going to try breeding clown loaches

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I wish that I had all the answers, but I don't. Plenty of info has been posted in this discussion, more then enough to get someone started down the right path.


FYI - 8-12 metres of rain doesn't happen overnight. Dominant loaches seldom if ever grey out, unless under stress. Greying out is typically seen in stressed out fish, or when sub dom fish are establishing or fighting over their pecking order in the group.

The local Petland here had some F1's a couple of years ago, very small (3/4" TL) and cost the same as 3-4" loaches anywhere else. Most stores won't bring them in due to their ultra small size, and the price tag attached to such a small loach. You would probably have to find a farm in Florida & import directly in bulk.
 
Don't like to bash a store but have found Petland always seems overpriced. Would have thought that the f1's would be cheaper if from Florida because of less shipping cost. Then again labour to get wild caught probably far lower. Do agree we defiatley have enough info to get started I know I have to wait till our loaches get bigger. RD do you still have clown loaches?
 
A stores pricing generally reflects their overhead, rent, utilities, staff, etc, hence the reason for higher pricing. That being said, F1's are currently more expensive than wild caught for the reasons previously posted in this discussion. Wild caught loaches are dirt cheap, most of what one is paying for is freight from SE Asia to NA, and the middleman's cut for the handling. Domestic bred loaches take time, money, and some effort just to get them up to 3/4-1", hence the reason for the higher cost, so no one in FL is blowing out F1's for a $1 or 2 a piece.

I kept a shoal of 15 CL's by themselves in a 6ft 125 gallon tank, varying in size from 3-6+". Keeping them in a species only tank is something that I would highly recommend to anyone who is serious about clown loaches. You get to see behaviour that IMO isn't often seen when keeping them in community tanks, especially if/when larger or more aggro fish are in with them. At one point I realized that my 125 wasn't going to be enough room to groove forever, and I split the shoal among two good friends in town who added them to their shoals. One group went to a 7ft 230 gallon, the other to a 9ft 550 gallon, and both groups are still alive & doing well. So now they are in much larger systems, in larger shoals, & I get to see them on a regular basis. All's well that ends well.


One thing that I will add to getting breeding conditions right, is reducing feed intake for several weeks prior to tweaking things for a spawn, and only then feeding an abundance of food. Many adult clowns that I see in home aquariums are fat, not nice & round, but obese. Marge the barge may have broken size records, but in the wild you will never see a 10-12" clown loach that looks anything like that. I've seen my share of 9-11" wild caught clown loaches, and every last one of them has been long & slender. In the link below it shows a classic example of what a large wild caught (11") CL typically looks like.
http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?p=74965

Many people would refer to that CL as being skinny, it's not, that's exactly how a large wild CL should look. Feeding lightly for several weeks, and then upping the feed amount may also assist the urge to produce to spawn. Along with increased current, water temps, barometric pressure, a full moon, and whatever else anyone wants to toss in to the mix. :)
 
Glad to see those pics because I was worried ours were on the skinny side. You mentioned the in with agressive fish that is one thing I have noticed no fish ever pick on them why is that. Sounds like yours went to some great homes kind of like cl aquarium heaven.
 
They don't pick on them directly due to the loaches suboccular spines.
But that doesn't mean that the CL's are in their comfort zone, either.



I think that I've added about all I can to this subject, best of luck to those who take a shot at breeding them in captivity.
 
Has anyone ever picked up any of the f1 cl's and how big are they now?
 
im not sure if it has been said. But We dont even know when CL are sexually mature.

To even try to breed them without hormones. You would need a school of large CL atleast 8''. And even with some people, who do have plenty of CL over 8''. they havnt tried bred either.
 
I remember seeing pics and stuff on another thread, im not sure which website though... it took something like 5 weeks for them to reach like a centimeter and start showing colors
 
You said it is paying off have you had some success in breeding them. If you have please share your details with us.
 
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