Clown Loach Stats
Minimum Tank Size: 55 Gallons
Care Level: Moderately hard
Water Conditions: pH 5.0-7.5 and Soft to Medium
Temperature: 75-86 F (24-30 C)
Maximum Size: 18 inches (50 cm)
The clown loach (Chromobotia macracanthus) is a large freshwater fish, that was originally native to Indonesia. After it was introduced to the fish hobby, it quickly became one of the most popular fish available and even the smallest local fish stores seem to carry them. It’s widespread popularity belies the fact that it can be difficult to care for, and grows to (relatively) monstrous sizes in home aquariums.
When found in the wild, they tend to inhabit clear running streams and rivers. But during the annual monsoon floods, they can also be found in flooded forests, fields and dark swampy areas. But their preferred habitat is always a swiftly flowing stream, and their aquarium should be built with this in mind.
If you plan on purchasing a clown loach, you should be aware that they can grow extremely large, and that they live for 15 years on average – though some people claim to have kept individuals for decades.
It’s not uncommon for a clown loach to reach 10 inches (25 cm) in the home aquarium, and there have been numerous reports of them exceeding 18 inches (45 cm) in length. Needless to say, a fish this large requires an equally large aquarium.
Before handling a clown loach, you should be aware of the fact that clown loaches have a movable spine set just beneath their eyes. If you are pricked with this, it can deliver an extremely painful wound. While not venomous, any fish owner that gets an injury from this spine will remember it for a very long time. Care should always be taken when handling a clown loach.
Housing
As already mentioned, clown loaches eventually grow to tank busting sizes, and require an equally large aquarium. This problem is compounded when you realize that clown loaches must be kept in a school of at least six individuals, with each growing up to 18 inches (45cm) in length. If they are kept in shoals of less than six fish, they will become stressed and spend most of their time in hiding.
With that being said, clown loaches can be kept in smaller tanks when they are young due to two unique traits. The first being that clown loaches have a very slow adult growth rate. While they will quickly grow to a size around 5 inches (12.5 cm), their growth rate will then slow considerably. You will have many years before a clown loach even comes close to their maximum size – which gives you some wiggle room in tank selection.
The second reason is that clown loaches will shoal with individuals of almost any size. With most fish species, they will only school with fish of a relatively similar size. Clown loaches on the other hand, will happily pile into a cave that contains everything from fry all the way up to behemoth adults. Thanks to this quirk, they can be added slowly to an aquarium, without worrying that the adults won’t school with the smaller fish – or worse, hunt them.
So now for the million dollar question – how large a tank do clown loaches need? The bare minimum that should be provided for a school of loaches is a 55 gallon (200 litre) aquarium, and this will only be acceptable while most of them are still juveniles. As they begin to reach their adult sizes, their tank should be upgraded to a 75 gallon (280 litre) tank – or ideally a 120 gallon (450 litre) tank.
Once an aquarium has been chosen, the next step is choosing a filter. Clown loaches prefer to have a significant amount of current in their tank, and this can be provided with either a power head, or a large HOB (hang-on back) filter. A canister filter can be a good choice for a clown loach tank, but just be sure that they are provided with some current in another form.
I would strongly recommend choosing an Aquaclear Power Filter
Since they are found in rocky streams with abundant plant life, any aquarium that they are kept in should be modeled after this. It should contain large, rounded river rocks (though sand will work too), and there should also be a significant number of plants. It’s also extremely important to provide them with at least one cave in their aquarium, and they prefer caves with low ceilings over more open alternatives.
Feeding
Clown loaches are opportunistic omnivores, and will feed on insects, invertebrates and plant matter in the wild. In the home aquarium, they should be fed a diet that is mainly comprised of high quality flake food and shrimp pellets. They can also be fed live or frozen food as treats, and they will eat any snails that they can find in the aquarium.
Their diet should be altered if they are kept with any other species of fish, as they rarely eat any food off of the water’s surface, and their tankmates will eat most of the food. To ensure that they get enough food, they should be fed sinking food in the form of pellets, or frozen food that tends to sink to the bottom of the tank. Some good frozen foods are blackworms, blood worms and in some cases brine shrimp, and Hikari Sinking Wafers is one of the best sinking foods you can feed them.
They should also occasionally be fed vegetables, and their favorites are blanched and shelled peas, and zucchini medallions. These only need to be feed approximately once a week, and vegetables can be substituted with herbivore flakes or spirulina pellets.
Clown loaches, like most other species of loaches, will also eat any available snails in their aquarium. However, they tend to ignore the larger species of snails and have trouble eating Malaysian trumpet snails. They should never be purchased to clean out a snail infestation, but they will help to keep snails numbers in check.
Breeding
Reports of people successfully breeding clowns loaches in home aquariums are extremely rare. But if you want to make an attempt to breed them, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances.
Obviously, the first thing that you want to do is to find a sexually mature breeding pair. They usually take quite a while to reach sexual maturity, and the best way to ensure that you have a sexually mature pair is to only use fish that are at least 6 inches long. The larger the fish, the better your chances of successfully breeding them.
You can sex clown loaches by looking at their tail fins. The males tailfin is bent slightly inwards while the females looks more like a traditional tailfin. The females will also be quite a bit plumper than the males, but this can be difficult to identify without a fair bit of experience.
Once you have a pair ready to breed, they should be kept in a tank that is heavily planted, with perfectly maintained water. Nitrates should be as low as humanly possible, and the pH should be right around neutral.
They must then be conditioned with live food, and should be fed several times a day. Females at this point will begin to rapidly gain weight and after a few weeks of conditioning, mating may take place. Like most other egg layers, they should be removed after spawning and their eggs will hatch within several days.
After several days, the fry will become free swimming and must be fed at this point. They can be fed baby brine shrimp, or any of the other commercially available fry foods. After about two weeks, they will be large enough to accept powdered flake food and will begin to grow very quickly.
Iv got 9 clown loach mixed with a few tetra, guppys, platys. Aswel as 4 yoyo loach, my smallest clown to date is of 3″ with my largest is only at 6 1/2″ I’v had all these fish for about 4 years now iv tryed to simulate their natural habitat as much as possible without making my tank look messy on the eyes, iv got all natural planting no fake that’s just personal interests although I do have man made decoration with a large ship wreck of 85cm long and 40cm high which provides them with enough places to hide aswel as play around. doing like a Congo formation they all take turns being the leader swimming in and around the boat it’s great fun to watch. They even spend alot of time swimming against my power head just as they would be doing in a natural stream and any mess made from them is soon sucked up either into my external fluval or to my internal uv fluval who knew a few little uv bulbs could condition the water so much. I’m thinking of changing from my small 1mm black gravel to sand any ideas on this would be good as iv not had sand with all the fish named above before. but it’s so much Easyer to keep clean and looks a lot better iv reacently converted my cichlid tank to sand, and that is so much better even the fish seem to be greatful for the change
Clown loaches will definitely prefer sand to gravel. They enjoy rooting around in the substrate, and they can experience barbel erosion or even injury if they’re kept in gravel long term. Of course most modern gravel is coated to prevent this sort of thing, but as it ages or the coating becomes damaged, that’s when you can start to see some issues.
As for the sand though, you need to be careful with it. If you don’t have live plants, and tunneling snails likes Malaysian trumpet snails, you are at risk of getting anaerobic pockets, which can wipe out your tank. Since you already have plants, your odds of this happening are far less though.
Also, care must be taken when stirring up the sand in the bottom. Always turn off your filter if your cleaning or stirring up the sand. It can get sucked up into the impeller and damage it.
Beyond that, sand is great and I have it in almost all of my tanks. Not only does it look better, but it is much easier to clean than gravel. I hope this helps.
Hi, looking for some advice! My clown loaches have been acting strange for last few months. I did think they were breeding but after reading how difficult it is to breed them I honestly forgot about it. I moved them 3 days ago from a 30 litre into my 120 litre tank (as Ive moved my giant gourami into a 450 litre tank!) today I found some eggs! I have removed eggs (as I was worried they would be eaten) and put them back into 30litre tank! What should I do! I’ve only ever had Molly’s and guppies breed before and they were very straight forward! Could really do with some Advice! Thanks
Is the new tank cycled? If it’s not cycled, the fry have virtually no chance of survival. It’s also important to use a safe filter like a sponge filter, so they aren’t sucked up an killed by another type of filter.
Beyond that, it was a good idea to remove them from the tank, as they will eat their eggs. What I would do now, is just make sure that you keep on top of water changes, and it wouldn’t hurt to change 10-15% every few days. Once they are hatched, feed them baby brine shrimp, microworms, or liquid fry food.
Good luck.
Hi Robert first of all thank you for replying to my post. I moved the eggs into a 30 litre tank as soon as I found them, the tank which they are in now has nothing in and had be established for over two years if not three, the filter is sponge, and I’m going to go get them some food for when and if they hatch! After posting on a few sites asking for advice, a lot of people think they are left over eggs from my plecs! So now it’s a waiting game to see what we get! Thank you again for you advice.
That’s great, and I hope they hatch. However, I should warn you that an empty tank will not be cycled, no matter how long it has been set up. The bacteria that process the waste require a constant food source (fish waste, decaying food, etc), or they will die off. An empty tank will not have enough bacteria present to handle any sudden spike in waste.
If you already know this, then just ignore the advice. I get a lot of people with different levels of experience on here, so I find myself repeating the basics a lot just to be on the safe side.
Hi robert, it’s only been 3 days without fish in it as I moved them into a bigger tank, I was going to move both placs into tank but was worried they would eat eggs!?
What you said about housing the fish in a group no less than 6 is straight BS, I got only 3 clown loaches in my tank and they always swim together and they stick to me every time I come near the tank and they are very peaceful in the tank. Please make sure you try anything before posting it to hobbyists, specially for these fish because they are expensive.
Yes, because your one experience invalidates all the research about these fish. Every single document available about this fish describes the complex social hierarchy they form, and how they will suffer if kept in small groups. Many experienced aquarists actually recommend keeping them in groups of no less than ten.
Your comment is like saying you know someone who kept a lion in their bedroom, and because it was healthy and happy, everyone should be able to keep a lion in their bedroom.
just bought 2 clown loaches for my 15 gallon community tank, with filter and heater. so far i love them but now they must do their job and eat some snails! I have a snail over load. I also have some ghost shrimp and i know they will get eaten but hopefully they will like snails better.
They will definitely eat snails, but it often takes them some time to get going. And they won’t wipe out a snail infestation on their own usually. Normally they will just help to control it. I wrote an article “How to Control Aquarium Snails” recently. You should read it if you need any further help controlling your snail population.
Thanks for you reply. I am very happy with the small clown loaches. I hope they don’t get too big for the 15 gallons aquarium.. I’ve already noticed a smaller snail population.
Clown loaches get up to 18″. They will outgrow that 15 gallon in a few years if that.
What the heck ?? 18 inches? My clown loach is 16 years old, and only about 5 inches long. She must be a miniature
They’re very slow growing and a lot depends on the size of their aquarium and diet. Maybe you got the mini-me of clown loaches. 🙂
Assassin snails work better than clown loaches
I have been an aquarium fish owner for about 6 months and I would like to say that almost every bit of advice I have been told by the pet stores where I purchased the fish and tanks with regards to the behaviour, tank hierarchy and advice on which fish to keep well together and which are peaceful or agressive, have all proven to be incorrect. Every one of the fish I keep have defied the “normal ” for their species. I think its fair to say that there are no finite rules and that you will never see anything out of the ordinary if you refuse to allow it to be in the first place. I have an agresssive female fighting fish, and her male is submissive, I have to remove him to protect him from her. My clown loaches are very happy and very peaceful, they are only 2, they live with 5 guppys, 2 bumblebees, 5 hockey tails and a female fighting fish in a 140L tank with 2 filters. My 200L tank houses 10 neon tetra, 5 orange tetra, 3 upside down catfish, i big catfish that rules the tank (looks like a bristlenose sort-of), 2 large bristlenose, 1 very large angel fish, 2 tiger barbs, and 2 goramis , 2 electric blue rameriz, and 2 other blue rameriz type fish, they all love living together and are peaceful, they eat a lot but my tank is crystal clear with perfect levels of everything, i cleann itt around once per fortnight. Just sayin…
6 months and that many fish already?. A lot of fish when brought are not mature and it’s not until later on that aggression starts and fish soon do not get along. Normally you try and go by levels, top , mid and bottom dwellers.
Most fish do need to be in groups of 6 or more. For multiple reasons. 1 being they show more natural behaviour and feel more safe with more of there own kind. Instead of 2 of this and 2 of that. Your Rams if males with find a place to call there’s and start to ward off intruders that come into there domain.
Your 200L seems over stocked and probably will have a lot of issues. Angels are aggressive top dwellers. Gouramis depending on which breed grow very big. If there dwarfs then they will fight. If there 2 different types they will fight.
Once your male beta reaches sexual maturity til go the guppies seen as in his eyes there more pretty. The female will get harassed.
Cleaning a tank with that many fish once a fortnight is not good at all.
I have a 670L with
14 harlequin rasboras
7 danios
1 dwarf gourami
3 clown loaches
1 stripped Raphael catfish
1 peppermint Pleco
5 Serbia corydoras
9 rummy nose tetras
3 main schools will be around 12 – 15 each eventually. And I also change 120L a week. Fresh clean water helps in multiple ways.
My point is if you read around you’ll find a lot of info on stocking issues and stocking numbers. Fish stores tell porous all the time. There out to make money.
Also even with 2 filters, over stocking is over stocking. It’s sometimes not even that it’s the water quality that’s the issue. Temp,ph, gh/Kh could all be different. They might be living but thriving is what a aquarium keeper should strive for.
Hi Robert, Thanks for the clown loach info, very helpful.
Bren
I’m glad I was able to help.
Just got myself two clown loaches, this helped me a lot, I’m planning to add at least two more,Thanks for the info Robert
They’re really amazing fish. You won’t regret it and hopefully all goes well for you and them.
I need to know what is the maximum degrees Celsius the clown loach can handle. My loaches live on the patio outside. I live in brisbane Australia and today’s temp is 36 degrees. Tomorrow will be 39 degrees. Should i move them inside?
You’re well in the danger level there, but a lot depends on the setup on their home. Are they in direct sunlight? Do you have thermometer to measure the temp with? Is it well aerated?
If there is a shady area, with good aeration (oxygenation drops with heat), then they may be alright. Otherwise, I would take steps like giving them shade, running a fan on the surface of the water, or moving them inside where it is cooler if that’s a viable option.
I’ve just purchased two clown loaches to increase my school. Unfortunately, the only ones the fish store had for sale were TINY (as small or smaller than an adult betta). I have them in a 5 gallon quarantine right now with a cycled sponge filter, and they’re practically lost in it. I’m worried. They seem small, thin, and weak.
I have them on a course of gentle wormer right now (prazipro, safe for older fry). If they don’t perk up, I’ll hit them with a good antibiotic after the wormer’s run its course.
I’ve offered them blood worms and a good load of small ramshorn snails, but they don’t seem interested in eating. Any advice? The pet store will refund or exchange if they don’t make it, but I’d rather they survived long enough to be added to their community!
How long ago did you purchase them? I’ve found them to refuse food for a short while after getting them sometimes.
I might try some live food if it’s available to you – no fish can ever refuse that. Maybe try some blackworms, or whatever else is available. The movement often triggers the feeding response in even the most reticent fish.
Three days ago, at this point. I have a daphnia culture in my back yard, so I gave them a healthy portion, and gathered every tiny snail I could find, and tried bloodworms every meal time. Last night the bloodworms disappeared for the first time. 😀 Today they are swimming with more strength – not wobbling so much, and appear to be a bit more energetic. Hopefully that means they’re out of danger.
That’s awesome news, and it’s definitely good news. Live food never fails. 🙂
Let me know how they do, and if I can help out at all, I will.
I have some issues going on and you seem to have more knowledge than I do so I’m hoping you can shed some light for me. I have a really long post pertaining to my loaches, along with my other community fish. Would you be willing to read my mini-novel and share your advice? I’m really worried and confused. Please and thank you.
Of course. Send it my way at admin@aquariumtidings.com
I had five clown loaches. Two are over fifteen years old, three about five years old. My tank, not the cleanest I am ashamed to admit, is 1,000 litres. There is a breeding population of cory sterby, and small shoals of diamond tetra and zebra danios as well as three siamenthis and four angels. I recently removed the glass covers, replaced them with plastic grids so the LED light could get to the plants at the bottom of the tank, bought more plants, added some wood and stones suitable for ponds. I have also increased the water changes.The tank looks great and all the fish are fine except the loaches. The largest of the younger ones, prob. female, died a few weeks ago suddenly. One of the older ones, very large and plump, presumably female, had what looked like puncture wounds on her face. She recovered. I thought it might have been a fight, not that they had before. Now another of the smaller ones is very sick, breathing very fast and the lower part of its mouth looks pale.(not fungus, just pale) The large female is now breathing fast too. Any ideas suggestions you have would be great. Thank you.
Are there sharp edges on the plastic grid? It sounds like they’re jumping up and hitting the grid. That might explain the injuries, since it doesn’t sound like there are any fish that would likely be attacking them.
And I assume you checked the water quality and temp? Were they totally normal?
Thank for replying. The temp is normal. The grid is a plastic mesh, with a frame, made for aquariums. The water is not great, high nitrate, high gh, but everything else normal. The loaches are used to it though. Apart from the extra light, the only other thing different is I am doing more water changes. I was thinking poisoning, from the wood or stones or even something from the mdf lid of the tank, but I would have thought the other fish would also be affected, especially the siamensis which I have found to be sensitive to water conditions. (the tank has been set up for over thirteen years.) Thank you!
Were the wood and stones cleaned before they were added? Do you know what kind of stone it is? And you’re right, if it was those, they should probably be affecting the other fish as well.
I have two guesses: the first is that they aren’t getting enough food, and the second is they have some sort of parasite. Are you watching to make sure they’re getting enough to eat? As for the parasites, it could give it the pale appearance. If you’re sure they’re getting enough food, and you can rule out the wood and stones, I would consider isolating them and treating for parasites. Although usually their belly’s would start to look a little hollow first.
Thank you again for your help. I think they are getting enough food although the sick ones aren’t eating now. They still all look plump. Unless they are particularly sensitive to chemicals, I can’t believe it’s the wood ( which I soaked for a couple of days before putting it in) as the others are OK. I checked the pH which used to be low with a better test kit and found it’s now 7.5. Could this be the problem? If so, I should have left well alone and not done the water changes! The KH is high enough to be buffering I believe, but I’ll do a test tonight and tomorrow morning just to check. As for isolating them for treatment I don’t have a spare tank large enough sadly so I would have to treat the whole thing… Also the parasite seems only to be affecting them. Thank you again.
It’s hard to say at this point. I’ve seen where parasites start with only some fish and never move to others, or where they start with the weaker fish. But it’s a bit risky to treat the whole tank when you don’t know for sure. It could be the pH. I know pH swings can be incredibly deadly – even relatively small ones like you had – especially if it was quick. Do you know what it was before the change?
Beyond that, I would just recommend trying to wait it out. Hopefully whatever you’re facing will present itself, or the water will balance itself out again.
The ph has been fine for several months now as well the kh. The second fish has died, the large female has dropsy as well as the fast breathing. I’m pretty sure I could catch her and treat her in a black dustbin – I had to keep them all in one years ago when setting up a new tank and they didn’t mind – if I knew what to treat her with! RE the water changes, I’ve done 5 or 6 over the last three months. The other fish are all still fine as are the last two clowns, so far. I’m thinking a bactericide, but I’m loathe to use one as it’ll end up in the water system! Thank you.
To be honest, my guess would still be parasite over bacteria, as that’s usually been my experience with bloated loaches. I’d try a parasite treatment first to see if it helps. And I know how hard it is to decide whether to treat, especially when you don’t have a hospital tank setup. I think you should try to treat outside of the tank if you can in the dustbin.
Use a UV Steralizer
I was thinking about doing that, but the consensus on how effective they are in fresh water tanks seems varied. The sick clowns both died, but after that the tank settled down again. I’m doing weekly 25% water changes and have added three young clowns to go with the remaining two adults. All the fish are doing well. Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!
Waifu and i have two aquatop cf-400 canister filters both with uv sterilizer bulbs for our 90gal freshwater. We were having all sorts of issues from parasite issues to the drops. Since we popped the cf-400 filters in, those issues have all ended, the water stays nice and clear as well. I have also almoat completely stopped water changes and just do top offs now. I might gravel vac once or twice every couple months if i notice a poop pile forming, but aside from that yea. Kinda going for a completed cycle with all the plants we have.
Ready for the fun part?
We have 5 rope fish, 3 goramis, two 12″ plecos that destroy the black worms on the side of the tank, three small plecos, two normal bristle albinos and a spotted bristle, a farlowella, Four clown loaches ( two recent rescues, one is 7″. Its huge. The other is half the giants size and the other two are juveniles) 20+ kuhli loaches (assorted stripes and black), an albino rainbow shark, a rainbow shark, a red tailed shark, a iridescent shark, two glass catfish, three peacock eels, two bala sharks, a bazillion guppies in both the main tank and breeding tank, and two also new im assuming crossbred catfish. They resemble blue channel catfish but the anal fin in much shorter than most documented species i looked at o-o they also have abnormally long whiskers the length of their body. So one 10″ and the other 12″ not including whiskers. And two algae eaters. One 6″ albino and a baby regular. We had a regular that was 6″ but it hopped out and got its head bitten off by felines one morning. Oddly enough it happened moments after my waifu went past the tank. When she came back there was fishy with no head on our floor lol
All of them will eat black worms right out of my hand if i let them. 😀 i actually enjoy tearing off little chunks of black worm cubes and feeding the rope fish by hand. They are savagely adorable.
All the best of luck to you!
I have a clown loach that is constantly taking gulps of air. It’s a 36 gal with plants and decor. Should I be worried?
Have you tested the water recently? Does it appear to have rapid breathing?
Never mind. It was probably the fact that it was a new addition to the tank. It’s fine now.
That’s good news. I’m glad to hear your fish is doing better.
Hi Robert! I have kept African cichlids for years and have a 135 gallon all male tank. I went to purchase another 120 gallon that I found on Craigslist that I intended to turn into a tanganikan tank eventually . The man had told me he still had a few peacocks in the tank and I had agreed to take them cause I knew I could rehome them. When I got there the tank looked nothing like the pictures he had sent. It was possibly the dirtiest tank I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t believe there were live fish in it.. I went ahead and purchased the tank for the simple fact that I couldn’t leave those fish like that.. Among the fish were 3 two inch clown loaches covered in ich! I have been housing them in my 55 gallon hospital tank and after a month of high temperatures to treat ich they are doing great! I had intended on treating them and rehoming them but I have fallen in love! I have decided to turn the 120 gallon tank I bought into a clown loach tank. I went and bought 3 more yesterday to go with them when they come out of quarantine. I knew nothing about clown loaches before so I am having to learn as I go. They are all very small right now so I figured i would just keep them in the 55 gallon until they’re at least 4″ but am I running the risk of stunting their growth by doing this? I also wanted to ask how many of them do you think would be a good number for the 120 if that’s all I’m going to keep in it? I was going to do a total of 9 but I don’t know if that’s going to overcrowd a 120 tank when they reach full size? Thanks!!
I’ve impulsively saved more than a few fish from terrible conditions in my time, as well.
And don’t worry about stunting their growth – clown loaches grow very slowly. You’ll have plenty of time to upgrade their tank before they get too large. I think you should limit them to no more than 6 or 7 for a tank that size, but if you’re very careful about maintenance, you might be able to keep 9. However, it will be a long time before they’re full grown.
Something to really watch out for is that they’re amazing jumpers. Even when I’ve had tanks where I was sure there were no spaces for them to jump through, I still ran into problems and lost a few prized clown loaches. So, just be careful.
Thanks so much for all the info. I especially want to thank you about letting me know about them being jumpers because I was not aware of that and need to fix a gap at the back of my tank. I guess I’ll just stick with the 6 I have. This 55 gallon looks huge with just 6 little 2″ loaches in it but they seem to thoroughly enjoy having all the space to dance around in together and I thoroughly enjoy watching them!
I just bought two Clown Loaches for my 60L (tall) tank a few weeks ago. It’s a well established, heavily planted tank, with clay based substrate (after reading around, I’m hoping this is not an issue for the Clown’s bristles). There’s a few slate type rocks in formation and a hollow log with small holes throughout it, across the whole tank, raised slightly at each end so that the centre sits around two inches above the substrate, which has long hair grass in front and a range of plants on, behind and around. The plants in the tank offer a variety of covering shelter and areas to swim between. There are nearly a dozen types of plants ranging from Crypts, Anubias, Java Ferns, long Wisterias and a Banana Lily which always has at least 6 large pads on the water surface, providing more cover.
‘The only other fish in the tank are two Corydoras, which have lived in that tank (with previous residents) for around a year, they are an amazing pair of fish! The Clown’s seem to really like the tank and after a few days of hiding in the log and spending most of their time at the rear of the tank, they ventured further and further out. Now after around four weeks, they are an adventurous pair who play around with each other, chasing all around the tank in and out of nooks and crannies. They get along really well with the Cory’s, who are the most placid, yet staunch, fish I’ve had.
After reading up on here, I see that the tank I have them in clearly isn’t going to be sufficient for them in the long term. I’m planning on setting up a larger 240L Aquascaped tank soon and will probably put the Clown Loaches in there. Upon reading about the minimum recommendation of 6 Clowns, I was a bit surprised at how well my two are settling in to their tank with just the couple of them. They do seem to school with the Cory’s sometimes, however are also almost aggressive when it comes to eating and will chase the Cory’s off until they’ve eaten. Although the Cory’s do just keep on swimming up and eating, they’re little battlers..lol. The Clowns also tend to posture quite a bit with each other when it comes to feeding time. I’ve read the sexing tips and from what I can tell, they both seem female, with normally splayed tail fins and slightly rounder profile; but I could be wrong, they are the first Clowns I’ve ever had.
Anyway, I thought I’d share my experience with them so far and thank you for your informative post and comments. Keep those sleeves wet!
Shawn.
It sounds like a great experience so far, and it does help when they are kept with other bottom dwelling fish. And as for their size, they are incredibly slow growers, so while the tank is too small for them, it shouldn’t become too much of an issue for a while.
However, I will warn you, these fish are incredibly escape artists. I’ve lost a few prized clown loaches from tanks I felt certain they couldn’t escape from. Make sure you cover every opening on your tank so you don’t lose your fish.
Help! A friend gave me his clown loach that has lived alone for many years. I did research and bought him four companion loaches. Only one of them ever came out with him (his is much larger than them and the two plecos) all seven crowded into one very small tree house decoration even though I bought them a larger cave, only one other loach ever came out with him (I checked and all are alive). I decided to out my Cory Catfish and tetras in to see if that would socialize them. Clowny is very outgoing and comes right out for food, but within a few minutes he was chasing my other fish and had them stressed out. I read somewhere that if they are kept alone too long (his was roughly 5 years) that they may never be able to live with other loaches (?). I have temporarily put him in the small 20 gallon with one pleco (I have ordered a much larger tank, btw they were in a 40 gallon which I knew I would have to upgrade, but the other 4 are still small). Please be kind, I am new to this and just need some advice and thoughts. Was it a space issue, was he bullying the other fish since they refused to come out? I don’t want any of my fish to starve or be stressed to death! I’ve had him for about 2 weeks and the others for a week. Should I give him more time and try again when I get the larger aquarium or wait and let him live alone in the 40 gallon?
It’s pretty common for them all to crowd together like that. Before you panic, try to feed them after the lights go it. It’s common for them the hide during the day and then emerge at night in their tank.