anyone had problems with larger clowns picking on catfish? I had a 7" clown about a year ago and it relentlessly picked on my niger cat. still have the cat along with an irwini but was considering clowns again. im working a deal for some 4" clowns.
clowns picking on cats
- Thread starter toehead11183
- Start date
As with pretty much all Botiid species lone individuals can become either reclusive or aggresive, with the aggresion there are variable degrees from just chasing to actually nipping and marking other fish, this why loaches do best in groups.
Farowella for me are far to delicate a species to house with loaches other than Yunnanilus and Pangio species, the vast majority of people think that clown loaches are the most peaceful fish ever and they can be as feisty as any other Botia given the chance, stressed individuals or fish in not ideal water conditions can be a handful.
I have had 6" Tiger loaches that have been totally placid end up getting badly marked and damaged by a group of Yoyo loaches, there is no telling individual temperaments of fish.
Loaches are naturally inquisitive creatures and a lot of the time this is misinterpreted as aggression, the fish on the receiving end of the inquisitive loaches don't always come off well because they can become stressed and it is almost like the loaches are hounding it, why this happens nobody knows but usually given group size and plenty of hiding places and features for them to investigate they rarely bother tank mates.
I have had 6" Tiger loaches that have been totally placid end up getting badly marked and damaged by a group of Yoyo loaches, there is no telling individual temperaments of fish.
Loaches are naturally inquisitive creatures and a lot of the time this is misinterpreted as aggression, the fish on the receiving end of the inquisitive loaches don't always come off well because they can become stressed and it is almost like the loaches are hounding it, why this happens nobody knows but usually given group size and plenty of hiding places and features for them to investigate they rarely bother tank mates.
I have 12 clowns sizes range from 1in to 5in with 4 platys, 2 zebra danios, couple plecos, 1 farowella, 1 fire eel, couple cory cats, dojos, yoyos, crabs, 3 amino shrimp (eel hasnt seen them yet i dont think lol), flounder, 2 red tail sharks, hillstream loach. now im thinking im overstocked lol its in a 280G tank though and never had any problem with the loaches messing with anyone. just make sure you have plenty of tank space and hiding places for the loaches and other fishies! mine have never even chased the other fish or payed them any attention
-I'm not putting any of my plecos with any of the clowns from what I read about them not being so nice. Or risking my jaguar cats with them however my 3 big raphaels are in the tank and after days of battle over hiding spots. the raphaels won- the biggest clown at 6.5'' couldn't hold its cave against 3 rapahels 5x its weight... 3 of them have their spots however I'm getting the cats out into a 110g tub as its much more space for them to swim around in.
SO far I have a M. Dayii eel with them and it's been doing fine since day one. I also have 6 bumblebee cats that's 3'' or smaller they're doing fine- all are still fat and healthy so I'm guessing its hit and miss with what species u can do with them.
The clowns leave the raphaels alone I've seen them scatter before the raphaels go near them so I'm kind of surprised with the niger cat being picked on-
SO far I have a M. Dayii eel with them and it's been doing fine since day one. I also have 6 bumblebee cats that's 3'' or smaller they're doing fine- all are still fat and healthy so I'm guessing its hit and miss with what species u can do with them.
The clowns leave the raphaels alone I've seen them scatter before the raphaels go near them so I'm kind of surprised with the niger cat being picked on-
I've had clown loaches beat up on a bunch of fish(kirbensis, beta, angle fish), and even a turtle. I actually consider them a semi aggressive fish. I'd house them in a cichlid tank before a community again.
I keep 6 clowns, 3 blue botia, and one tiger botia (all 4-7") in with a pictus and 4-line cat. the catfish don't put up with any of their antics and keep the loaches in check. my other fish are semi-agressive cichlids and large plecos who don't bat an eye at the loaches. I could definitely see larger loaches bullying an entire community tank.