Clown Loach - Life Span and Behavior

[adamrp]

Hello everybody,

I bought 4 clown loaches a month back and two of them died in 2 or 3 days time. The rest two of them are in good health. I would like to know what is the life span of clown loaches. Are they hard or soft types? I mean, their vulnerability to water and other tank conditions. Are they good with just two or should they be kept together with a minimum of 5 or more?

 

[zapantha]

I would keep several just to make them more comfortable. And decade or so as far as life span. Definitely a long lived fish and can get massive as well. What are your water parameters and tankmates? Any apparent cause of death on the other 2?


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[adamrp]

I do get that its a long lived fish but are you sure they live for around 10yrs in captivity? I have heard people keeping sharks, oscars, etc for close to 10yrs or more but clown loach??
As far as the tankmates are concerned, I have angels, tetras, platy, swordtail, neon dwarf gourami and a few other bottom dwellers - chinese algae eater (yellow), algae eater (normal), yoyo loach and zebra loach. The only semi agressive fishes that could have possibly hurt him would be angel or dwarf gourami in general. But, my angelfish just mind their business as they are in group and too slow and small to hurt a clown loach and gouramis mostly spend their time away from loaches. Angels in my tank are almost the size of an average coin size. My tank size is 3ft long and 1.5ft wide. I was unsure about the apparent cause, as I got them in good health. Probable cause could be something to do with the water conditions (but the other two survived) or due to transit stress or immediate change in water conditions from that of the shop. All I have is probable causes and trying to figure out the exact cause as I am planning to buy a few shortly.

What exactly do you mean by water parameters? You mean salinity and likes or what?

 

[zapantha]

By water parameters I mean ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite tested using a water testing kit. Also I said 10 yrs or so; meaning 10yrs plus. I'm not sure of the exact number but I know a very long time as the largest (around 12") are very very old; like 20 yrs + I believe.


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[FishNCash]

Clown loach can easily live 10yrs +. Clown loach need really clean water. I am not sure how your died but check for signs of ick before you buy.

 

[JayC74]

I've heard they can live up to 30years, but not sure how long in captivity. My biggest 2 are 14years old.
They are sensitive fish when you first introduce them to their new environment, but after a few days of settling in, they seem pretty hardy to me. Younger ones will be more sentitive to new environments aswell. I would get a least 5 or them

 

[FishNCash]

I've heard they can live up to 30years, but not sure how long in captivity. My biggest 2 are 14years old.

do you have a pic of your 14 yrs clown loach?

 

[adamrp]

I did understand you meant 10+yrs, but I was really astonished to know they can live so long in captivity. Even 'close to 10yrs' in captivity was a surprise to me. Hence, I asked you that way. They must be one of the hardiest fishes in the freshwater fish category. Moreover, I didn't test the water then. Probably, that could be a cause too.

Do the other bottom dwellers like other loaches, algae eaters and corydoras have a smiliar lifespan?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[adamrp]

Exactly. I found them extremely sensitive for the first 2 - 3days in my tank and later they were one of the healthiest in my tank

 

[zapantha]

Well actually more like 20 yrs plus is probably more accurate; I mean they live long, but there's so many fish that live either the same life span or a longer. There's gars, puffers , and and even large cichlids and many more known to at least live between 10-20 yrs


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