Happy New Year. My six Clown Loaches are now 28 years old.
- Thread starter Redshark1
- Start date
Amazing! Just living in one house that long, let alone keeping a fish tank full of water that long is outstanding! Good job! You are an expert fish keeper. Thank you for sharing your experiences on this forum.
Happy New Year!
Job well done with this group of loaches. I recall crossing your path years ago on LOL, not even sure if that forum is still active?
I also keep my group (much younger than yours) on a scattering of loose small smooth pebble gravel. My largest female has a strange habit of fixating on a certain size of white gravel, that I can only speculate she mouths as though they are eggs. Has anyone else ever noticed this behavior? She will sometimes mouth the same piece of white gravel for hours on end. The other day I saw one of my other females doing what appeared to be the same.
Job well done with this group of loaches. I recall crossing your path years ago on LOL, not even sure if that forum is still active?
I also keep my group (much younger than yours) on a scattering of loose small smooth pebble gravel. My largest female has a strange habit of fixating on a certain size of white gravel, that I can only speculate she mouths as though they are eggs. Has anyone else ever noticed this behavior? She will sometimes mouth the same piece of white gravel for hours on end. The other day I saw one of my other females doing what appeared to be the same.
I believe that I have the same ID everywhere, but haven't posted on LOL for many years. I actually stopped posting/reading there a long time ago, probably around the time that I had convo with Emma regarding some of the info that was posted in their article section on clown loaches, that was way off base. She/they preferred not to upset the status quo, I prefer accuracy when presenting facts. Which led me to put the following together back in 2012. Clown Loaches - Kalimantan vs Sumatra | MonsterFishKeepers.com
That is amazing! 28 years old... I'm only a decade older than those fish! (well I'll be 39 this year so a bit over a decade). I love to see fish that are actually cared for their whole life. I feel as tho most people don't keep fish for the long haul. They usually get rid of them because they want something new. My Fahaka is turning 12 this year. I plan to keep her until she dies of old age - whatever age that is.
When fish live free of disease or accidents and exceed their expected life spans they become increasingly special and I was initially told 10 years. So after 10 years came up I was aiming for 20. Now 30!
I kept them the same way all these years, still have undergravel filtration! 1970 Juwel aquarium with T8 lights. I replaced the plastic parts of the lighting system but the original electronics go on. The tank has been leak-free so far!
I kept them the same way all these years, still have undergravel filtration! 1970 Juwel aquarium with T8 lights. I replaced the plastic parts of the lighting system but the original electronics go on. The tank has been leak-free so far!
I stuck with the larger size gravel as the Clown Loaches love digging for granules in it. I feed Tetra Discus Granules. Plus I have the 2 x undergravel filters powered by 2 x Aquaclear 50 powerheads with venturi giving x 10 turnover.
Clown Loach food Feeding list / Food list
Every day I feed freeze-dried Pacific Krill (the small one, the large one is Atlantic Krill) soaked in boiled water until they sink then rinsed. Frozen Bloodworms thawed and rinsed (I get an A4 sized sheet and break pieces off with pliers). Cooked Frozen Mussels or Prawns (from supermarket) thawed, rinsed and chopped. Finally I give them some Tetra Sinking Discus Granules which they love to dig for. Sometimes I feed freeze-dried Earthworms soaked in hot water and rinsed. Dried foods vary but current ones include Omega One Shrimp Pellets or New Life Spectrum Large Fish Formula. I spread the food out to enable all of them to forage for it otherwise the dominant fish take it all. I would suggest buying good quality branded food as I find it is more digestible (I don't find evidence of it in the tank) and will not pollute the water like cheap foods (that pass straight through the fish) I have experimented with. ??
Clown Loach food Feeding list / Food list
Every day I feed freeze-dried Pacific Krill (the small one, the large one is Atlantic Krill) soaked in boiled water until they sink then rinsed. Frozen Bloodworms thawed and rinsed (I get an A4 sized sheet and break pieces off with pliers). Cooked Frozen Mussels or Prawns (from supermarket) thawed, rinsed and chopped. Finally I give them some Tetra Sinking Discus Granules which they love to dig for. Sometimes I feed freeze-dried Earthworms soaked in hot water and rinsed. Dried foods vary but current ones include Omega One Shrimp Pellets or New Life Spectrum Large Fish Formula. I spread the food out to enable all of them to forage for it otherwise the dominant fish take it all. I would suggest buying good quality branded food as I find it is more digestible (I don't find evidence of it in the tank) and will not pollute the water like cheap foods (that pass straight through the fish) I have experimented with. ??
