CL Tankmates?

[CaspianRain]

Ok here's the deal...

Yesterday I bought a 55g fish tank. It came with 6 Albino Tiger Barbs, 2 Clown Loaches, and 1 Albino Rainbow Shark. I sold the Barbs but now have the 2 CL's and Shark in my 40g community tank separated by a divider from the other fish. I kind of want to keep them. This is very likely a temporary thing until I figure out what I'm going to do with the 55g they just came with.

My question is:

1. Can clown loaches co-exist with peaceful community fish (tetra, platy..etc)? I know they are peaceful but they are about 3 inches in size and are a bit bigger than all of the other fish in the tank (other than the pleco).

2. What about the Rainbow Shark?

 

[Chromobotia]

When you say Tetra, which are you talking about? Neon? As long as the fish doesn't fit in the Clowns mouth they should be fine (CL mouths aren't that big).

Clowns are not aggressive and should be able to co-exist with just about anything. I would suggest buying a few more Clowns as they are better suited to living in numbers.

I believe that Rainbow Sharks can be aggressive so I would be cautious about having one in my tank.

 

[CaspianRain]

The tetra I have are not small enough to be swallowed so no worries there.

Could I move the Clown Loaches to a Malawi Lake African Cichlid tank? I heard some cases in which it works and other cases in which it is a no no.

 

[Chromobotia]

The tetra I have are not small enough to be swallowed so no worries there.

Could I move the Clown Loaches to a Malawi Lake African Cichlid tank? I heard some cases in which it works and other cases in which it is a no no.

I've seen Clowns in with Africans before but I personally wouldn't do it to a Clown Loach nor would I purchase a Clown from an African tank. For some reason I find it cruel but that's just me.

 

[jray33]

Clowns and africans come from different parts of the world and are generally kept in different water paramenters. If you keep your africans in a high ph this wouldnt be suitable. I keep most of my africans at a 7ph anyways just so i can have my loaches and fancy plecos... I would say if anything africans are more hardy than the loaches, so i would accomodate the loaches over the africans. I have had no trouble keeping healthy colorful africans at a neutral ph.

 

[JL]

Loaches are pretty good community fish but I've seen them do some damage. I have a few Raphael Cats that were torn up by a friends loach pack and I've seen an instance where they were picking away at a Jardini's scales pretty badly. A small pack will do but in a swarm they can do damage.

 

[Andyroo]

Clowns are in interesting case: Yes & absolutely to community. They're famously good natured even with tiny fauna... so long as they've got vertebra.
They also vary greatly between individuals and can get vicious if they get bored, particularly if their tank-makes are on the aggro side. If they're not bored they shouldn't cause mischief, so decorate (logs pipes, plants, relatively deep sand with MTS) and set a good powerhead.
And start saving up for a bigger tank as CL are very active, like to live in schools (>5) and get big- think >100Gal.
With a school of >5 or 8 loaches the shark will start thinking it's a loach and join the school.

They do better if there are small fish in the tank with them- look up "dither fish" on Loaches Online. Tiger barbs would have done the trick, platies not so much as they're not active in the same way. Hard core guys seem to prefer rainbowfish. I have a serpae and columbian tetras- they seem to work.

I've made most of the errors possible with these guys in terms of stocking- usually with (dumb luck) success, more or less. In University we had 2x 2.5" clowns in a heavy predator tank incl. a 2' rice eel, 1.5' snowflake(?- FW) moray, 4" red-line snakehead and 11" silver aro., plus FW barra & leaf fish- with no problems whatsoever. We even saw the aro actively stalking the loaches and backing off at the last minute, which leads me to think they may have a bad tasting or toxic slime they can put on when stressed- that'll be my next PhD once I get this one finished Don't try/do this, it's stupid. I've read enough sob-stories of the opposite outcome, including myself having a 1.5"er bitten in half by a 3" (&#@!!) clingfish. Who knew their sweet smiling little mouth hinged at the back of the head...

Right now I've got 2x CL, one at about 4" and the other at about 2.5" in with a tiger botia, a Y.modesta and some version of a Y.modesta that doesn't check all the boxes (more like a yellowfin than an orange, but with colour in dorsal), a lace synodontis, a marble headstander and a RTS. Don't do this either- the angry loaches set the social tone and make everybody... grouchy. The big CL pretty much runs the show, so he's at least as nasty at the tiger and Y.mod. They've eviscerated two paradisefish and an angel over the last couple of months...

I'd describe CLs as "able to hold their own" socially with anything that can't swallow them in one go, but that does not make them happy or such a scenario appropriate. IMO an african set-up would check this box before even considering the water quality issues.

 

[Andyroo]

PS: my set up is also poor and inappropriate generally and for CLs It's based on poor availability and ridiculous prices, and inheriting things over time and is (fingers crossed) temporary.