Clown loaches pricing question...

[Cal Amari]

Loaches are awesome fish, very playful active and great scavengers as mentioned. Agree with Midwater though, they can easily live together they won't acknowledge each other or play together. In one of my earliest tanks I had a pair of yoyos, a pair of striatas(my favorite at the time), a pair of angelicus, a pair of dwarf chain, and so on, about 12 or 14 total fish but only 2 of each, thinking it would be a fun playground community. Instead it was like a bunch of people on a busy street, the only time they acted like they even saw each other was to not run into each other, but the 2 yoys were always side by side, or following each other around, same for the 2 striata, and so on and so forth.

 

[danotaylor]

My only advice is is be careful when choosing modesta. Make sure you are happy they look like modesta. That’s how I ended up with six eos. The guy had them listed as yellow tail modesta and they were hiding. As soon as I saw them I knew they were not modesta but eos. Slightly higher back more stocky at a young age and tail was almost clear when young. Eos are more argumentative than modesta and hide 20 times more than most loaches.
Still great fish if you’re not overly concerned about seeing them!

Thanks Dave. That’s great advice. If they have a red tail does that unquestionably distinguish them as modesta?
I actually found a CL post last night w a person selling a 90gal set up complete for $375 “with fish”. The pic showed at least 15 4-5” clown loaches. Tryna work a sale for the loaches

 

[danotaylor]

Thanks for your insights C Cal Amari I appreciate you sharing!
Unfortunately the person w the tank advertised has sold all the loaches already
I am happy to go with 1 species to create a social structure. TBH, I really would prefer clowns, but want a larger number. Pricing is about $13 difference between the CL’s & the mods, and the mods are about an inch bigger. Still torn on it. My LFS is closed today so I have another day to ponder which way to go…
Thanks everyone!

 

[Midwater]

If they have a red tail does that unquestionably distinguish them as modesta?

Not really. There are two variants of Modesta, depending on which waterway they come from. Some have orange red tails, and the others have washed out yellow tails. But both variants do mix together.

Until big, they are barely indistinguishable from Lecontei, which have yellow tails, are slightly slimmer, and get a violet sheen instead of a blue sheen.

 

[danotaylor]

Thx Midwater appreciate your input!

 

[danotaylor]

Perhaps my final question

Can I move the loach group from tank to tank periodically to deal with snails?

Are small loaches, like 2”, still proficient snail eaters?

I know, I know, that was 2 questions

 

[Cal Amari]

I had the small dwarf chains and striata destroy some pond snails, never tried them with mts. They we're hardy and tough fish, lived through a couple apartment moves and a new tank.

 

[danotaylor]

I can buy 5 x 4.5-5” modesta for the same money as 10 x 2.5” clowns…
Ok, looking for opinions here based on snail reduction

 

[Fishman Dave]

Thanks Dave. That’s great advice. If they have a red tail does that unquestionably distinguish them as modesta?
I actually found a CL post last night w a person selling a 90gal set up complete for $375 “with fish”. The pic showed at least 15 4-5” clown loaches. Tryna work a sale for the loaches

The difference is the depth of red, and the dorsal fin. Dorsal red in modesta, pretty much dull in eos in both forsal and tail although other fins are more red.
But the shape of the body is shorter and taller in eos.
As for snail reduction, I have never found one type to be better than another. All seem to like my mts .

I have a couple of tanks where I can remove 100mts a week to feed into my loach inhabited tanks and have no impact on the populations. Whilst I like mts they are a bugger for getting into the intakes and impellers of my pumps in dumps.

 

[A201]

The Modestas are far more assertive than Clown Loaches. They aren't skittish and are very aggressive eaters.
A 4.5 inch Modesta is a young adult, which is a good thing.

My Modestas were about 2 inches when I originally bought them. It took two years for them to reach the 4 inch mark.

Clowns are awsome too, but are very slow growers. They tend to be Ich magnets when initially introduced.