I've currently got 5x 3-4" loaches mixed in with my central americans. I just ordered 15x 1.5-2" for $2 a piece from a wholesale order with a friend of mine and I am picking them up tomorrow from him. While I was at the pet store today they had 5x 1.5" clown loaches for $1.99 so I bought them all so nobody else would lol. My friend who works there said a 6" loach got brought in over the weekend and some lady bought it for her kid for $20 so now I'm hoarding all the loaches I find in their store. Tomorrow I want to move all the loaches into a 40long together (48"x12"x17") but I think I should grow out my others before putting them in with the bigger 5. I know loaches grow slow but I don't think it will be much more than 2 months before I can keep them together. My big loaches are mean too! I feed them so much and they're always fighting. They turn light colored/grey on me and wrestle around with each other. I'm worried if I put the smaller ones in with them they might kill them. I also have 4x 2.5" red tail botia that I want to put in with them. I have some small CL's in with some full grown kuhli's, and with the red tail botia. I don't think I am going to move the kuhlis into the clown loach tank but I might. For all the people saying.. "that tanks too small!" I do ridiculous amounts of water changes and have lots of spare tanks in case something goes wrong. I don't intend on keeping all of these loaches. My plan is to grow them out to 3-4" and sell them in lots of 5. I only paid $2 for them and I know I won't have a problem getting $8 for them when they reach 3" or $40 a lot. I already know that they grow slow. With my experience with my 5x they are actually growing fast. Some have put on about .25" a month since I've had them (got them at 2.5-3") and I mostly just feed them what my cichlids eat (new life spectrum and various frozen foods.) I was mainly wondering what the ideal loach tank would look like and have in it? Its currently barebottom with no decor. What should I put in there? I think I will pick up a bag of pool filter sand for them but I don't know if I should do planted, caves, or what. Let me know and show me your setups.
What to keep my 25 clown loaches in?
- Thread starter Camphilophus
- Start date
First of all, you cannot put the Yasuhikotakia modesta with the clowns. These are very nasty fish and at 8-10 inches adult size, all your clowns are guaranteed to end up dead with plenty of red marks around their bodies. Juveniles are already very aggressive and can rip through your loach community. Do not expect them to coexist once they settle. A Grrr tank (where all aggressive loach species are kept) is suitable. Yasuhikotakia modesta do best with Yasuhikotakia morleti, Yasuhikotakia eos, Syncrossus and many other aggressive species. A minimum tank size to start with would be a 75g. Yasuhikotakia modesta can move in lightning speed rivalling the Syncrossus. If you want to place some tankmates there, pick the barbs and danios. Your best bet would be the sturdy ones that can defend themselves well enough which includes the tiger barbs, arulius barbs and filament barbs in particular.
P.S. The term Grrr has been coined by Graeme Robson, moderator of www.loaches.com in reference to the aggression of the loaches.
Second, it is a common mistake to mix the Pangios with botiine loaches. Why? There are several valid reasons why you cannot mix both for a long time. Botiine loaches like fast flowing currents. If this is achieved, the still water-loving Pangios will never appreciate that. Botiine loaches are very boisterous. Do not expect the Pangios to come out of hiding and join the fray. They will generally do best by themselves in a heavily-planted tank with no boisterous tankmates. A heavily-planted 40g is the best place for the Pangios along with some rasboras, tetras, corydoras and pencilfish. If you prefer Asian style, stick with rasboras, cherry barbs and a few small species of danios such as the Danio margaritatus.
Your tank should have substrate that should not have sharp edges otherwise expect them to lose their barbels and have scratches and cuts on their skin. Use smooth rocks and driftwoods to create plenty of hiding places. More ideas can be found here. If you think you have enough cash to spend on Indian almond leaves (in case you live in areas where they are not found at al), then you can put some in your filtration system or wedge them to the bottom for leaf litter. They can be a bit messy but the tannins they leach gives comfort for the loaches. All of your loaches came from soft, acidic waters. More information about the leaves can be found here.
You cannot keep plants if you wish to keep clown loaches. Clown loaches are avid diggers and will uproot them as they forage the bottom for foods. If you must, tie some Anubias, Java ferns and Java moss to pieces of driftwoods. They have a better chance of surviving the loaches' constant digging than those planted to the ground. For caves, pipes can do wonders.
P.S. The term Grrr has been coined by Graeme Robson, moderator of www.loaches.com in reference to the aggression of the loaches.
Second, it is a common mistake to mix the Pangios with botiine loaches. Why? There are several valid reasons why you cannot mix both for a long time. Botiine loaches like fast flowing currents. If this is achieved, the still water-loving Pangios will never appreciate that. Botiine loaches are very boisterous. Do not expect the Pangios to come out of hiding and join the fray. They will generally do best by themselves in a heavily-planted tank with no boisterous tankmates. A heavily-planted 40g is the best place for the Pangios along with some rasboras, tetras, corydoras and pencilfish. If you prefer Asian style, stick with rasboras, cherry barbs and a few small species of danios such as the Danio margaritatus.
Your tank should have substrate that should not have sharp edges otherwise expect them to lose their barbels and have scratches and cuts on their skin. Use smooth rocks and driftwoods to create plenty of hiding places. More ideas can be found here. If you think you have enough cash to spend on Indian almond leaves (in case you live in areas where they are not found at al), then you can put some in your filtration system or wedge them to the bottom for leaf litter. They can be a bit messy but the tannins they leach gives comfort for the loaches. All of your loaches came from soft, acidic waters. More information about the leaves can be found here.
You cannot keep plants if you wish to keep clown loaches. Clown loaches are avid diggers and will uproot them as they forage the bottom for foods. If you must, tie some Anubias, Java ferns and Java moss to pieces of driftwoods. They have a better chance of surviving the loaches' constant digging than those planted to the ground. For caves, pipes can do wonders.
Lupin pretty much summed it up....
Non-abrassive substrate, some cover in the form of driftwood and smooth rock caves. Def. not a bare bottom. A power head or two. A 75 would be a good GO w/plenty of WCs.
Non-abrassive substrate, some cover in the form of driftwood and smooth rock caves. Def. not a bare bottom. A power head or two. A 75 would be a good GO w/plenty of WCs.
I got my first bag of pool filter sand earlier for them, I've used regular home depot sand and 3m color quartz but I didn't feel like washing it today. I'll post some pictures of their tank soon, I think I did alright decorating their tank. I've only got 19 of them in there :-( I guess 2 died during transport but I guess a shoal of 19 is better than 3 or 4.
The best picture I could get of the tank earlier. Its not cloudy anymore, that was 10 minutes after I dumped the sand in.
and the only decent picture I could get of them.
and the only decent picture I could get of them.
Nice setup! Add a few more pieces of woods, fake plants and rocks, and keep the clowns by themselves. Put the Y. modesta in another tank. The Pangios should be in a heavily-planted tank.