Clown Loach Routines

Nick Park · Mar 29, 2019

Anyone else find their clown loaches follow regular routines? I have a school of 6 clown loaches (each around 4 inches) in a 200g with a few large pieces of driftwood. They dug out the gravel to one side of the largest piece of driftwood to make a cave under the wood. They emerge about 7am each morning as I feed them around 8. They forage round the tank all day, or just lie in the shadow of a few plant pots. Then, at 8pm, they return to their cave. You could set your watch by them. Is this regular routine common to this species?

Coryloach · Mar 29, 2019

You pretty much described my bunch.

I feed them in the morning before work so they'd get up when I put the light on, all bunched up at the top splashing and clicking, waiting to be fed.

I'd give them a treat right after I come back from work in the evening. Lights go off around 9-10 pm as I have a few more tanks in there keeping the room illuminated. Then they go to bed after lights off in the large pvc pipe I have, driftwood or on plain sight on the sand on their sides, until the morning. Definitely not nocturnal and mine are out all day these days. It's like a washing machine inside the tank as I have 13 clown loaches and a couple of other species of active fish.

esoxlucius · Mar 31, 2019

The more I watch my clown loach the more I think that the clown loach is possibly the most intelligent fish, by a country mile, of any fish we keep. I love my clowns so of course i'm very biased. The ultimate set up for me, and i'm working on it now, is to have a tank with just a big shoal of clowns in. I don't think you get to witness their true behaviour when in a com set up.

Coryloach · Mar 31, 2019

I would imagine that fish with such long life spans have to be intelligent to survive in nature that long. However, even new studies on small guppies are now discovering that they're way smarter than once thought. The studies on fish intelligence and fish sentience is only a new field, picked up by scientists in the last 10 years or so. There is a lot for us to learn yet....

I love my clowns to bits too. I've kept them for about 7 years and I never felt the need to replace them with any other fish. Mine are the dominant fish in the tank. I have a bunch of denison barbs and SAEs that compete for activity with them. and acted as baby sitters for the few newer additions of clowns I got a couple of years back.

@ Nick Park @ esoxlucius

Any videos of your clowns guys?