Clown Loach And Tiger Barbs

[tttnjfttt]

Yesterday I bought a clown loach for my tank. I'll admit he was a inpulse buy, largely off of the recomendation of a knowlegable sales person (she quizzed me for tank size, tank mates, etc. and told some other customers to get a gift card instead of fish as a gift). The one thing I didn't realize was that the clown loaches are schoaling fish. Today, he is schoaling with the tiger barbs. Where the barbs go, he follows. Its quite comical to watch.

 

[Rodders]

Yesterday I bought a clown loach for my tank. I'll admit he was a inpulse buy, largely off of the recomendation of a knowlegable sales person (she quizzed me for tank size, tank mates, etc. and told some other customers to get a gift card instead of fish as a gift). The one thing I didn't realize was that the clown loaches are schoaling fish. Today, he is schoaling with the tiger barbs. Where the barbs go, he follows. Its quite comical to watch.

Clown loaches are very sociable. You should really have a buddy one for him.
When one of mine was ill and dying, the other one really tried to help him out. It was nice to watch ho friendly they were, shame he didnt make it.

 

[kris-b-]

If you look at info about clown loach they can get upto 12" in length. They are most suited to a fairly large tank.

Hope this helps!

 

[tttnjfttt]

If you look at info about clown loach they can get upto 12" in length. They are most suited to a fairly large tank.

Hope this helps!

My tank's floor plan is 36" x 15" It is shorter than a 55 gal, but it is also wider, so there will be enough room for it to turn around when it is older. (I had actually considered its size)

 

[sylvia]

90 gallons is minnimum for clown loaches though so a tank of that size isn't realy large enough - they aren't just large, they are also extremely active.

 

[tttnjfttt]

I'm confused. In the species profile, it says 55 gal is the minimum

 

[sylvia]

Can't help you there. 90 is the minnimum as far as I'm concerned. They are fine in smaller tank temporarily but I wouldn't keep them in anything less than 90 permanently.

 

[Animation]

Iv'e got 24inch minimum in mine..

 

[Paul_MTS]

Minimum tank size as far as I'm concerned is a descent size 4ft tank so atleast 48x18x18.

As mentioned they are very active fish and are going to be constantly moving.

It would be better if you bought a couple of mates for them, any sociable fish should be kept in a group of atleast 3.

 

[mikev]

>>Today, he is schoaling with the tiger barbs. Where the barbs go, he follows. Its quite comical to watch.

They do, the markings seem to be similar enough to confuse them, and they likely will schoal together even if you add a couple more clowns (as you should).

In my tank, clowns schoaled together with Odessa Barbs which really does not make sense: Odessa's don't look like clowns at all.

---

In re tank size: would not this depend on the size of clowns? Do 1"-2" clowns most buy really need a 90g tank---I'd think not, and it takes years for them to grow large enough to need something like 90g. And during these years, your clowns may die, you may die, you may want to get rid of them,.... OTOH, I have some doubts that if/when they reach 12", 90g will be enough.
(My clowns are currently under 3" and live in a 65g...I assume that a bigger tank may be required in 2-3 years, but surely not tomorrow...)

 

[SamUK]

mine jus seem to think that if another fish swims fast then it wants to play!


so funny when something like a neon gourami shoots across the tank, the clowns spot it and go belting after it.


thought they were being bad lil clowns at first lol but they jus chase em and swim around em like lil kids.

 

[sylvia]

Like I said before, a smaller tank is fine while the fish is small. It simply isn't fair on a full grown fish.

As for the argument that you may want to get rid of it or it might die - that's irrelevant as you should be catering for the fish' needs once full grown to begin with. Saying you *might* get rid of it later is not good enough and suggesting it might die (or you might die) is not the right attitude to have anyway.

Anyway, do what you like with your fish but do try to make sure it's requirements are met as it matures (though I think you will).

 

[tttnjfttt]

There is nothing wrong with a valid excuse for a new (and much bigger) tank! Isn't it true that clown loaches do grow fairly slow, so it shouldn't be an immediate problem?

 

[mikev]

Like I said before, a smaller tank is fine while the fish is small. It simply isn't fair on a full grown fish.

As for the argument that you may want to get rid of it or it might die - that's irrelevant as you should be catering for the fish' needs once full grown to begin with.

Let me resstate this a bit:

You should be catering for the fish' CURRENT needs, and anticipate the fish' FUTURE needs.

Consider also: Catering for FUTURE needs may also be a bad idea: if you do put a few small clowns into 90g, you will end up also putting lots of other fish, and what are you going to do with all the other fish when clowns do finally grow up?

Saying you *might* get rid of it later is not good enough and suggesting it might die (or you might die) is not the right attitude to have anyway.

But it is the reality of the situation. All kinds of things may go wrong over the years it would take clowns to mature. And don't forget that on average a person moves every 7 years, moving means changing tanks.

Anyway, do what you like with your fish but do try to make sure it's requirements are met as it matures (though I think you will).

I will, but it likely will not be because of clowns... I also have a (currently 5") plec in the same 65g...

 

[sylvia]

So are you suggesting someone is justified in buying a great dane pup while they are living in a flat with plans to *possibly* move into a house with a big garden in the future? Sure, it's an excuse to move to a bigger house - is it going to happen though? Sure, you are catering for the dog's current needs - but what will you do when it grows up? And, yes, maybe that dog will get run over before it's too big to not be happy in a small flat - does that mean we should assume this will be the case and not consdier its future? As for the argument that you may put in too many fish if you put clowns in a 90 gallon - again, you are supposed to be making sure the clown loach will be housed properly at adulthood - over-stocking is not a way of doing this and shouldn't happen if you know what you're loaches will need once mature (ie: have done the research before buying them). Both you and tttnjfttt said clown loaches mature slowly - so did I earlier - for this reason they'll be fine for the time being. That wasn't the point I was trying to make though. I was just saying that people should aim to provide their fish with the correct environment from the start and that saying you might possibly upgrade or no longer need to think about the particular fish (eg: because it died) in future is not realy enough and does not guarantee the fish will be cared for properly once mature. Like I said before, I think you seem like a responsible person and expect you will make sure your fish are cared for. I have nothing against what you are doing Mikey because I'm pretty certain that you will upgrade (as you've now confirmed) and you're tank isn't so small that it would very seriously harm (ie: cause death to them) the loaches even if they were full grown (and the same for tttnjfttt's 55) but I don't want anyone else who reads through this thread to assume its ok to buy a clown loach and put in a 20 gallon with 'plans to upgrade in future'.

BTW, 7 years is an average and therefore cannot be used to assume the next person who buy a 2" clown loach will be moving to a new house soon. Note also that it doesn't take 7 years for a clown loach to get large if we are assuming the person bought it when they first moved or if they are going to need to upgrade several times even once they've moved and that moving house doesn't always mean getting a new tank or, moreover, getting a larger one. Nor was the average taken from people moving only to larger accomodations so you cannot assume they will even have room for a larger tank in the future.