Clowns and tiger barbs, yay or nay?

RD.

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May 9, 2007
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From a previous post of mine …….

Years ago I kept a group of approx. 15 clown loaches by themselves in a 6ft 125 gallon species only tank. When the tank lights went off each loach would within minutes gravitate to their special resting spot in the tank. They appeared to sleep in the exact same spot each night, and I had several with unique markings so it was easy to establish who rested where. Some laid on the sand, some in caves, some in special nooks of the driftwood, some laid on open stretches of a certain section of a specific piece of driftwood. I had never seen this behaviour over the years when keeping them in community set ups.

It's hard to explain, but IME the loaches acted differently when on their own, spent little time in hiding, and took on an overall completely different vibe.
 

HuffJR2019

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My clowns love to swim with just about anything in the tank so I would imagine that they would be fine with almost any fish that can't eat them.
 

Matteus

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Jan 6, 2018
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I only have a few other fish with my cl’s. I have noticed that the bigger ones are more bold than the smaller, I’m just wondering if they will get even more bold yet if I pull the rest of the other fish out.

With that being said, I also wonder if it matters wether or not the other fish being a bigger size etc has an effect on their behaviour.

Personally I like the look of barbs with clowns, but not sure if I will do it personally.
 

Fishman Dave

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Can't see you would have much problem with tiger barbs, or any other barb with clown loach of the loach are in a large enough group to act naturally and the barbs similarly. One of the most common problems is when either group are kept together in too small numbers when they act unnaturally.
 
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12fishy

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I keep Tiger Barbs and Clown loaches together, no problem at all. It helps brings the Clown Loaches more active. It’s nice to see them schooling together.
 

David R

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