Building my first loach tank!!!

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nhungthientai
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:42 pm

Building my first loach tank!!!

Post by nhungthientai » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:08 am

Hi All, Been hiding in the background of this site for a while now and think its finaly time i joined and asked some questions before i go to much further.
I'm currently setting a tank up for just clown loach's. Been toying with the idea for the last couple of years now and decided to definatly go for it after my black ghost knife almost killed one of mine a few weeks back.
I went and got myself a jewel rio 180 tank for the time being that i've added a full bio fx5 filter to, Built some caves and put my original 2 fish in that are about 4" and 6".
Left them a few days and got another 8 loach ranging from about 3/4" to 1 1/2". Their all eating happily and playing together and doing what i would expect.
Got a couple of plants (No idea what they are) and some java moss and got that growing over the caves for them. Had a power head running but that was to powerful with the fx5 for the smaller fish so turned that off for the time being.
I'm looking at adding about 30 small loach to this tank until their a bit bigger them get them a much bigger tank to play in.
I'm currently feeding them bloodworm (Live and frozen), aquarian flake, pleco wafers and trying to convince the lfs to supply me with some cheap live snails from his ever booming amount.
I will be adding more plants (Going with a waxy feel plants)as i've been told that clowns don't eat these.
What i'm looking to find out is.

What other foods can i feed them?
What is this skinny disease?
Is their any plants that are poisonous to them?
How do clowns get on with big sumps as i've already had to break apart an overflow box to save one.
Anything else i might have missed. I want this tank to be as much like it would be in the wild as i can possible make it. Moneys no object if they need it they have it.

This is my first time in keeping a community fish as i've always had oscars before (well still have).

Loachloach
Posts: 787
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:11 pm

Re: Building my first loach tank!!!

Post by Loachloach » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:52 am

Congrats on the new clown loach adventure.
What other foods can i feed them?
What is this skinny disease?
Is their any plants that are poisonous to them?
I'd recommend high quality food like New Life Spectrum and Northfin to be the staple of their diet.

Skinny disease is most often caused by either a protozoa called spironucleus vortens(same that causes HITH in big cichlids) or worms. The drugs of choice are, depending on the issue, praziquantel, flubendazole, levamisole and New life spectrum hexshiled(metronidazole, garlic and magnesium sulphate mix), the latter being in food form. The best first choice I find to be flubedazole.

I am not aware of any aquarium plants being poisonous to them.

I'd recommend you set up some emersed plants with just their roots in the water, the easiest to do with is pothos.

Good luck. Clowns are great fun.

NancyD
Posts: 1608
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2006 9:17 pm
Location: SF bay area,US

Re: Building my first loach tank!!!

Post by NancyD » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:46 pm

I'm not sure I understand your measurements. Is the Rio 180 gallons or liters? Either way, you don't have room for 30 more loaches of any species. At best your current fish will be ok for a short time.
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Bas Pels
Posts: 360
Joined: Sat Nov 30, 2013 9:08 am

Re: Building my first loach tank!!!

Post by Bas Pels » Fri Mar 22, 2019 3:22 am

A Rio 180 is 180 liters - actutally less, as the 180 liters is measured on the outside.

I once measured the actual measurements - inside, without sandfloor and empty few cm in the top, anmd found that the real amount of water is ~70 % of the "official" one.

That is, a Rio 180 normally contains some 125 usable litres. That is a bit more than 30 US gallons. And as these tanks are highe than from front to back, you better should keep part of the water unused

I heard the "rule" 1 fish a gallon, but that only applies for small fish, such as a cardinal tetra. Loaches both grow bigger and need cleaner water. So yes, I'd say one should count any loach for at least 2 fishes.

15 small loachaes, such as Noemacheilus botia in a Rio 180 - that would be a nica tank, but fully occupied.

Loachloach
Posts: 787
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:11 pm

Re: Building my first loach tank!!!

Post by Loachloach » Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:35 pm

I missed the size tank part. Yes, I agree, it's way too small for clown loaches, even as a start out tank.

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