Do all clown loaches eventually become 1 flowing group?

[volcomstone]

So I've picked 2 sets of clown loaches within the last month. One group is a smaller group of five 3-3.5" and another bigger group is three 6-9". I got both groups from 2 seperate previous owners and I've had the smalelr group longer than the bigger group...the bigger group just got added about 6 days ago. The small group have been together for quite some time and the same goes for the big group before all ending up in my tank.

For the last week or so, both groups have "hung" out seperately where they don't really interact with other. I'm for sure going to give it more time but my question is do they eventually end up flowing as one group. Does the size differences between each group play a huge factor? This is the first time I've mixed a group of much larger loaches with smaller loaches.

 

[JakeH]

I haven't dealt with this before, but I know some CL's can feel like outcasts if their shoal-mates are a significantly different size. Try to fill the gap in size with a few more CL's maybe?

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

I'v had clown loaches for years in different tanks and what i have found is that the bigger they become the more they only come out at night ( so you dont get to see )
My current setup is 900 ltr and about 100 small fish with 4 clown loaches about 6", making them in the top ten in size but only one comes out at feeding time and any movment outside the tank and its gone!
Shy fish i think but very nice.

 

[mamapuff]

I had shoal of ten for about 6 months and then I found a big 5 inch and a 4 inch for a steal so i bought them (they are both malnurished) but the largest, is sooo out going and loves to beg, where as my shoal always hid in a big conch shell. They came out in the mornings and hid the rest of the day. Now that the two newbs are in they are ALL out. They all line up and beg, dancing around the glass, chasing each other. It took one oblivious loach to bring out the ten shy ones (we got them a week ago)

 

[mamapuff]

What other types of fish do you have?

 

[volcomstone]

So I actually picked up the remaining two clown loaches from the bigger group and have added them into the tank. Of course they're hanging out with the other 3 bigger ones.

But yea as Fuzzy mentioned...the biggers ones are way more skittish. All they do is hide and get freaked out when I turn on the light of the tank. Probably still has somewhat to do with them adapting to the tank conditions but I've noticed that. I am freaking amazed though when all the big ones do come out "sniffing" all over the decor...they look amazing at such larger sizes especially the ones I have with oddball patterns.

But so far they're still separated and I think it has a lot to do with the smaller group with being so outgoing that the big group can't hang. I'll continue to monitor both groups' behavior.

mamapuff - I have the clown loaches with a variety of fish...a fancy plec, flagtail, cichlids....no aggression on the loaches from my experiencing of keeping them.

Pic of the 9"

 

[mamapuff]

Now that you mention it, my original ten, (exception of the 1 rescue baby that was a loner to begin with) they all got skittish when the lights came on and if they already weren't sleeping, they would hide. There were exceptions sometimes, but for the most part they hid. These two guys were by themselves so they were pretty outgoing. Something in them sparked their fire. The one in your pic is beautiful and I love his pattern I have a pic of mine a couple months after I got them. They are a bit bigger now but I need to find those pics

this one is where they sleep.

this one is about 2 months after we got them.

 

[ewurm]

Eventually they'll all shoal to together. Mine do.

 

[kin959]

from my experience, the the more loaches you have together, the more they behave as a shoal. my school reminds me of the mass squiddies from the movie, matrix revolution.