Opaline Gouramies And Clown Loaches

[richywiseman]

Wasn't sure wether to post this in loaches or gouramies, but here goes.

My loaches and Gouramies seem to have some pecular interaction, quite often the loaches will swim along with the gouramies then they will clean along the gouramies back with their mouths? The Gouramies dont seem to mind.

Is this normal?

 

[sylvia]

I've never kept clown loaches as I never felt I had a tank large enough for them. However, many active loaches will swim alongside other fish. Picking at them is probably not a good sign (some loaches have a reputation for sucking on slime coats - clowns are not one of these, as far as I am aware, however) - but if the gouramies don't mind and you don't see any sign of stress or injury, it shouldn't matter.

 

[TammyLiz]

The clowns are probably just being playful. I have yoyo loaches, which are loosely related to clowns, in with my opaline gouramis, and they sometimes "whisker" their tankmates in a playful manner without doing any damage and without seeming to have any bad intentions. Is this like what you're observing? If so, I would say its fine.

How big are the clowns, though? Once they start reaching 8 or 10 inches I think even playful behavior would start to make me nervous for the gouramis, just in case they accidentally got carried away. I'm just imagining a 12 inch clown whiskering a 5 inch gourami and it just doesn't settle right with me!

 

[jakester]

My Yoyo Loaches can be quites ruff and chase the other fish all over the place but the Clowns are not so aggressive what you describe doesn't sound like anything to worry about the the Clown loaches being Clown loaches, lol!