Clown Loach advice-not a complete newbie

celticchrys · Post by **celticchrys** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:12 pm

Hello everyone,
I have two clown loaches that I have had now for about 5 or 6 years. ( began with 3, but one was the victim of a heater malfunction some years ago. The two remaining grew very quickly at first, and have since only grown very slowly. They began in a 29 gallon tank(at the time, I was assured this was large enough by members of the old LOL forum), and have now been in an All-Glass Aquarium 38 gallon tank for several years. This is a planted aquarium with Java Fern, Crypts, and Wisteria. There are also some Cherry Barbs(6) and Rasboras(3).
Clowns being clowns, they hide for much of the day. In an effort to encourage them to come out and play more, I've added more caves to the tank, although the old cave is still "home base." I am contemplating adding blue LED moonlights to the tank so I can see them at night. I have also been pondering adding a third clown, since I know that they feel more secure in groups.
Now, I know that I will eventually have to get a larger tank and it is only a matter of time, but I would ideally need to wait a while to do this, possibly a year or two. Would I be totally crazy to add a third clown loach to this aquarium? If I did, I would consider it full up, with no further residents to be added. It seems that 5 years ago, members of this board would have said yes, and now many would say no.
I've also been trying to introduce new foods, but mine steadfastly refuse to eat anything but Hikari wafers or Tetra tablets. I'd love suggestions to tempt them.
Oh yes! The larger of the two is about 5 inches long, and the smaller is about 3.5 inches long. They are the same age, but one became dominant as they grew.

botiaboy · Post by **botiaboy** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:20 pm

Tried freeze dried tubiflex cubes or frozen bloodworms? If they wont nibble on whole cubes, then let them soak in the tank a little bit, then rip them appart and rub them between your fingers. This makes the cube release all the worms. My loaches (and all my fish) loved it when tubiflex rained down from the surface. Only do it every so often,though, because they cant get all the worms...Also, leave several larger(but still small enough so that your fish will eat them) chunks,they will help cut down on uneaten food.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:24 pm

Hi celticchrys,

This does pose a bit of a dilemma. Whilst your current aquarium is too small for clown loaches (see http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus), now that you have just the two fish, this will not be meeting their social needs.

Providing that you keep on top of the water quality, I think you *could* consider adding a smaller clown loach, but the upgrade needs to be made sooner rather than later to prevent the larger loaches from becoming stunted. I would suggest that you try and address this within the next few months. Is there any way you could look at getting them a temporary larger home (i.e. second hand tank etc) until you are ready to get them their eventual large (6ft or so) aquarium? A 5" fast-swimming fish in a 38 gallon does sound rather cramped.

Blue moon lighting is very effective and will enable you to observe your loaches behaving with confidence - I'd highly recommend it.

With regards to foods, have you tried them with various frozen foods such as white mosquito larvae, bloodworm, brineshrimp etc etc? Most can't resist!

Emma

botiaboy · Post by **botiaboy** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 3:33 pm

If you want to upgrade to a temporary tank to give them more room to grow,but are low in budget, I highly suggest going to walmart and buying a complete 55 gallon kit. In my area you can get them for $150,a great price compared to what I paid for all the seperate equipment for my 26 gallon.

celticchrys · Post by **celticchrys** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:36 pm

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I might consider the 55 gallon soon as an interim measure.

I'm going to try bloodworms and tubifex again. I had some fish years ago that loved these. I forgot to mention that I also keep a 5 gallon "snail tank" just to be able to give the clowns a malaysian trumpet snail treat once in a while.

When we are discussing tank size and the fish becoming stunted, what is the most crucial factor? I understand a decent amount about gallons per fish, but I'm wondering: is tank length the most important factor for loaches? Some of the things I am reading seem to indicate that. The 55 gallon tank would be a foot longer than my current one.

I would hate to give my clowns up, since I quite like them, but if there is no way to give them a decent home in a tank I can afford, I might be forced to get rid of them. The other side of this is that they would probably be better off with me than going back to the LFS. At least I would keep the slightly too small tank very filtered, planted, and understocked as regards other fish.

brett_fishman · Post by **brett_fishman** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:13 pm

loaches like tanks that are longer, more than tanks that are taller...

ie: a loach would like a tank that is 72x24x10" far more than a tank that is 36x16x26" - both are 65-75g...but there is far more bottom area in the first one..
not that tanks in those figures actually exist...haha

but yea, the longer the tank, the better...hight doesnt really matter as long as its 10"+ tall...

-brett.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:11 pm

Yes, the "footprint" of the tank is considered far more important for these fast-swimming fish, although some consideration should be given to all dimensions when housing adult clowns.

Brett is on the right lines, but I do have to say that large adult clowns require a fair amount of depth to their tank too - Marge & Stripes wouldn't be able to do their nightly loachy dance in a tank of only 10" high......they body length is longer than this. Personally I'm of the opinion that they shouldn't have less than 18" depth, 24" would be preferable.

Hopefully you'll be able to find them a slightly larger temporary tank in preparation for their eventual bigger home. You would no doubt be sad to see them go after having them for some time now.

Emma

brett_fishman · Post by **brett_fishman** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:17 pm

emma, what are the demensions on your huge tank? what is the capacity?

and you have....how many clowns?

-brett.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:24 pm

The tank is 84" x 27" (wide) x 28" (high). Tank volume is just over 1000 litres.

I'm not sure of the total number of clowns, as some I've had for 14 years and I've rehomed many others along the way. I do know that there are more than 40 in there though. The tank is massively over-filtered and with extra circulation. One day they will have their indoor tropical pond, but not for a while yet.

Here's a few of them prior to their feeding time. They gather in a big excited group:

Emma

brett_fishman · Post by **brett_fishman** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:27 pm

wow...260 gallons!!!

i guess when you have enough room for 4 full sized clowns, you have enough for 40!!! haha

-brett.

celticchrys · Post by **celticchrys** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:48 pm

WOW!!!! That is a very impressive tank and school of clowns that you have, Emma! I am so envious!

I will definitely keep length in mind as a very important factor now. I would hate to give them up after all of this time. I looked back at my oldest pictures of them, and I have had them at least 7 years. The oldest photo I could locate was in 2000.

I really appreciate al lthe advice. I will try to post some photos of them soon!

celticchrys · Post by **celticchrys** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:29 pm

I'm trying to post some photos, but I cannot get the form to let me use HTML. No matter how many times I turn it on in my profile, it is always OFF when I post replies.

As an alternative to putting the code to display them in this post, here is a link to the album online:
http://picasaweb.google.com/celticchrys

brett_fishman · Post by **brett_fishman** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:35 pm

cool tank chrys, i like the 3rd pic..

-brett.

Emma Turner · Post by **Emma Turner** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 6:40 pm

Hi Chrys,

I can get your first pic to come up, but can't seem to get the other two to work.

What I did was this: went into your chosen image and right clicked with the mouse, went onto 'properties' and copied the url across. Then highlighted the url and hit the Img button on here. I'm not sure why it's not working with the other pics, maybe one of the others will be able to help.

Clowns in 2000

Emma

celticchrys · Post by **celticchrys** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:33 pm

Emma,
They appear to have worked for brett_fishman, so I'm not sure what's wrong.

Here is the link to third photo directly, it is a full tank view, with a yard stick to give an idea of loach size.
http://picasaweb.google.com/celticchrys ... 3672488066

Hope that works!

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Clown Loach advice-not a complete newbie

Clown Loach advice-not a complete newbie

thanksfor the replies

WOW

Photos of my loaches.

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