Anyone ever keep small clown loaches alive for a long time?

R

Red_Belly_Pacu

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Dec 25, 2005
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I been keeping fishes for 10 years. I always have trouble keeping clown loaches alive. They usually get really skinny and die. I am talking about 4 inch or smaller ones. Please let me know because I am willing to try to keep these fishes again. Someone informed me that the smaller ones are hard to keep alive and I should buy ones that are around 5 inches or more.
 
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I've had two that were 2 1/2 inches when bought that are now 3 1/2 inches. I've had them for four months. I bought two babies about a month ago and they developed ick. One died the other is still going. I bought the little ones because I planned on putting the larger ones in a 55g. But now I would not seperate them. They act like a family. The little one stays close to the others, and they are always together. The one downside to clowns is they supposebly get up to 12 inches. I have only seen them at around 5 inches, but at that size they are very thick. Clowns like a decent current in the aquarium, temp of 77 or below ,ph of 6.0 - 7.5 and a kh of 8-12. I feed them a mix of hikari algae wafers, 3 kinds of flake, bloodworms, brine shrimp, and tetra algae wafer mix. They are messy with any food, but will usually clean up after themselves.
 
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I had mine since they were about an inch now they are about 5 inches, interesting little buggers
 
i recomend bying several and always pick the biggest of the bunch. i believe those fish are wild caught and usually pricey(8-9 bucks). when a store gets in a large shipment when their in season ive seen the price drop to 3 for 10 bucks. the last group i bought one died the other three lived but only two of them got over 6" the other one stayed smaller. their great fish but that has been my experience
 
I've also had mixed results with small clown loaches. And for the last couple of years have had trouble keeping kuhlie's alive as well. What has worked with the kuhlies and I'm going to try with my next clowns is- buy them all at once, quarenteen and treat with maracyn & maracyn two ( see the loach website for dosage) lots of shelter and low light for a couple of weeks until they look & act comfortable. Clown loaches grow really slow and I believe that the "dominant" may also affect the others growth. But clown loaches need to be in groups and I don't have the room ( or the money) to tank several foot long, chubby fish.
 
Weelll, I found this online, these guys get big and to give you an Idea of how big
clown_loach_bob3_large.jpg
 
I dont think they will reach their max size in the aquarium but in the wild they will. I saw some 12 inch ones before at a wholesaler and a fish store before.
 
I use to warn against getting small clown loaches. I couldn't keep them alive either.

But last September, I bought 25- 1" clown loaches from an importer in California. The imported buys them by the 1000's and ships them all over the US. Some of the batches he gets ship well and have very high survival rates. The 25 I got are thriving in my tanks and are all about 1.5" now. Some are growing faster than others too.

I think the biggest problem with some small clowns is that they come from bad stock. They were born with a weaker immune system. IMO, a sign of weaker stock might be seen by the markings on the clown loach. If the clowns don't have the traditional 3 stripes along their sides, they might be from a weaker stock (I could be wrong, but I've never yet seen a big clown loach (12"+) with unusual markings).

Other possible problems with small clowns-

Parasites/infections
Excessive stress from travel
Acclimation problems and/or TDS shock (where the clowns are born the pH is 4.5 to 5.5).
Intoxications due to poor water conditions
Stress from LFS (netting, no place to hide, too much light)
Stunted growth

IMO, you should never net a clown loach because they might get their retractable spines damaged. Use a net to chase them around and corner them, then use a bowl or a colander to transport them.
 
I must have been really lucky 'cause I've never lost a clown or a kuhlii.

Red_Belly_Pacu, you say they get skinny -- is it possible that they aren't getting any food?

Try feeding zucchini as per the directions in the Bottom Feeders forum (Pleco Dietary Needs sticky), they love that stuff.

Roan
 
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