David K. Bradley;4696368; said:
That's a good name for him. I find it unique that you found the spot on him like that (on each side) They usually have 3 stripes, don't they? Do you have any idea as to how old he may be? I've heard they can get up to the 12" range in captivity. Will he ever get that big?
Yes, the typical clown loach just has the three stripes, and no spots at all. You will see oddballs occasionally and most clown loach keepers love them and will go out of their way to get them... I know loach guys that will go to stores when they get the tiny new clown loaches in and just look for oddball patterns in them and grow them out.
They can definitely get to around a foot, however this is VERY rare to see... they are one of the slowest growing fish I know of, as far as age goes, this guy is definitely several years old. I think they put on maybe an inch or MAYBE two a year max when young.
This is what makes large clown loaches
really expensive (read, up to $100 each easy, especially for groups of large fish)... they are not the easiest fish to keep either (scaleless, prone to disease, sensitive to nitrates), which also increases their money value when large. You can sell, for example, a full grown oscar for around $20, because it's easy to grow them out.
So a clown loach around a foot in length is probably around 20 years old if I had to guess... I hear they can live up to 25 years and up. I know personally people who had had them for 15 years. The largest you typically will see max out a 9", even that is rare. The largest one I have is 7". They also tend to grow in width a lot, length takes a ton of time... I have several around the 4-5" mark but some are obviously much bigger than others. This oddball is my second smallest one now, and my first oddball EVER!
Just in case everyone is curious, I am building my 125 gallon mainly to house these guys... they will get an upgraded tank size in the future as well. I am lucky to have even one large clown, and I have 7... and soon to be more, as a LFS has about a dozen around the 4" mark right now, but they want $40 each for them.
I keep my clowns on sand and with a lot of flow in the tank and pvc pipes to hide in... feed them NLS Thera, NLS H20 stable wafers, frozen bloodworms (mainly for other fish in the tank, but they eat them of course), and occasional fresh veggies when I have them around.
). That's it. 
