like to have some catfish aswell. Initially I thought about ancistrus sp but I have also thought about Borneo suckers. Half the tank (1 meter) wil have Martins river manifold-setup, so I imagine the circulation will be ok for Borneo suckers. However I have absolutely no experience with these fish. Is there a species you could recommend for a clown tank? alternatively I have thought about a large group of Kuhliis with the clowns..
Any input is appreciated.

Secondly: Since I have two available tanks now (325l + 300l) I would like to re-organize my other Loaches. My yo-yo`s have had too small a tank unfortunately, so they will get the 325l. My histies and Polka-dots will get the 300l. But what with the dwarfs? My experience has actually been that they can be quite feisty little things, despite theyre size. Especially towards the histys and clowns. So I`m actually wondering about putting them with the yo-yo`s. I know this potentially could cause a problem, but I would like some input from you people. Dwarfs with yo-yo`s or not?

Kind regards
Marius

Great! A really nice size tank!
20-30 sounds like quite a lot, even in this large a tank, but my largest tank is only half this size.
Cats such as Ancistrus would work, you could also try Synodontis eupterus Some of the other oddball Loricariads might work, too. Royal Pleco (Panaque nigrolineatus), for example. I have a Pleco of some sort, sold as a Common, but it is not, and a Bristlenose Pleco (Ancistrus sp.) in this tank. I should remove one, though, there is not enough food (algae) for them both.
Clowns prefer much warmer water than the various Hillstream species. I have seen Borneosuckers post about water conditions where these fish live, and it does seem they handle warmer tanks at least part of the time. My young Clowns have fun surfing the fast water flow, too.
Other fish in my Clown tank: Polypterus senegalensis, Trichogaster pectoralis, and Apteronotus albifrons Smaller fish do not last in this tank, the Bichers are quite the predator. There is 1 Discus. Rescued from a friend who said not to put him with other Discus, too aggressive. This guy travels pretty much the whole tank, just stays out of the way of the outlets of the power heads.

The other two tanks are not too small, either, for most of the Loaches. Good to move the Clowns out, though.
What species of Dwarfs? Y. sidthimunki? One of the Hillstream types? I had Yoyos (and not adults yet) eat Neon Tetras, so I know they can eat smaller fish. I would not trust them with fish smaller than 25% of their size.

Hi Diana!
Thanks for the input. The only thing I`m sure about is that no discus will ever come into my tanks I don`t like them, and I don`t think they`ll appreciate the quite strong current. But I`ll check out all the others

I ment sids when I wrote dwarfs. Re the amount of Clowns I see youre point, but I think I`ll have a go. In this tank there is obviously no danger of stunting and as we know: the more clowns, the merrier

BTW: the dimensions of the tank are 2 meters long, 60 cm high, 60 cm deep. The filtration will be quite big. The entire back covered with blue spunge behind the background, Am-Top 3338 (7,5l filled with ehfisubstrate) + the sponges on the river manifold design.

Marius

Variation on the river tank intake end: Put a sponge over a large area of one end, and intakes for the power heads hidden behind the sheet of sponge.
Could probably decorate the sponge to look like rocks and not block off too much of it, especially if the sponge was black to start with.