need advice on a new fish please

[trkyhunter91]

Hi I have my eye on a 1 to 2 inch clown loach at my lfs. I want him really bad, but he is really dark. You cant hardly even tell he has orange stripes on him. Is he sick or is this normal? There was only one other big loach and a bunch of babies with him.This clown is almost a complete blackish gray and all others are bright.
Also I have a 55gal. tank with 2cats and the gold fish. If I take out the gold fish and put them in the ten when its empty will they all get along? If so I will put my other 2loaches in there too. Or do I need to move my cats? MY lfs isn't good at telling me compatiable fish go with what. They sold me the big 4lined cat with neons and danios. Sad to say but they ended up fish food when i went to bed at nights. Slowly picking them off one by one.
What other fish do well with clown loaches also? Id like to have a colorful arrangement.

[justintoxicated]

I don't know much about loaches, but putting the goldfish in a 10 gallon is not a good idea, buying the goldfish to a 30 gallon with alot of filtering is a much better idea.

[khombre]

clown loaches are not that aggresive although they can fight back when threatened and they would sometimes have short skirmishes with their own kind to establish some sort of pecking order..

clown loaches prefer to be in schools.. maybe 6 or more? they can get pretty large (1ft. in the wild; 6-7 inches in captivity), plus they can be really active at times darting all over the tank so im not sure if 55g will be enough space for them...

just my opinion...

i also second the fact that goldfish is not good for a 10g :dive2:

[trkyhunter91]

We plan to upgrade our tank when the time comes. Would the loaches be ok with the 55 right now since they are still babies? Looks like Im stuck with theses gold fish huh. They are just the feeder goldies with a will to live. Of course they have gotten a little bigger since they've been in the 55 but not too much.
Is it thte amonia spikes the reason they wont due in a 10gal. ? If I had a bigger filter would that work? My husband really wanted to put some more colorful fish in the 30gal. And I want Loaches and right now I have them in the 10gal. till I can transfer them out. I know its too small, but its a very temp. place.
So you think the loaches will due ok with my cats? The pictus is slightly bigger than the loaches, but the other cat is twice as big. I've had them for 3yrs. He is a pig. LOL..and had some nice size snacks in his day sad to say. I didnt know if the loachs would feel threatened by him or not.Thanks for the help all.
What would be the smallest tank size I could put the 4 gold fish in and they would survive? I will go pick one up since hubby wont give up our new 30gal.
Thanks again Shannon

[dorkfish]

better off not to buy a fish that gets to big for your tank just because thier "babies" and you plan to upgrade latter. these are 1' fish were talking about here. what if somethin happens and you can't upgrade.Personally, for about 3 clown loaches and nothing else exept some small fish like neons and guppies, the minimum is a 75g. this way the fish can still grow to their adult size if you don't upgrade.

[Ruben Tolon]

I'd definitely not move goldfish to the smaller tank. They are not compatible with the tropical fishes you already have anyway.

[trkyhunter91]

I will be able to get a larger tank. My hubby is an iron worker and makes very good money. Right now I just dont have the space for the tank. Gotta get rid of some stuff first in my yard sale. :D
And when I said about moving the goldies to the 10 and the loaches to the 55. This is after my new 30 gal tank is cycled. All fish in 10 will go to the 30 and the 10 will be empty. I know I cant put them in with my other tropicals.

I also have started writing down when I do my water/gravel vacs so I dont forget or lose track of time. Been doing this for about 2 months now and my tanks have been much cleaner and the fish are happier.
So do you think they would be ok in the 10gal tank by themselves as long as I keep up with the cleaning?

[Red Tailed Wonder]

clown loach are contemporary friendly fish that grow to about afoot long!

[rosita]

With goldfish, it's not just keeping up with their huge amount of output!! They grow fairly quickly, and if they are in a 10 gallon they could become stunted--not just have their outer growth limited, but the inner organs continue to grow normally. Believe me, I speak from experience. I gave my shubunkin to my dad, who put them in the big koi pond. These great folk have taught me alot through postings and articles! Good luck with juggling everybody, you really care about your fish, and are working hard to get everything right (I have to write down everything on my calendar, too). Keep up the good work. :thm:

[DaisyTattoo]

If it were me, I would take the goldies back to the fish store, or find a pond for them to go in. It seems to me like they really arent your fav fish, plus goldies like colder water than most tropicals. They wont live happy full lives with a tank of tropical fish. I would wait on the clowns until you have the bigger tank. Why not wait? The fish store will probably have some, and if they dont, most places will order certain fish for you if you ask. Just my .02

[trkyhunter91]

My little girl would kill me if I got rid of her fishies!!! I like them, but not much you can put with them and they are in my biggest tank! The lfs usually only gets small loaches and these are the biggest Ive seen in my area so far. I have looked at every pet store around. Hard to find dif. fish always the same old thing. Well I have a neighbor that has a gold fish pond. I will talk to her and see.
Do you think they will survive in one since they've been in my 55 for so long and never a pond? I dont want them to die I nursed them back to health and trust me they was on their last fin. :D

[trkyhunter91]

So is it normal for a clown loach to be almost black? This would help me in the future even if I'm not buying right now. I'm hoping they will still have him when I get ready. Ppl here dont want to spend $15 on one fish not alone 4 LOL. Thanks everyone for your useful info.
Been doing this for 3 yrs and finding out I still have alot to learn since my lfs dont know squat and have been trusting in them.

[is300zx]

I've never seen any clown loaches close to being black. It should be orange with 3 stripes and every now and then odd patterned stripes and sometimes dots but never totatly black. Are you sure it's a clown loach and not another type of loach? And $15 for a clown loach seems expensive to me.

Could this be the one you're talking about? http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_modesta.php

[trkyhunter91]

Yes Im sure its a clown loach. Theres still a hint of his orange stripes, but very little. Clown loaches or any loach is very hard to find around here. There is a pet store an hr away that has them for 7.00 but they are very small.
The store that has them for 15 is PetLand and right now they are on sale for 7.99. We are having trouble right now finding a level floor to put our 30 gallon tank at. So I'm gonna have to pass up the loach anyways. Thanks all. I'd still love to know why he was sooo dark. Wonder if stress will do that to them?
I just had a tooth cut out so I may be off line for a while. Not feeling the greatest at the moment. See ya soon. SHannon