Loaches Online Forum

Emma Turner wrote:Graeme's Grrrr Guide

I likes!

Emma, as my clowns get bigger, will the black neons be ok with them? They are large (and fat) for tetras but often if a fish can fit in a tankmates mouth, it is eaten. Will clowns eat other fish?

MTS wrote:Emma, as my clowns get bigger, will the black neons be ok with them? They are large (and fat) for tetras but often if a fish can fit in a tankmates mouth, it is eaten. Will clowns eat other fish?

In my experience with clown loaches, they will never intentionally harm small fish. I've raised Puntius filamentosus fry in the same tank with my huge shoal of clowns - the only problem there has been keeping the young away from the adult barbs until they got big enough not to be seen as food. My clowns didn't 'bat an eyelid' at them, even the 'Giants'.

You will also find that your Black Neons will be relatively short lived compared to the lifespan of healthy happy clown loaches.

Emma

There's an lfs that I frequent in which there is a HUGE display tank with about 20 large African Cichlids and 6 very BIG histrionicas, they all seem to get along and it looks quite neat but like others have said, both species require different parameters so I don't think this would be a good situation for the long term health or well being of either species.