I have kept clown loaches for approximately 15 years and currently have a 75 gallon tank with 5 clowns in it. I noticed sometimes that a pair of clowns will swim side by side like a dolphin newborn would swim close to it's mother. As a matter of fact as the two loaches swim together the sides of their bodies are touching and they may swim this close for up to a minute and then part. The loaches that exhibit this behavior are approximately 4 inches long. I have read that clown loaches are not sexually mature until about 8+ inches. Has anyone ever experienced this behavior with a pair of loaches, because after viewing it, it seems sensual or sexual mating type behavior even though the cloans are not of "mating size" The closeness of the bodies to me implies more of a sexual type "dance" rather than two fishes swimming in fairly close proximity as you would see in a school of fish.
Clown Loaches Swim side by side
- Thread starter rcoaster
- Start date
I have 4 clowns in my tank and the smaller ones exhibit this behavior. They do it all the time. They are only 2-3 inches though. It doesn't appear to be any type of courting behavior...more a friendship behavior. Courting behavior would not happen as often. It's quite common in my tank.
:OT: My clowns are a lot of fun. The larger 2 (about 4 inches) have dug a tunnel that resembles a cave right under a large piece of driftwood in the tank. It comes out the other side. It looks really cool. I've read about people creating their own caves for them but I don't have too.
Anyway, I hope someone else has something to say about this. I'd be interested to learn. Clowns are my favorite type of fish...so much fun!
:OT: My clowns are a lot of fun. The larger 2 (about 4 inches) have dug a tunnel that resembles a cave right under a large piece of driftwood in the tank. It comes out the other side. It looks really cool. I've read about people creating their own caves for them but I don't have too.
Anyway, I hope someone else has something to say about this. I'd be interested to learn. Clowns are my favorite type of fish...so much fun!
I have witnessed close side by side swimming with my clowns. Also, at night with the lights off they often wake me up with water splashing noises. They might be spawning and they are only 4.5 -6" right now.
I have a book called "Hobbyist Guide to Catfish and Loaches"; this book has an article about some clown loaches that have spawned. These clowns were only 6-7". The loach owner did not see them spawn, but one day he found 39 clown loach fry by accident after uprooting a large plant in the tank.
There is another story you can find at Loachesonline about some 11-13" clown loaches spawning, where around 450 clown loach eggs were found.
IMO, if the water conditions are right it might be possible for breeding in the home aquarium. In both of the cases above the pH was between 6.1 -6.2. Temp was 84-86F (raising the temp is debatable though). Another factor would be darkness.
A known clown loach breeding ground in nature is in the Danau Sentarum National Park in Borneo. This clown loach habitat is only about 100 sq. miles.
Here clown loaches spawn during the rain season. Adult clowns probably travel from the rivers to the flooded estuaries, which have shallow murky waters. The soil of the swamp forest is made up of mostly peat, which can be over 10’ deep in some areas. The thick peat soils would make the pure rainwater very acidic. The pH would be in the range of 4.5-5.5 in these areas.
I have found much of the above info here-
http://www.eii.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/about/about.html
http://www.eii.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/florafauna/florafauna.html
IMO, the size of the female clown loach is proportional to the amount of eggs that she holds. Perhaps a 4" female clown is sexually mature, but she may only hold a few eggs inside her, and the chances are very slim that even one of eggs will ever become a fry. Let's not forget that a mature male clown loach is also needed. I would guess that the male clowns reach adulthood at a latter age than the females.
If I were to try to breed my clown loaches I’d give them an all-u-can eat buffet for a few weeks of snails/bloodworms/fish.
I’d turn my river tank into a breeder tank that would have different water parameters than my main tanks.
I’d drop the pH to atleast 6.0 (from 7.1).
Fill the tank with Malaysian driftwood so that I can drop the pH without the addition of CO2.
I’d do water changes and replace the old water with RO water to lower the hardness.
To simulate rain, I’d set the spray-bars above the water. This would also saturate the water with O2.
IMO, raising the water temp is debatable because in nature rain would make the water temp drop.
I’d probably want about 3 layers of egg crate on the bottom of the tank to protect any eggs from being eaten.
But most importantly, get the camera ready.
I am preparing for this; I have already started breeding snails and stockpiling Malaysian driftwood.
I have a book called "Hobbyist Guide to Catfish and Loaches"; this book has an article about some clown loaches that have spawned. These clowns were only 6-7". The loach owner did not see them spawn, but one day he found 39 clown loach fry by accident after uprooting a large plant in the tank.
There is another story you can find at Loachesonline about some 11-13" clown loaches spawning, where around 450 clown loach eggs were found.
IMO, if the water conditions are right it might be possible for breeding in the home aquarium. In both of the cases above the pH was between 6.1 -6.2. Temp was 84-86F (raising the temp is debatable though). Another factor would be darkness.
A known clown loach breeding ground in nature is in the Danau Sentarum National Park in Borneo. This clown loach habitat is only about 100 sq. miles.
Here clown loaches spawn during the rain season. Adult clowns probably travel from the rivers to the flooded estuaries, which have shallow murky waters. The soil of the swamp forest is made up of mostly peat, which can be over 10’ deep in some areas. The thick peat soils would make the pure rainwater very acidic. The pH would be in the range of 4.5-5.5 in these areas.
I have found much of the above info here-
http://www.eii.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/about/about.html
http://www.eii.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/florafauna/florafauna.html
IMO, the size of the female clown loach is proportional to the amount of eggs that she holds. Perhaps a 4" female clown is sexually mature, but she may only hold a few eggs inside her, and the chances are very slim that even one of eggs will ever become a fry. Let's not forget that a mature male clown loach is also needed. I would guess that the male clowns reach adulthood at a latter age than the females.
If I were to try to breed my clown loaches I’d give them an all-u-can eat buffet for a few weeks of snails/bloodworms/fish.
I’d turn my river tank into a breeder tank that would have different water parameters than my main tanks.
I’d drop the pH to atleast 6.0 (from 7.1).
Fill the tank with Malaysian driftwood so that I can drop the pH without the addition of CO2.
I’d do water changes and replace the old water with RO water to lower the hardness.
To simulate rain, I’d set the spray-bars above the water. This would also saturate the water with O2.
IMO, raising the water temp is debatable because in nature rain would make the water temp drop.
I’d probably want about 3 layers of egg crate on the bottom of the tank to protect any eggs from being eaten.
But most importantly, get the camera ready.
I am preparing for this; I have already started breeding snails and stockpiling Malaysian driftwood.
Last edited:
chefkeith said:
Great post. That would be awesome to actually be able to breed my clowns. They're too small now (I think) but in the future...
BTW, the links don't work for me. Just says "page can't be found". I'd like to read about the areas where they spawn. Again, thanks for the info.
Sorry to post again...but I just forgot to mention that my weather loach does this all the time with my clown loaches. The weather loach almost looks like he is suctioned onto the gills of my clown loach. No harm done. They're just swimming across the tank that way. It's really cool to watch. This will go on for about 10 minutes each time. It happens almost daily. Just wanted to let you know.
I think I fixed the links above.
You can also use these one-s-
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/about/about.html
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/florafauna/florafauna.html
You can also use these one-s-
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/about/about.html
http://www.earthisland.org/borneo/danausentarum/dsnp/florafauna/florafauna.html
