Right now I have 25 clown loaches.
I think a basic set of rules would be nice to have when buying clown loaches.
Rules #1-
Do not buy baby clowns. Make sure they are at least 2" or longer. 3" + is great, but at that size they might be impossible to find at times. If you find clowns 3” +, you might want to buy them before somebody else gets them. Only buy healthy clowns. Try to scout out your LFS before you plan on buying the clown loaches and look at the clowns very carefully. Make sure none of the clowns in the tank have ich or have a shrunken stomach. A fat belly is a good sign. If they do have ich, wait at least at least a week and visit the LFS again to scout them out again. If they look healthy, wait another week to buy them. Buy in groups of 3 or more. If there are only 4 clown loaches at the LFS, don't buy just 3, buy all 4. DON’T BREAK UP A SMALL GROUP. This is important.
Rule #2-
Have a quarantine tank ready for them when you get them home. I think a minimum size Q-tank for a small group of clown loaches is 20 gallons and the tank should have a filter that is very well cycled. Having a cycled q-tank is extremely important. Do not put the clowns directly in the q-tank from the bag. The clowns need to acclimate to the q- tank water 1st. This will take 30-45 minutes. Float the fish bag in the q-tank for 10 minutes, and then add a cup of water to the fish bag every 5 minutes for about 30 minutes. Then net out the clowns and move them to the q-tank. Do not pour the fish bag water into the q-tank.
Rule #3-
The q-tank should be a low stress environment. The tank should have minimal lighting and lots of places for the clowns to hide. Make sure the clowns can not get stuck in any of the hiding places. You might not see the clowns swimming around much for a week or 2 after you buy them. Check the clowns daily for ich or illness. Remove all the hiding places if you have to. Treat immediately at the 1st sign of ich. If the clowns are flashing or rubbing on things, start treatment for ich immediately, even if you don’t see any white spots. If you scouted the clowns as mentioned in Rule #1 then keep the clowns in the q-tank for at least 7 days if they show no signs of ich or illness. If you didn’t scout out the clowns, keep them in the q-tank for at least 2 weeks. If they do require treatment for ich, use Coppersafe by Mardel. Coppersafe is a proven ich treatment for clown loaches by many loach keepers. Adding salt and raising the water temperature will not work quickly enough. After the last sign of ich has passed, wait 10 days before moving them to the main tank.
Rule #4-
The main tank or tanks should have a footprint that is big enough for the group of clowns. Each young clown should have an average of about 1 sq. ft of bottom surface area apiece to swim around in. With a minimum of 3 young clowns or 3 sq ft. of tank space, which is a 45 gallon tank. What I mean by “young” clown is a clown that is less than 5 inches long. A clown loach that is 5 to 10 inches long would require 2x the space that the young clowns would need, about a 100 gallon tank minimum. Adult clown loaches, which are about 10+ inches in length, will require about 3x the space that the young clowns need, about a 180g tank minimum. Clowns will grow at a rate of about 1 inch per year and will grow to be over 12” long (probably 24”+ in the wild) and live as long as 30 years (maybe even 50 years in the wild). That’s just the average growth rate. Some clowns may grow much quicker or much slower.
Anybody want to add to this? Did I leave anything out?