Clown Loaches - Very Strange Behavior

[Ludwig Venter]

I just resigned to the fact that Clown loaches cannot be bred in captivity and have never seen any accounts of them being bred (successfully)...... BUT... they are so cheerful, friendly and nice to have fish... that in my 43 years of keeping fish... they have always just been part of my community setups......

In my mind.... I imagined that... if they could be bred.... they would probably be tunnel breeders... very much like BN's and the likes......

BUT!!... tonight... I saw (first off in 43 years) ... 3 of them chasing around the tank like in tigerbarb spawning activity..... like egg scatterers..... even intervention would not deter them from their activities.... like being in a trance.... they just continued doing what they were doing..... Chasing... pausing 2 together in a corner shaking alongside vigorously.... then chasing would continue....

Could they actually be egg scatterers??.... anyone else observed this behavior before??...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

There is an article on the loaches.com site about a purported clown spawning years ago. If you have never read it, you should find it interesting http/www.loaches.com/articles/clown-loach-breeding-related-items
 
My clowns have been with me for 10-12 years and a couple were 3-4 at the time I got them. Every now and then I see them acting in a manner that could be taken as courting or pre-spawning behavior, and then I smack myself in the forehead and remind myself they don't spawn in captivity without being hormoned. Considering over the years how many other things have spawned in my tanks without any help for me, I sometimes forget that good fortune wont transfer to clowns
 
But I have a paltry 1/3 of your years in the hobby, so I would assume you are better equipped to answer your question than I am.  And I have my fingers crossed for you. Sooner or later, given all the possibilities in the universe, somebody will have them spawn in a big tank someplace.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Unfortunately.... if that was a spawning ritual.... nothing will come of it... as they are in a community with Kribs, BN's and Chromides..... Eggs.... if any... will probably be eaten as they are released.... I did not see any....