Clown loaches in a 55 gallon?

[jaxy4]

I have a marineland penguin?? 350 and will have plants once its set up.
Doing water chanes once a week wont be a problem. I do my education online so I have plenty of free time to do as many water changes as I need plus some hah


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[RD.]

Redundancy is always a good thing when it comes to filtration, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to add another filter to the tank. If not now, for sure down the road.

 

[David R]

I would suspect lack of nutrution and subpar waterquality had more to do with those 10year old loaches eventually dying before their time.

You would suspect wrong then, the tank was well maintained, moderately stocked, and the fish were fed good food. 4' length simply isn't enough for such an active fish IMO, even at a small size.

Your logic of 1' per 1" of loach is over-simplifying the situation, again IMO. As RD pointed out people will always have different ideas about how to keep fish, best practice and what is just "ok" are often very different things.


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[JayC74]

"If 4" loaches get stunted in 4ft tanks, then 8" clowns must get stunted in 8ft tanks. My two biggest loaches went from 7" to 11" in under 2.5years in my 8ft tank....hmmmmm "


lol. good point, but how many 8' tanks do you know are double the volume of a 55 at 110 gallons? Most 8' tanks I know of are at least 240 gallons so at least 4x the water volume, without a sump. My 8' system is about 350 gallons so more than 6 times the volume of a 55 gallon.

Absolutely, concerning 8ft tanks having alot more water volume. But if your 240 is overstocked with lagging appetites, they will prob grow faster in a clean tank 1/3 the size. I just think it all comes down to knowing your clowns appitite and when he decides not to eat as much as normal, an upgrade could be the culprit. Anyhoo, i did house 2 6inch clowns in a 40gal breeder tank for about 6months. They ate a ton and grew at around an inch in that time. Waterchange schedule was 50% twice a week with all the food, but it worked. Ran a simple dual 300 aquaclear filtration, so a superlong tank and high gallons are not necessities in my eyes, but it never hurts if you have the room of course.haha

 

[JayC74]

You would suspect wrong then, the tank was well maintained, moderately stocked, and the fish were fed good food. 4' length simply isn't enough for such an active fish IMO, even at a small size.

Your logic of 1' per 1" of loach is over-simplifying the situation, again IMO. As RD pointed out people will always have different ideas about how to keep fish, best practice and what is just "ok" are often very different things.

You say a 4ft tank just would never be enough for even a small loach. I know somebody here in Mass that had a 4ft by 4ft setup. Think it was over 400gal. Yah..your right, this is way too small for a small loach. I think he had a 30" aro in there with a 28" redtail cat. Maybe he needs to upgrade to a 6ft tank.baha

My 1' to 1" was obviously just a googy analogy, i understood the amount of water volume in comparison

 

[ecoli73]

A couple of things: tank setup, water flow, and choice of tank mates all play a role. I have 35+ in my 8 footer, grows pretty well...but if I stock with super aggressive tank mates and the fish hide all the time, I doubt the loaches would thrive.


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[ecoli73]

I find loaches.com to be quite good at setting up loach only tanks. The elite members however are somewhat not so knowledgable about other type of fish, and thus I tend not to listen to their mixing advice. For example, they do not recommend mixing clowns with African cichlids due to temperament and water parameter differences. Well, temperament wise, there are a lot of difference between psycho Mbunas and say peacocks, haps, and mild tempered Mbunas. As far as water is concerned, not ever African tank needs to be hard with high ph. A happy medium can be found, but impossible if you listen to some of them.


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[RD.]

I didn't mean to single out everyone on that site, I'm also a member, but some of them are so over the top with their tank size requirements that at times I find some of their recommendations downright ludicrous.

I think that it's one thing to be stuck in ones way, and another to totally ignore information that could only help the hobby as a whole. A classic example of that; http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?491976-Clown-Loaches-Kalimantan-vs-Sumatra

I sent that info to both Martin & Emma a few yrs back, and while neither had any knowledge of the difference in genetics between the two strains, and found that interesting, apparently they both chose to leave Martin's article as-is, when clearly he was confused with regards to Kalimantan vs Borneo vs Sumatra. Martin read one online article (I've also read it), and based everything in his article on that single source. An easy enough mistake to make, but then why leave it when someone points out the flaws? Ego? I dunno, but I certainly don't get it.

Even their species summary for Chromobotia macracanthus is over the top - Maximum size: 16 inches

Really, on what planet would there be 16 inch clown loaches, SL or TL? And even if one won the lottery, and managed to grow a CL out to 16", how many years would it take to reach that size? 20 years, maybe 25?

So using their narrow minded logic no one should be able to experience the joy of keeping this species unless they are equipped to house a rather active fish that will reach 16 inches, and then be prepared to tweak their pH so that it never exceeds 7.0 - more of their valued advice. What a farce.

I'm also not a fan of big fat obese clown loaches, as often seen on LOL, including the infamous "Marge the Barge", so I tend to refrain from posting there.

 

[David R]

I know somebody here in Mass that had a 4ft by 4ft setup. Think it was over 400gal. Yah..your right, this is way too small for a small loach. I think he had a 30" aro in there with a 28" redtail cat. Maybe he needs to upgrade to a 6ft tank.

should probably upgrade to something more than a 6', a 30" arowana in a 48" square tank would be spending all day chasing its tail. I'd love to see a pic of that tank, it would nearly have to be 4' tall to be over 400g, the ultimate cube tank! [not being sarcastic or anything, would genuinely be interested in seeing the tank, especially with that stock]


RD I agree that some of the information on LOL is a bit OTT, like the one-in-a-billion maximum size of 16", but I do agree with the recommendation to grow out young clowns in a tank with plenty of length for swimming if you want them to attain a decent size and not become obese and/or stunted.

 

[RD.]

David - IMO CL's in captivity become obese from overfeeding, not lack of swimming space. Too many calories result in excess fatty deposits on the fish, same as humans. When one eats in excess, they become obese. It's a simple equation that many hobbyists fail to grasp. That or they simply do not realize what a larger CL should look like. In the wild CL's are lean mean swimming machines, even the larger specimens @ 10+" do not carry excess fat. Not even close - their body shape looks more along the lines of a hot dog - nothing remotely like what Marge was built like. This is what a 10-12" wild CL typically looks like, and I have seen plenty of wild CL's in this size category. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4IGrgNMNww That vid is of an 11" CL shortly after it was collected & sold to the owner in Malaysia.

But I agree, the larger the tank the better, that goes without saying for almost any species of fish, and especially those species that are very active.