Clowns with horns

[dolphin]

Hi
I recently asked if any one had seen clown loaches with horns before.

Now here is the picture of them.....

 

[CFC]

The famous loach gill spines,not known about by many until they go to net the fish and they become hopelessly tangled in the mesh also used by the fish for fighting and can inflict nasty wounds.

 

[kevin007]

that's a wierd and cool fish

 

[wuvmybetta]

that's wild Dolphin, you don't keep those.... do you?

 

[dolphin]

Hi wuvmybetta

Yes I do, and so do alot of other people. It is just a regular clown loach. The horns, (gill spikes) are folded back in normal swimming mode. They only stick them out in defence, or attack. They are very hard to see when to fish is in water.

 

[wuvmybetta]

again...that's too wild
so you DO keep them, I think I would be a bit nervous sticking my hand into their tank

Do they school with the regular clown fish in the wild?

 

[CFC]

They are regular clown loaches,all botia species have gill spikes which are used for defence and for fighting other loaches,as Dolphin said you can only normally see them when you take the fish out of water and they erect them as a defence mechanism,you can also some times see them on the fish when they have territory disputes but this is more usual on the more aggressive botia species than on clowns which sre normally peaceful.

 

[leroy]

I keep clown loaches and i did'nt know they had them.

 

[Tanked]

thats a great pic of the spines dolphin.

 

[dolphin]

Thanks tanked

I was going to get a better one, but my wife desturbed the fish and it ended flapping on the floor, so I just put it back into the bag, and then back into the tank in the front room.

 

[PanthyWanthy]

How old are the clown loaches when they get the horns.. Or are they there from birth. Mine are about 6 months old and 2 inches in length... would they already have them?

 

[dolphin]

Hi PanthyWanthy

I suspect that they are there from the beginning. The one in the photo is just over 4" in length. I have had it for about a year, along with his 5 buddys.