NTT dat with clown loaches
- Thread starter Bertie
- Start date
It wont work if the ntt eats live and the loaches are to small. Make sure the clowns are big and then it will work
As long as the eel isn't small enough to be considered food, you should be fine. If I recall, labeo sharks can be quite aggressive. I'd pass on that. Perhaps severum, uaru, geophagus, or a couple more dats. Just be aware of full grown size of everything. It may take several years, but the fish you are already considering can make a 150 look small in the long run.
This depends on a couple of factors. First being how many clown loaches are you planning on keeping and approx how large will they be when you purchase them? How large is the NTT as well?
Both the clown loaches and NTT will be fairly slow growers so a 150g aquarium should last you a fairly long time if not life for the Clown Loaches though ideally a wider tank would be preferred for the NTT (just assuming you have a 72"x18" aquarium, correct me if I'm wrong) if it reaches +14-16".
I currently keep a 2-3" NTT in a 180g aquarium with a 5" IT, 12" Black Spotted Eel, 5"Giant Gourami and 5" Black Shark and my plan is to upgrade to something +300g in the next two years assuming the stock isn't to disproportionately sized to one another or the tank by then. I would warn against the Black Shark however, I somewhat impulse bought mine, the one fish in the tank that was and of course it's going to and currently does cause the most trouble. They can be surprisingly aggressive at times especially towards fish added after it has established it's place in an aquarium.
My NTT was and is the last fish to be added and while the Black Shark is limited in aggressiveness towards the other tank mates who are larger in total mass he gives a particularly hard time towards the NTT who has only recently started to stand up for itself since taking pellets for the first time and starting putting on some mass itself. If you do decide to go with one please be sure to add it after you have the rest of your stock chosen and established in the tank for a decent amount of time.
I think an Eel could be a very good addition depending on what kind you choose, I've found my Black Spotted Eel to be a phenomenal addition in terms of very low aggression, ready eater and quite active to this point. I'd give them a look if you can find one. The seem to reach about 2" when kept long enough so I would think a 150g with a single NTT and a couple Clown Loaches would be a fairly active and attractive tank (again, wider would be ideal if your aquarium is 18" wide).
Hope this helps.
It's a 5x2x2 tank(I might be able to get bigger depending on what I'm allowed, im only 13)the NTT would be 2-3 inches and I'd want the clown loaches to be 4-5 inches when I buy them, I don't know where I could get a black spotted eel though, what size tank do you recommend if I can get bigger, I might be able to get a 6x2x2 180, if I get that do you think I could get a trio of days with the loaches and eel or would c.kelberi work with the dat and loaches. I would get 5-6 loaches for either tank
If you were to upgrade I wouldn't do it if the only difference was 5' to 6' personally. While it is a larger water volume 1' for that cost to me doesn't warrant the cost. Also if you're 13 and your parents are letting you have a 150g I wouldn't push your luck and just select fish that will do well in this tank for many years. The NTT and Clown Loach combination is a really, really nice one and with a few years caring for and growing these fish and maybe getting a job to then maybe revisit upgrading with them lol.
If you were to go this route these fish should be a few years minimum before the need to upgrade.
Have you kept +12" fish before? I only ask because larger dats can really put away a lot of food and that can often be a surprising monthly or even weekly expense too. I would focus on what you can do with the tank you have now for a few years and impress the parents instead of stocking for a tank that hasn't even been built yet.
If you were to go this route these fish should be a few years minimum before the need to upgrade.
Have you kept +12" fish before? I only ask because larger dats can really put away a lot of food and that can often be a surprising monthly or even weekly expense too. I would focus on what you can do with the tank you have now for a few years and impress the parents instead of stocking for a tank that hasn't even been built yet.
I actually had an NTT and clown loaches in a 4x2x2 for several years. NTT was about 13" and 5-6 years old when I sold it. I currently have a 5x2x2 for my clowns and some other fish. If you weren't to overstock with other large growing tankmates, that 5x2x2 would last the NTT and clowns many many years.
