ok.. im wondering if im doing my clown loach any harm.. i have one clown loach, hes a beautiful fish.. ive had him ten months and before that he came from my nephews tank. my nephews tank was at my father in laws house, my father in law got ill and passed away.. so the clown loach wasnt fed regularly at that point. we saved the loach and put him in our tank. he is the only loach in my tank, and he was the only loach in my nephews tank. im looking at him right now and he's swimming around, scouring the tank floor for food.. am i hurting him by having him be the only clown loach in my tank, .. others in the tank are, f sunshine, f red peacock, m and f lab, small, m and f ahli and a small golden peacock, we generally use this tank as a nursery for smaller fish, then move them to the larger tanks. oh and its only a 29 L tank. any suggestions would be great, i dont want to kill this poor clown loach that has already endured so much. should i get more loaches for him? he is fine by himself since he seems fine? i appreciate any feed back on this
takin roans advice on clown loaches...
- Thread starter toniczo
- Start date
It is my understanding that clown loaches are schooling fish and prefer to be kept in groups of 6+. They also REQUIRE a tank of AT LEAST 65g. So that being said, yes, your loach would prefer some buddies, but not in a 29g tank. I believe I read somewhere else that you have another loach all by his lonesome in another larger tank? Why don't you just move the one from your 29 to the larger tank?
Why are you posting another topic on this when you have already been told exactly what I just stated above?
And I would also just like to let you know that Roan is a wealth of information, if you ask for advice and she responds, 99.9% of the time she is right on. I feel like all you are doing with this thread is trying to start up an argument. If you don't like the advice you are recieving here at Aquaria Central, then why don't you get lost?
Why are you posting another topic on this when you have already been told exactly what I just stated above?
And I would also just like to let you know that Roan is a wealth of information, if you ask for advice and she responds, 99.9% of the time she is right on. I feel like all you are doing with this thread is trying to start up an argument. If you don't like the advice you are recieving here at Aquaria Central, then why don't you get lost?
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S'kay, Bitsy.
What he's doing is actually a very smart thing. He's verifying what I told him about clowns and their behavior. I told him that if he didn't believe me, to post a new thread and get the advice and experiences from other people who have groups of clowns.
This is what I said about clown loaches in the other thread:
BTW, I really appreciate your vote of confidence, Bitsy. Makes posting here all the worthwhile. Thanks!
Roan
What he's doing is actually a very smart thing. He's verifying what I told him about clowns and their behavior. I told him that if he didn't believe me, to post a new thread and get the advice and experiences from other people who have groups of clowns.
This is what I said about clown loaches in the other thread:
"Happy? You can't equate a human emotion like "happy" to fish. The closest we can come to making our fish "happy" is by providing for their needs and trying to keep them as close to how they would be in the wild as possible.
In the wild, clown loaches are always with other clown loaches. Without other clowns, they are repressed.
You really have to *see* a group of clowns to know what I mean. They school together, they sleep together, they bicker and argue -- but never hurt each other, they pile on top of each other in the corners and are rarely if ever seen unless they are with another clown.
A clown by itself is half a clown. He will hide and only come out at night or maybe at feeding time. You may see yours during the day, but if you have a group of them, you will see them *all* the time.
Post a new thread and ask people who have groups of clowns what they think. How their clowns behave. Most of them started with one, so they can tell you, based on experience, what the huge difference is.
I had two clowns. They came out once in a while. With three, they are out ALL the time. I plan on getting a few more."
So you see, he's doing his homework and I applaud that.In the wild, clown loaches are always with other clown loaches. Without other clowns, they are repressed.
You really have to *see* a group of clowns to know what I mean. They school together, they sleep together, they bicker and argue -- but never hurt each other, they pile on top of each other in the corners and are rarely if ever seen unless they are with another clown.
A clown by itself is half a clown. He will hide and only come out at night or maybe at feeding time. You may see yours during the day, but if you have a group of them, you will see them *all* the time.
Post a new thread and ask people who have groups of clowns what they think. How their clowns behave. Most of them started with one, so they can tell you, based on experience, what the huge difference is.
I had two clowns. They came out once in a while. With three, they are out ALL the time. I plan on getting a few more."
BTW, I really appreciate your vote of confidence, Bitsy. Makes posting here all the worthwhile. Thanks!
Roan
well actually I would like to correct you she is right 98.76594345% of the time. Yours had too much round of errorBitsy said:
Toniczo
I started with 3 clown loaches almost 2 years ago. Shortly after getting them, and then reading a lot, I went to up to 5. I just added 2 more about a month a ago. Having had families of different numbers, I can tell you clowns want more clowns. The pod is always together. They move as a pod, sleep as a pod, eat as a pod, "loach pile" my 16 inch pleco as a pod! My 7 are in constant physical contact with one another. Clown loaches are very social and will not blossom without other loaches to interact with.
Joanna
I started with 3 clown loaches almost 2 years ago. Shortly after getting them, and then reading a lot, I went to up to 5. I just added 2 more about a month a ago. Having had families of different numbers, I can tell you clowns want more clowns. The pod is always together. They move as a pod, sleep as a pod, eat as a pod, "loach pile" my 16 inch pleco as a pod! My 7 are in constant physical contact with one another. Clown loaches are very social and will not blossom without other loaches to interact with.
Joanna
I have had just one clown and he did not hind. He swam with my angels and seemed to be happy. He ate out of my hand too. I now have a 5 in my 75 gallon. I will say this, one clown might do ok for you, but a group of them will be an eye catching piece. They are very active and they swim between my fingers and take food out of my hand. If you have the room and $ I would highly reccommend them.
Also, just because a fish is not cowering in the corner does not mean it is "happy". I have 5 and they are constantly together, I could not imagine keeping them alone. They are much more social fish than other schoolers IMO. They may not act distressed alone, but they will certainly benefit from company. If you can get them into a larger tank, even 2 or 3 would be better than a lone clown. good luck
i wasn't tryin to start an argument.. i was takin roans advice, not only for me but for others that might have a single clown loach. i did move my clown to my 75 with the other one, and my husband has gone to the lps to purchase me 3 more, doing this after i have read everyones comments. i never disagreed with roan. and i never said roan was wrong. =) and by the way, my loaches eat out of my hands also. funny lil fish . thank you roan for asking me to post this thread. one more thing, is there a difference between male and female loaches? physical characteristics? not that i would want to breed them or anything but i dont want them to breed if the new three are coming from the same brood... see i know nothing of clown loaches other than they are pretty fish and they keep extra food from the bottom of my tank eaten.
o0o one more thing .. my female sunshine spit 13 babies today!!! their daddy is my electric blue alhi.. i think im going to call them, sunshine alhi's heh.. we are keeping one female from the brood, the rest we will sell in the next couple months if anyone is interested....
As far as I know, you can't sex clowns. Too bad, cause I'd love to breed some.
Congratz on the babies!
Roan
Congratz on the babies!
Roan
