CICHILD / LOACH QUESTION

[c_paan]

I have a 55g tank with a dempsey, firemouth and an elctric blue in it. I have the opprotunity to get some clown loaches...which ive been eying and wanting for some time now. They are about an inch long, so in the mean time i will house them in the 20g and move the fish out of there to another tank. I will get three because I have read they are a schooling fish. Once they have grown to a large enough size will they be ok in the 55 gallon tank with its inhabitants? Another question how fast do they grow? And I have read they get to 12 inches has anyone had any this big or is this ust the size they could get.

 

[420Loach]

hehehe sounds like my predicament i have a jack and a convict in my 55 with two plecos, and i plan to move my school of 5 clown loaches into it in the next few days. i jsut spent the day setting up rock caves in my 55 for them and the current inhabitants.

they grow like slugs crawl, so i wouldnt worry about them outgrowing the tank overnight, and three should be fine for some time in a 55. ive never kept clowns with big cichlids, so i hope all goes well. they do get up to 12 inches, but ive never seen one that big in captivity.

 

[c_paan]

You know whats funny, I was waiting and hopin it would have been you or cichildman that was goin to answer my post. haha.

The loaches will be kept in a seperate tank until I see fit that there size will somewhat protect them against cichilds.

Do clowns eat plants? If I plant the tank will they all get eaten?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Here you go...

Clown loaches will get big if they are kept fed etc etc.....

As for compatiblity, I would think once the JD gets big.....he will bully anything else in the tank. But if you grow out your loaches first......I would THINK they would be ok.

Yes it is possible to have 12" clowns. Not really sure how fast they grow because i have never kept any. Maybe sometime in the future.

Be careful. JD's personalities are all differnt, i have heard of JDs being pretty peacful and others being a terror. So yours might become king of the tank and make sure everyone else knows their place.

Hope this kinda helped, its hard when you have never kept clown loaches before.

 

[420Loach]

my JD is kinda peaceful( hes been through a lot of trauma though, at the store i bought him at, once he was in the water bag, the girl put him in the carrying bag, but it ripped, and he ploped onto the floor, and of course the matter of my cousins E. Lepidiolaprologus tearing him a new one.)

i was also a little worried about the convict being too aggressive, but since i took that other fish out, theyve been hanging out in the same caves together.

my clowns arent super huge (1.5-3 inches) but i think theyll be able to handle themselves(if they cant i WILL remove the problem fish), just got done setting up a bunch of caves for them to play in and my JD and Con have there own caves so it should be alright. im also gonna buy some tiger barbs, so maybe they will attract any attention the loaches were gonna get


clowns grow really slowly, but if you want a size boost, feed them a few times a day, and feed them snails(apple snails work good if you can afford them)

 

[c_paan]

The problem in the tank I will eventualy put them in is the firemouth. The dempsey is very peaceful with the other tank mates but that firemouth will not styop chasing everyone.

If loaches grow slow then I could house them in the 20g for quite some time then and once they grow out try it out in the 55, if the problem still is the firmouth I will give him back to the lfs. Hes a beautiful fish, but I dont like the agression put towards tankmates and not all toward lunch, if ya know what I mean!

 

[420Loach]

yeah, i dont care how beautiful a fish is. if its a problem causer, i lay the boot down

 

[c_paan]

Im begining to think that exact same thing.

 

[bobrob]

Be careful if you do put the clowns in the tank in the future and return the firemouth, then maybe mr jack dempsey starts thinking he's King Dick and puts everyone in their place. In that case you gotta scare the crap outta them by jumping about and waving your hand in the water to get them to stop lol. (hey it works with white cloud mountain minnows) lol

 

[420Loach]

man, my jacks so jittery he sees me in the doorway about six feet away from the tank and hell bolt to a rock cave even my clown loaches arent that scared

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Wow usually firemouths have the live let live attitude and don't chase anyone.

 

[c_paan]

I realy wish that was the case with my firemouth! I hope that demspey situation never happens also! Im not sure what I would do then, I think Id have to get another tank, to raise all these fish plus the expense of a clown loach let alone three, would push me in that direction.

 

[c_paan]

I hear that clowns get ich real easy, have you guys had this problem? can you use any kind of ich meds or not? When they are bigger and can be in the same tank as a cichild will they stress out easliy in that tank? Also can you use salt to help there slime coats? or do I need to get special meds for that as well? Another question, what kind of food do you need for these fish, some kind of sinkable pellets or will vegitables be better, or good as a subsitute once and a while?

 

[Brockway]

If you keep the temp at a stable 80, and keep up with your water changes, ick shouldn't be a problem. I heard you weren't supposed to use salt with clowns. Loach 420 said he never uses meds, I think he puts them in a quarantine tank, adds salt and raises the temp. Loaches need a high protein diet, and while they may dig up your plants or chew on them (not really eat, lol), it would probably not be worse than your current cichlids do. Sinking hikari algae wafers seem to work well for me (they are mostly fish meal!), plus they like blood worms, shrimp, and zuchini as a treat. My loaches are in with my kenyis, and they never bother the loaches. My clowns actually sleep in his cave with him! As long as there are plenty of hiding spots, they should be fine. In case I ever have to move my fish, I usually use stress coat instead of salt because of my loaches.

 

[c_paan]

Im actually moving in a few weeks, should i get stress coat to put in the water when i transfer them to my new place?

and thanks for all the information everyone. Ive been looking and waiting for clowns for awhile now, and want to make sure everything is perfect before I get em!

 

[Brockway]

If you are bagging them up, just use the aquarium water and don't use the stress coat or other chemicals in the bag water. Make sure you keep them in the dark during the trip so they don't get freaked out, 1 fish per bag, and have plenty of air still in the bag. And don't feed them the day before the trip. Stress coat would help when you get there though. My clown loaches had to take an 8 hour car ride to get here when I went back to school, and they did fine.

 

[c_paan]

ok then, can you get bags at the lfs? do they charge you for them?

 

[420Loach]

make sure you double bag loaches do have that spine under their eyes. keeping them dark should help with the stress too, and if you cant get them at the lfs, they should at least be able to tell you where you can get em.

 

[c_paan]

Well I got some colwns last night. I got three, I paid 12.99 a peice for em. They are probably only 3/4" long. Ive been looking and witing for these for a while now. Definetly a great edition to the aquarium!

 

[420Loach]

whoa! 12.99!! ouch...i wonder why there so expensive there for loaches that young. i bought my loaches at 3.50 a peice around that size. were they special orders?


ill agree with you on them being an excellent addition to the tank though they do add livelyness to it. congratz, im glad you got some!*thumbsups