View Full Version : Clown Loach vs Pacu
Do you think a shoal of Clown Loachs would survive in the same tank as a red Belly Pacu?
By the way, are they the largest growing loach?
piranha45
06-30-2005, 5:43 AM
No solid guarantees, but I'd still place my bet on saying that they'll get along fine. dunno if they're the largest loach or not.
I don't think they are THE largest, but they certain do live for a looong time.
The pacu will outgrow the loaches in no time and will eat the loaches if they are small enough.
That is unless of course you buy some monster 12" clown loaches.
:eek:
queen loach is the biggest.get's up to 24"
unknownuza13
06-30-2005, 9:44 AM
are queen loaches available readily
DanDanUK
06-30-2005, 9:53 AM
Do you think a shoal of Clown Loachs would survive in the same tank as a red Belly Pacu?
I think you would be fine with them both as long as your tank is big enough you should be fine and provide rocks for the clown loach's to hiode amongst. :thumbsup:
DeLgAdO
07-07-2005, 3:07 PM
i think if you raise a pacu on non fish diet (i.e pellets and veggies) when theyre small and grow em out, i think they would be morre compadible with smaller fishes such as clown loaches.
CrazyFishWorld
07-22-2005, 10:44 PM
i wouldnt chance it because i doubt it. and yes, they are slow growing fish and can survive for 20 years +
wardie
07-26-2005, 6:14 PM
if they have some places to hide like bog wood roots the pacu will not get close to them or get some large imported ones. some in local shop that were 16 inch
i think if you raise a pacu on non fish diet (i.e pellets and veggies) when theyre small and grow em out, i think they would be morre compadible with smaller fishes such as clown loaches.
no such thing, pacus are outright predatory in aquariums, readily devouring anything, including fish.
Chuck & Veronica
11-21-2005, 12:42 PM
I think it depends on the Pacu. I've heard from people who have Pacu that won't permit any other fish in their tank. Ours are the exact opposite. Very gentle. We've got two small, 1.5 inch Clown Loaches in the same tank with two 8+ inch Pacu. When they're going for the same morsal of food, I'm always afraid that the Pacu will swallow the loach. His mouth is big enough. But both Pacu are always careful to eat the morsal and not the fish.
Chuck
STONEDFISH
11-21-2005, 12:56 PM
I had a Pacu that got the size of a dinner plate in a 55 gallon tank (thanks WalMart) and all it would eat was Hikari Gold........a ton of it. Never saw it eat a fish one time....maybe a ghost shrimp. I finally brought it up to the my LFS and they put it in a pond with a bunch of small comets and koi and it didn't bother anyone untill they sold it. From that....I would say it all depends on the fish and what it was raised on.
Gr8KarmaSF
11-25-2005, 4:07 PM
Also keep in mind that clown loaches have switch blade spines that come out for protection!!!
:eek: :eek: :eek:
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Clown%20Loaches.htm
What is a Queen loach?
In the US the fish I have seen sold as queen loaches were Botia dario and only reach 6". I wonder if the one they sell here as Royal loach is the same thing as what you see as Queen loach, Leptobotia elongata, it reaches at least 24". I have not seen them for sale recently except for a couple listings in the UK.
The lepidocephalrichthys manipuerensis gets to 22", the L. irrorata reaches 15", I have never seen those. The catfish loach, Triplophysa siluroides gets 15" and is very predatory, I have only seen them for sale once years ago.
here is a pic of the L. elongata, and of the T. siluroides.
Mudfrog
11-25-2005, 11:37 PM
Also keep in mind that clown loaches have switch blade spines that come out for protection!!!
:eek: :eek: :eek:
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,%20Clown%20Loaches.htm
My thoughts exactly, my oscar tried eating a clown once and it quickly learned to never try it again. I never had that problem again.
Chuck & Veronica
11-28-2005, 9:47 AM
My thoughts exactly, my oscar tried eating a clown once and it quickly learned to never try it again. I never had that problem again.
Clown loaches are one of my favorite fish. An interesting datum about these fish related to the topic of dangerous spines is that botia (part of their scientific name) is a regional Asian native word meaning warrior or soldier -- referring to the "warrior's" spines they have under each eye.
Chuck
Michael 125
11-28-2005, 1:04 PM
i think it depends on the size of the tank you are going to put them in. if the tank is big then the clowns will grow to slow and the pacu will double in size shortly. also if you feed your pacu veggies when young you'll have no prob. i thought pacus were vegitarian anyways. i had one who occasionally ate shrimp but thats it. he typically ate flake and veggie pellets. in the wild they would eat the occasional invert cause of them being on the grasses and plants that they graze on. not sure though.
Chuck & Veronica
11-28-2005, 1:34 PM
i thought pacus were vegitarian anyways. i had one who occasionally ate shrimp but thats it. he typically ate flake and veggie pellets. in the wild they would eat the occasional invert cause of them being on the grasses and plants that they graze on. not sure though.
They're omnivores, with about 70 percent of their meals in the wild coming from plant sources, and the rest from insects and whatever else they can find.
I found one of mine munching on a pictus catfish the other night. My wife thinks that catfish was already dead, but I'm thinking this particular Pacu hunted him down.
Chuck
Fried_fish
12-01-2005, 5:56 PM
actually pacus are ominivores they will eat both meat and veg. If you don't believe me wait until your pacus get hungry and drop in some cherry tomatoes halves. They should be fine but with fish there is nothing 100% I would provide some hiding space for the loaches if you decide to mix them.
Chuck & Veronica
12-02-2005, 9:28 AM
They should be fine but with fish there is nothing 100% I would provide some hiding space for the loaches if you decide to mix them.
That's a good idea. But one word of warning: Pacu are very, very fast fish when they want to be. They can zip from one end of a six-foot tank to the other in what seems a split second.
The tough part about putting a Pacu and a Clown Loach together is that CLs grow very, very slowly and Pacu grow very, very fast. So there's going to be a signficant size diference for almost the entire lives of both fish.
Chuck
Bitesize2
12-07-2005, 1:28 PM
pacus are strict vegatarians in the wild, they feed on berries and seeds . I believe if they grow up together the pacu wont even think about eating them
Chuck & Veronica
12-07-2005, 1:47 PM
pacus are strict vegatarians in the wild, they feed on berries and seeds . I believe if they grow up together the pacu wont even think about eating them
I'd be interested in hearing where you get your information about that, as it directly contradicts scientific literature on Pacu fish that can be found on the 'net -- for just one example, see the International Development Research Centre's publication, Migratory Fishes of South America, where it clearly identifies this fish as an omnivore. The link to the specific chapter is here: http://www.idrc.org.sg/en/ev-58882-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html.
Chuck
i think if the clowns are big they will live
I have 10 clown loaches in with a number of more aggressive species and I don't have any problems. I wouldn't worry about them too much. However, I would be very careful to quarantine the loaches first and possibly pre emptively treat them with salt and a higher temperature. They are ich magnets.
fastfreddy
12-28-2005, 12:44 AM
Good luck trying.