Tank Mates?

[Goldibug]

I have a 130 gallon, 6 foot long tank. I'm looking into different stocking options and would love some clown loaches. How many adult sized clown loaches would comfortably fit in my tank and could I add any tank mates? What tank mates would you recommend? We were thinking of guppies at first until I read the loaches need power heads. All advice will be appreciated.

[Diana]

Good tank size!
Half a dozen Clown Loaches would work.
I have a 125 gallon with Clown Loaches, Senegal Bichers, Filimentosa Barbs and a few 5-6" cats. I also had some Snakeskin Gouramis in there.
All of these are larger fish, no little schooling fish.
If you start with very young (small) Clown Loaches you could keep smaller fish with them for a few years. When the Clown Loaches get to about 4-5" long you could add Bichers. Bichers are predators and can open their mouths large enough to eat smaller fish including Clown Loaches.

Other good possibilities:
Any of several species of Rainbow Fish. Many Rainbows are from rivers and even the species from calmer water do just fine in faster moving water.
Other Gouramis, as long as there is calm water in some part of the tank. Gouramis are surface fish, and do not care for as much water movement as most Loaches.
Soft water Cichlids, perhaps Firemouth, Festivum or Keyhole. Not the more aggressive species. These also are not as fond of water movement, though.
Mid-sized Barbs, Clown Barbs, for example.
A Bristlenose Pleco is a good choice for algae control.

Remember when choosing tank mates:
Warmer water (upper 70sF to low 80s)
LOTS of water flow. Not quite Hillstream Loach set up, but I have over 10x the tank volume per hour of water movement.
While Clown Loaches do get along pretty well with most other fish, I would not put more bottom oriented fish with them. This is not because they do not get along, but because the tank will only hold just so many fish. If all available bioload is bottom dwelling fish the top part of the tank is empty.

[davo]

Also any of the skirt tetra's, danio's, bleeding hearts-(more mid and top dwellers to fill out the tank as mentioned in other reply)-ask for community tank type fish at the fish store-if the person knows anyway-or look online

[Arden]

I'm acctually doing research on this myself. I have 3 clowns and some other fish in a 55 but planning to upgrade to a 125 and do a Sumatran / Indonesian style Biotope.

The fish I have currently are an international bunch but my goal is to evetually turn over to all natives.

So far I have found

rainbow sharks
chocolate gourami
tiger barbs

all seem to be native

.......any others?

I am debating to what degree I was to stay with authenticity... Although the idea is nice in theory its kind of limiting... still the auqascaping plan is solid.

[Diana]

http://www.fishbase.org/Country/Country ... ountry=360

Aquarium fish from Indonesia.

You will have to sort out what are compatible with your set up. Some are marine fish.

[davo]

I'm acctually doing research on this myself. I have 3 clowns and some other fish in a 55 but planning to upgrade to a 125 and do a Sumatran / Indonesian style Biotope.

The fish I have currently are an international bunch but my goal is to evetually turn over to all natives.

So far I have found

rainbow sharks
chocolate gourami
tiger barbs

all seem to be native

.......any others?

I am debating to what degree I was to stay with authenticity... Although the idea is nice in theory its kind of limiting... still the auqascaping plan is solid.

So your looking for the fish from that area for the theme of the tank? Sorry I missed that point-LoL-I am not sure where the ones I mentioned are from-but they are good fish to fill the middle and top of the tank Yeah I like the aquascaping idea for sure-as I mentioned the Skirt tetras bleeding hearts, red eyes-they are nice fish and are relatively cheap too-I bought 15 of these for $15 at petsmart on sale and couldn't be happier than I am with them-the skirt tetras school very well as do the others-I have black skirts-some people have commented that they look like a type of piranha, but are very gentle fish

[Arden]

Awsome! Thanks for the link.

Yea, I'd like to do all native species in the new tank.

So far is seems that danios, raspora, gourami and barbs generally fit the bill...

my current tank is preidominantly south American fish... hatchets, an angel, tetras.....

It'll be a gradual process. Or I may do one indonisian Biotope with the new tank and a S.American tank with the 55. Although I have no idea where I would put two tanks.

My angel and my oldest clown loach are kind of buddies too... so I don't know how that'll work.... well see though.

[Goldibug]

Could I do 6 clown loaches and __ angelfish fish in my 130? I want bigger sized fish. None of the average tetras, barbs, etc. that you see in smaller tanks. I also don't want a competition of looks between the clowns and other fish. I want the clowns to be the stars of the tank with the other fish contrasting or complimenting the clowns. I thought angels would compliment well since their shape is so different from the clowns and there are so many color choices with them. How many of each would fit in my tank as adults assuming they're compatible with each other?

[DainBramage1991]

If size and compatibility are your driving concerns, I suggest going with rainbows. They get up to 3 - 4" typically, go well with clown loaches, are very pretty, have good personalities, are active in the mid-level of the tank, and are fun to keep. They are shoaling fish, so don't hesitate to get a fair number of them.

I currently have 6 of them in my loach tank, and I couldn't be more pleased with them. I'd actually get more if my tank wasn't already so heavily stocked.

I'm not sure how angels would like the current flow needed for clowns, but I will have to leave that particular subject to others who have more experience with them.

[redshark1]

I've kept my Clown Loaches with many tankmates and the species that have done best with them include Angels and Kissing Gourami.

However, I would add that I would recommend either a single Angel or a single Kisser as I have had lots of aggression when keeping pairs of these species.

When I kept them singly they have been fine (but I have not kept an Angel and a Kisser together).

The Angels wanted the whole tank as their territory when spawning and when not spawning they would sometimes fight.

With the Kissers one often chased the other which really does not look good.

My Clown Loaches did not get on with my Sailfin Plec which was territorial.

I currently have a huge red female Swordtail, a male Blue Gourami, a large Kissing Gourami (cannot determine sex), four bright yellow Bristlenose Catfish and a male Boeseman's Rainbow. All but the Rainbow have been great.

I could not recommend a group of Boeseman's Rainbows as my home-bred females are deadly dull, the males have fought each other until one is left and then the winning male (which measures a huge 6") has picked on my Gouramis (but they have been fine with the Loaches).

[NancyD]

I kept angels with young clown loaches but had to separate them. No aggression but the loaches' nocturnal activity scared the sleeping angels to the point they would jump & hit the tank top.

[andrew45]

The size 130 gallon is very good choice. It provide lot of space to different kind of fishes in the same tank.
As well as it is easy to clean because of its wide size. It provide great chances of growth and breeding to
fish.

[Arden]

I kept an angel pair with clown loaches for over 6 years and never had an issue...

Its often not a recomended combo but definatly doable.

The loaches need lots of hiding places like rocks / caves / driftwood
The angels love to have lots of plants.

I keep a relitively nutral pH. Loads of extra filtration. I have a 175 gallon canister and a 60 gallon HOB for a 125. And I like to keep thetemp in the low 80s.

The fish are healthy, get along well... so far no issues... Its a fairly peaceful tank but with enough iinterest to keep it from being "boreing"

Clowns are social and peace loving as a general rule. Angels are also relitively peaceful, patient and tend to only get agressive and territorial when they feel there mate / family is being threatened.

They are probably my top two favorite fish followed by hatchets... which I also have.

I have a school of 7 hatchetfish and they are so interesting. They also get along very well with angels. The loaches really don't pay attention to them at all... but that's probably largely to do with the fact that they live on opposit tank levels.

The one fish I would not recommend are tiger barbs. They are mean and tend to keep a low level of chaos constantly in your tank. They will pick on other fish. Even ones much bigger than them and especially ones with long fins. I had some for two weeks but got rid of them because they swarmed on an angelfish and beat him so badly that he died the next day.

If you like them they do do ok with clowns but I really would not recomend them.

[Goldibug]

Thanks for all that info! Sadly my 130 is sitting in the garage since it won't fit in our new place. I'm seriously considering selling my 6' kitchen table so I can set it up LoL! I love tiger barbs but am thinking of doing a species only tank in my 29 after my tetras pass. I lost half of them during my move and don't plan on increasing their shoals. They bore the heck out of me haha! I would still love to have angels with clowns so your tips are very much appreciated!