Clown loach+leporinus
- Thread starter ~ocean
- Start date
I wouldn't recommend it.
We have a large display tank at my work (not sure on size, 180g or better) that has several large clown and other botia loaches and 2 good sized leporinus with mixed rainbows, gold barbs, diamond tetras, balas, and some others. One lep is about 6 or 7in and the other is around 10in. I don't usually see much aggression and both leps like to hide in their favorite caves a lot. Pretty frequently the other fish, and especially the loaches, show up with large bite marks. I've only seen the attacks a few times but bites show up on the loaches more often than anything else. Several large red rainbows were eaten over the summer but we don't know if they died naturally and then got eaten or killed and eaten. The tank has been going for some 30 years so no one's really sure how long any of those fish have been there, could have been old age.
The larger rainbows usually have bites near their tail as if the leporinus tried to grab it as it swam past but they'll stalk the loaches from above and try to carry them off leaving much nastier looking wounds.
Obviously it can work but there are many other fish to distract our leporinus at all times. I feel that with nothing to distract him those loaches would have been demolished a long time ago.
With lots of hiding places, maybe..
We have a large display tank at my work (not sure on size, 180g or better) that has several large clown and other botia loaches and 2 good sized leporinus with mixed rainbows, gold barbs, diamond tetras, balas, and some others. One lep is about 6 or 7in and the other is around 10in. I don't usually see much aggression and both leps like to hide in their favorite caves a lot. Pretty frequently the other fish, and especially the loaches, show up with large bite marks. I've only seen the attacks a few times but bites show up on the loaches more often than anything else. Several large red rainbows were eaten over the summer but we don't know if they died naturally and then got eaten or killed and eaten. The tank has been going for some 30 years so no one's really sure how long any of those fish have been there, could have been old age.
The larger rainbows usually have bites near their tail as if the leporinus tried to grab it as it swam past but they'll stalk the loaches from above and try to carry them off leaving much nastier looking wounds.
Obviously it can work but there are many other fish to distract our leporinus at all times. I feel that with nothing to distract him those loaches would have been demolished a long time ago.
With lots of hiding places, maybe..
I have kept a a 7 inch retic with a 7 inch clown loach in a 75 for 3 months before i moved the ray to a larger aquarium.
Saterus;3934815; said:
I have FW sharks and ghost shrimp for the lep to distract. I also got a new piece of driftwood and a ornement, making 5 hideouts avalible. Or I could just ditch the CL idea and turn my tank into a pred tank.
And yes, leps do try to rip tails off, but my shark/catfish are aware now and the lep is bored of them.