ShinySideUp
Fish Herder
Over and over again on this forum there are statements along the lines of clown loaches needing a million gallon tank and have to be kept in groups of 100,000 or more and that they grow to the size of whales and yet they are still sold in fish shops -- even the most respected ones.
By all means try to keep all fish in the manner which their species might normally live in the wild but it is a fact of life that not everything is perfect, even for tropical fish. Perhaps my two rabbits would love to live in a big warren in the woods rather than the shed and run we built for them and to eventually die in a gruesome manner either by disease or predation. My guinea pigs may or may not want to live in a Peruvian mountain cave and breed into such a huge population that every now and again they will run out of food and starve to death but seem perfectly happy on an upper level with a balcony outside in the same shed as my rabbits. Whilst my border collie might wish he was a wolf and run with a pack hunting caribou, he seems to get by lying upside down on my sofa, snoring. Along the same lines, I have six clown loaches which live in a 240 litre 50" tank and seem perfectly happy pottering around in their caves and biting the heads off my plants. They are fed, kept in excellent water quality, and have never suffered from any disease in the six years I have had them. The largest is five inches long, the smallest is a runt that never grew at all and is still only and inch and a half.
In this country alone there must be 1000's if not hundreds of thousands of clown loaches kept in less-than-perfect conditions but it is for the responsible fish-keeper to do their best for their fish safe in the knowledge that they are in better hands with them than with some erk who hasn't the faintest idea about feeding or water quality.
If we were to be honest, NO tank, whatever it's size or condition, is the correct place for a fish who's natural habitat is a large lake, fast-flowing stream or tropical sea.
My fish tank may not be the largest in the world but I am comfortable that ALL my fish are in better conditions than they could hope for in the wild and certainly better than some other home aquaria. Let's let people have clown loaches without the dreadful guilt trip that some would inflict on them and merely advise them on how to make the best of the facilities that are availble to them.
Rant over. Time to feed my fish.
By all means try to keep all fish in the manner which their species might normally live in the wild but it is a fact of life that not everything is perfect, even for tropical fish. Perhaps my two rabbits would love to live in a big warren in the woods rather than the shed and run we built for them and to eventually die in a gruesome manner either by disease or predation. My guinea pigs may or may not want to live in a Peruvian mountain cave and breed into such a huge population that every now and again they will run out of food and starve to death but seem perfectly happy on an upper level with a balcony outside in the same shed as my rabbits. Whilst my border collie might wish he was a wolf and run with a pack hunting caribou, he seems to get by lying upside down on my sofa, snoring. Along the same lines, I have six clown loaches which live in a 240 litre 50" tank and seem perfectly happy pottering around in their caves and biting the heads off my plants. They are fed, kept in excellent water quality, and have never suffered from any disease in the six years I have had them. The largest is five inches long, the smallest is a runt that never grew at all and is still only and inch and a half.
In this country alone there must be 1000's if not hundreds of thousands of clown loaches kept in less-than-perfect conditions but it is for the responsible fish-keeper to do their best for their fish safe in the knowledge that they are in better hands with them than with some erk who hasn't the faintest idea about feeding or water quality.
If we were to be honest, NO tank, whatever it's size or condition, is the correct place for a fish who's natural habitat is a large lake, fast-flowing stream or tropical sea.
My fish tank may not be the largest in the world but I am comfortable that ALL my fish are in better conditions than they could hope for in the wild and certainly better than some other home aquaria. Let's let people have clown loaches without the dreadful guilt trip that some would inflict on them and merely advise them on how to make the best of the facilities that are availble to them.
Rant over. Time to feed my fish.
