Overstocked?

[NickAu]

What’s your issue? You’re not the omnipotent fish God you’re a a 54 year old who keeps pets.

No I am not some omnipotent fish God that's for sure, But I do know more about fish keeping than you do and other members who replied in this thread confirm that.

If you are still not sure about how much I know have a close look at the number of posts I have and the reputation points I accumulated from members who are great full for my help.

Petshops keep Clown loaches in small tanks because they are only there for a few weeks at most and they have huge sumps to control water quality and most of the unsold Loaches die, you will hardly ever see a 5 inch Clown Loach for sale in a pet shop.

 

[Colin_T]

Petshops keep Clown loaches in small tanks because they are only there for a few weeks at most and they have huge sumps to control water quality and most of the unsold Loaches die, you will hardly ever see a 5 inch Clown Loach for sale in a pet shop.

I have to comment about this. Not all pet shops keep them in tanks that are on recirculating systems with big sumps that help to stabilise the water quality. We regularly kept small clown loaches in tanks that were 2 foot long x 14inches wide x 12 inches high. The tanks were not on a recirculating system and simply got a 75% water change and gravel clean each week.

Loaches were not big sellers due to their price (this is going back a few years) and if they didn't have white spot when they came in, they were fine and healthy and we never lost them. We often had loaches in the tank for several months before most were sold and we got more loaches in. The loaches we use to get in were about 2-3 inches long.

We occasionally got in bigger loaches (5-6inches), usually from customers who were getting rid of them. These fish were put into a 4 or 6 foot tank until they were sold. Pet shops do not normally buy in big clown loaches because they are expensive. Smaller loaches are a lot cheaper and more commonly kept.

In my experience, clown loaches are not fast growing fishes and are generally quite hardy once established. Most pet shops try to keep their fish alive because it is cheaper to treat and save a tank full of fish, rather than let them die. Yes fish do die in pet shops, but most shops do try to prevent and save as many fish from dying as possible. Most of the fish we lost in the shop were livebearers (guppies, platies and mollies) then neon tetras and then new tetras or barbs that had just come in. These new fish were usually infected with a bacterial or protozoan disease when shipped to us. Loaches were not commonly in the list of dead fish.

 

[NickAu]

You should see my local Petbarn then, All their tanks including the betta stand use a common sump and I laugh when I see one tank with lights off and a sign with " Not for sale " on it, I did ask them about it once and was told they use UV prefilters.

As I said my guys were about 9 months old in that video and they were obviously settled happy healthy and very active.

If you have the tank for them Clown loaches are great fish very friendly and love to interact with their owner/food provider, I used to play a game with mine, I would put a pellet into the palm and close my hand ( not to tight ) then stick my hand in the tank and watch the loaches try and get it, they would get so excited you could hear them making clicking noises half way across the room,

A 1.5 inch clown loach will grow to about 5 inches in 6 months.