Moving Large Clown Loaches

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jandb

jandb

Piranha
MFK Member
Jan 18, 2009
947
174
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Lewis Center, OH
Hello, I'm lucky enough to know someone getting out of the hobby and he is selling me his 9 clown loaches. They are all from 5"-9". I plan on adding them to my 540 gallon community tank. That said I don't really have a suitable quarantine tank considering their size. The biggest I have is a 100 gallon. I don't want to stress them unnecessarily and I know the fish are in good health and free of parasites/disease. I'm just concerned they'd get ich from the move. Would you crank up the heat in the 540 , acclimate them and put them straight in or try and qt them in the smaller tank?
 
Quarantine is always best but if the tanks two small like you said stressing them out is worse. I moved mine right in to my 230 gal raised the heat to around 84deg and they started eating 20 minutes later. I have 3 8-9" clowns and 6 5-6" right now. Remember there face spikes and triple bag them or use pales. Never pick them up with your hands.
 
That's great advice Corvette. Thanks. I plan on getting them tomorrow and have already started bumping up the temp. I'm going to put them in 2 large coolers so they don't puncture a bag and I keep the temp up. I'm real excited about getting them.
 
I wouldn't worry about a quarantine if they are coming from a friend's disease free tank. Just watch for ich, and don't be afraid to use Paraguard. Works wonders on ich and is perfectly fine for scaless fish. I've used it in the tank with my loach squad and no one suffered any stress or problems.
 
jandb said:
That's great advice Corvette. Thanks. I plan on getting them tomorrow and have already started bumping up the temp. I'm going to put them in 2 large coolers so they don't puncture a bag and I keep the temp up. I'm real excited about getting them.
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If it's a sizable drive, I use a power converter with 2 plugs on for a therm and an aerator.
 
predatorkeeper87 said:
I wouldn't worry about a quarantine if they are coming from a friend's disease free tank. Just watch for ich, and don't be afraid to use Paraguard. Works wonders on ich and is perfectly fine for scaless fish. I've used it in the tank with my loach squad and no one suffered any stress or problems.
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Great. Thanks. Would you use Paraguard as a preventative or only if I notice ich?
 
jandb said:
Great. Thanks. Would you use Paraguard as a preventative or only if I notice ich?
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only if you notice it. I don't advocate much in the way of preventatives except maybe prazi-pro and salt use in tanks. Paraguard certainly wouldn't hurt as a preventative measure but you don't want to take the chance of creating a resistant strain of any disease in your tank by using it without signs of trouble.
 
jandb said:
Great. Thanks. Would you use Paraguard as a preventative or only if I notice ich?
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I'd do it if you notice, not preventative, if I had to bet; I'd suspect they won't even get ick at all, in my experience once clowns get bigger and healthily established they get a lot hardier than juveniles. Anecdotal obviously.
 
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