Clown loaches in a 55 gallon?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Check out loaches.com. Lots of great information there.

My vote would be no in a 55. I've currently got a school of about 25 (largest is about 10 inches) in a 360-gallon. Great fish.

I'd recommend zebra loaches for a 55. Also cool little guys.

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Thanks buffalofish. I'll check out zebra loaches. I looked on the site.. Os that one clown loach named Marge still alive? I dont remember if it said jow old she was, but she was huge!


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David R said:
CLs will never physically outgrow a tank like say a silver arowana would, but the 4' length will slow their growth long before the look "too big" for the tank and will ultimately shorten their lifespan. I've watched a bunch of healthy clowns in a 4' tank slow down and stop growing at 5-6" and none made it past ~10 years old, which when you consider they could love for 20+ years and get to ~12" is pretty poor IMO


4' length will do for a while, but IMO if you want to do the right thing and keep them happy, healthy and growing then get them into a 6'+ tank with plenty of current by the time they hit 4".
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I would suspect lack of nutrution and subpar waterquality had more to do with those 10year old loaches eventually dying before their time. The OP wants a small group of clowns and a few cory's. Not much of a bioload with that stock even at a later time 4" size. Most hobbiests with 55gal long tanks (including myself at 1 time) don't just have a small group of loaches with a few cories. We have other fish in the tank contributing to the bioload, taking up comfortable space from the loaches, and hogging much of the feeding time. This is a much bigger factor in stunting clown loaches than the actual dimentions of the tank itself. 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

sorry for bit of derail when the thread seems to be winding down, just felt the need to get that out..lol
google botia histrionica btw, beautiful loaches that stay fairly small with awesome personalities that you can house for life in the 55
 
I have a small group of about 7 2" in a 55. I do routine weekly wcs and lots of filtration and feed well and have no problems with them outgrowing the tank anytime soon. Theyre just babies but ive yet to see any growth spurts. I was planning keep them here till about 4" then move the heard to my larger tank. I knew someone once who kept bought them at 2" also and did weekly water changes and they reach 4-5" in a year.


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"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.
 
Check out loaches.com.
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With regards to stocking levels, and tank sizes, I would personally avoid that site like the plague. To listen to some of them one needs a 300 gallon tank for a shoal of 10 2" juvie CL's.


To the OP, a small group of 6 one inch CL's, and some cory cats, with adequate filtration, and regular weekly water changes, you should have no issues for the next 3 years. If you can upgrade sooner, great, if not it's not as though you will be stunting your loaches. If your situation changes down the road as previously stated larger clown loaches are always an easy sell.

FYI - I have seen CL's in very large well maintained tanks that were only 8" at 15 years of age. Not all CL's are genetically hard wired to reach 12+" in captivity. Generally there are always a few in each shoal that outgrow the rest. Some suspect that it's due to sex, with females growing faster, and overall larger than males. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but IME some CL's in each group do end up being smaller, and some larger.
 
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