Loaches Online Forum

So I went to take some pics today... didn't get much... Here's a couple loaches (yoyo + clown) chillin in their little hidey-cave:




And heres one that I took from across the room w/my zoom... turned out kinda neat looking, and I set the full-res version as my desktop background.






And also, a little story...


My redtail shark (The Shark) used to be vicious. He would chase anything that moved. After several months of him becoming more and more aggressive in my old 40g tank, I got him his very own 20g-long. He no longer had any other fish to chase, but he just sorta sat around all the time, and stopped eating very much. He remained healthy, however.

Eventually I got this nice new 75g tank for my loaches and I figured I would give him a shot at coexisting...

The first few days he was irritable, but eventually became a wonderful citizen of this tank! He's been in there for several months now and he is friendly with all the other fish. Very rarely do I see any aggressiveness.

IN FACT, the shark now lives with my largest clown loach. They share a PVC pipe together, and are always in there. I think my shark even thinks he is a loach now, because I see him laying on the gravel, even caught him laying on his side a couple of times! Crazy!!

Did my shark learn this behaviour from his loach friends?

Here is a picture of my shark "defending" his loach friend and their pvc pipe when I was trying to get a picture of the big clown for possible disease diagnosis (you'll be happy to know everyone in the tank is very healthy and it is sparkly clean):





And for a collage of slightly better pics of The Shark...

Wonderful pictures Pedzola! Thanks for sharing them. I like the one with your red shark and the clown loach inside the PVC tube. How big is your clown loach? How long have you had the clown and the red shark?

I got my first 3 clown loaches around the same time I found The Shark.

About 2 - 2.5 years ago?

All 4 were very tiny when I got them. The largest clown is maybe 5 inches... the shark is a little longer, maybe 6 inches. I can't say I've ever held a ruler up to them tho, so thats just a guess. =)

The other 2 clowns + 3 newer ones are all around 3-4 inches. The final clown (7 total) is a runt and about 2".


It's hard to get pics of the clowns, 5 out of 7 only come out at night. Of the other 2, the runty guy is all over the place 24/7, and the last clown thinks he is a tiger barb. He is always schooling w/the barbs.

The big guy stays in the pvc pipe all day.

Nice! Impressive looking Epalzeorhynchos bicolor.

AWwwwwww....I had a similar experience, but a bit in reverse.

I got my original 4 Clowns and "Jaws" on the same day. They lived in complete harmony in an 80g for about 2 years. I swear, Jaws thought she was a Clown Loach, too Played with them, did the Loachey Dance, and everything. Hardly ever off on her own, prefered the Clowns company it seemed.

Then I added 2 large SAE's (Siamese Algea Eaters), from another tank. Jaws turned into a KILLER She would give the SAE's absolutely NO peace. They couldn't show their little noses without Jaws attacking. They hid for almost 2 months. I ended up removing Jaws, but I was not at all happy about it But Harmony reigned once again, so I guess for the best....plus I needed the extra Algea Eaters in the 80g

I thought the name was Labeo Bicolor? Never heard that other one. But it is longer and harder to say so it's probably the right name.... lol.

Mamaschild - thats too bad about your shark. He is my favorite fish. The loaches are pretty cool, but the shark is definitely the most interactive. When I come near the tank he always swims out front to say hi.

Not only that but he is simply impressive to look at. He's the biggest fish in the tank and jet black / bright red!






Although, I do love my yoyo loaches... these guys are always out swimmin around and doin loachy stuff...




(I have 3 yoyos)

Lovely pics mate, they all look in mint con. I've also got a RTS with my clowns, he's grown about half an inch since i've him same with the clowns.

That is a nice setup tho. the black background sets the tank off a treat. i was thinking of a blue background but now i've seens yours i dont know which would look better?

I had a blue background in my old 40g tank. I like the black way better. It's just a glass tank that I used a couple layers of acrylic paint on the back of it.

Water was a lil cloudy in these pics but you get the idea...




Left side:


Right side:

I used to have a bicolor like that one with my loaches. He did not last too long after they grew close to his size. He could not tolerate their playfull "dancing" especially form the yoyos. They also nibbled at his tail then darted away. During lunch, they would dominate him and peck at him (the modesta did most here). He was not too pleased about that. Soon shark got stressed and hardly ate and eventually went crazy. He started fliping out, he would do all sorts of crazy twist, rolls and head to tail spins like he was fighting another shark, only there were no other fish fighting with him. he died after about a few weeks.

Your Bicolar is beautifull indeed!

Well I hope that doesn't happen. :X

Right now he is really chill. He spends a lot of the time in the pipe or a cave w/the loaches. The rest of the time he is usually floating around the tank sucking algae off the decor.

The other fish never bother him at all. :X

I guess I'll have to keep a careful eye on the tank in the next couple years as the clowns start to surpass him in size.

Thanks for the heads up.

your pictures are great. it was so good to see a bicolour with such good colours

the yoyos look like proper cheeky chaps too. they are great fun fish.

i hope they still get on ok in the future