Peacock's w/ Clown Loaches?

You're going to always get a lot of different opinions on these boards. Some folks are hardcore purists that test their water daily and try to duplicate exact conditions in the wild. Others just throw their fish in and let the chips fall where they may. Generally speaking, you're going to get a good understanding of the basic do's and don'ts on this board. It's up to you how much fussing, time and perfectionism you want to put into the hobby. IMHO, as long as you enjoy the tank and the fish aren't too stressed out, that's all that matters.

Whether fish are 'happy' is very subjective. Whether fish are stressed out would be easy to determine, even by beginner or casual fishkeepers.

'Generally speaking,' loaches and cichlids together is fine. But there are always exceptions. If you had asked me whether a gourami and an oscar could co-exist (never tried this), I'd say you'd have a dead gourami by morning 99 times out of 100. That's what makes this hobby so special - it's full of surprises and no two situations are ever exactly the same!
 
you keep referring to this gourami and oscar......

I'm not talking about aggression differences between fish here,
I'm talking about water parameters. Plain and simple.

It's not a question of putting "cichlids and clowns together,"
but rather, putting "clowns in high pH and moderately high gH/kH"



I went back to Big Al's to ask them more about it. The guy there concurred with the guy I spoke with a month ago. He said while, "yes," we have them together in our display tank, and "yes," people put them together and have kept them alive, "NO," it is NOT a good idea.
 
Your argument doesn't make sense. If the clowns are healthy and active in high PH, what makes it a bad idea? I have kept clowns in my water, which is hard-as-hell liquid rock. They have always flourished, both in and out of cichlid tanks. When I see a mini school of active, vibrant clowns going about their daily business in my tanks, it seems like a good idea to me. :)

If you want to configure your water to match the natural conditions of a certain fish for any reason (like breeding), that's fine. But I have the feeling that many of us would rather have fish adapted to our water conditions (no matter what they are), because we don't want the fuss or have the time to mess with that potentially-complicated aspect of the hobby. That was my point earlier.
 
My argument makes perfect sense.


I never said anything about your fish not being healthy or happy in your tank; I was speaking in general terms earlier, saying that just because a fish was alive did not necessarily mean it was happy and healthy. Similarly, I did not exclude that the fish COULD very well be healthy and happy.

I have only been saying that my LFS as well as others have said that putting a fish in such different water conditions from what it is used to, is a bad idea.

"But I have the feeling that many of us would rather have fish adapted to our water conditions (no matter what they are), because we don't want the fuss or have the time to mess with that potentially-complicated aspect of the hobby"

To me that sounds really really ignorant. If you aren't going to treat your pets in the way they were meant to be treated, because you might not have "time," don't get into the hobby. Or, as many people will recommend, purchase fish that already match your parameters closest.


Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were pets to some larger beings, who would think it would be a-ok to dump us on another planet with a different atmosphere, one that perhaps wasn't suited to our system....and be like "yeah, they love it, they're moving around and stuff!"
 
i would just keep them in the tank with the africans if you've kept clowns in there b4 and they were ok. you may want to watchg out cause i have heard of clown loache when they get big to be aggressive and may eat small fish like fry, even tho clowns grow quite slow.
 
Again, you miss the complete point.

"I have only been saying that my LFS as well as others have said that putting a fish in such different water conditions from what it is used to, is a bad idea."

This is essentially true, but think of it this way:

I live in an area with liquid rock. The LFS down the street keeps its clown loaches in the same liquid rock. So I'm going to soften my tank water, lower the PH and do all these tricks to mimic the southeast Asia water that these clowns are 'used' to, then dump them in my tank?

No. You might kill them.

Furthermore, I don't want to go through the hassle of mimicking SE Asian softwater. It's not necessary.

What the clowns are used to is the rockhard water from the LFS. There is a difference between what they are 'meant' to be kept in and what they are 'used' to being kept it. If those two conditions match up, all the better. If not, it doesn't mean you can't have a healthy thriving tank.

With that, I'm off this thread. Good luck.
 
Chances are, your LFS gets these clown loaches from somewhere where they AREN'T kept in liquid-rock water.




Anyways, I'm pretty sure most LFS' do not keep their clown loaches in the same type of water you're accustomed to. And, you've just said that if someone were to put them in water they weren't used to, it "might kill them" and so generally speaking, people shouldn't be putting clown loaches with their africans.
(assuming their LFS keeps them in low-neutral pH, as the LFS' around here do)
 
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