Loaches Online Forum

Hoping someone can advise me.. my favourite fish in the entire universe is a dwarf gold chain loach.. if i could only have one species this would be it .. so you can tell i like them For various reasons i have been without them for several years now but have just upgraded to a new/old tank from ebay. I desperately wanted to get my beloved chains in there.. but the tank came complete with 3 clown loaches. Now i have zero experience with clowns but just read that they grow huge...
So my questions are..
Should i keep the clowns being that the tank is only 1 meter length? they are small at the moment but obviously they will grow.. realistically i wouldnt be able to provide a bigger tank for them. Should i allow someone else to take them? Or will it take so long for them to grow and it's best to cross that bridge when i come to it?
Secondly i know it's probably unlikely but.. can clowns and dwarf loaches co-exist happily in the same tank while the clowns are relatively small? or is it just not a good idea?
I do have a second tank.. same size in another alcove and that has pakistani loach.. i've never tried the pakistanis with dwarf as i always thought the pakistanis were too big and might intimidate the dwarfs?

I'd advise swapping the Clown Loaches when you find your chosen species.

I, on the other hand would recommend the Clown Loaches as the best species I have kept (but not in the small tank obviously).

Pakistani Loaches also get too big for a tank that is only 1m long. Mine were able to eat full grown Neon Tetras when the Loaches were about half grown. I sure would not keep them with smaller fish, even smaller Loaches.