Clown Loach

[kbenante]

Hey guys:

I have a clown loach who is well over a decade old. I got him from my mom who had him for about 8 of those years. He is in a 75 gallon with guppies, platties, swordtails, and a Pleco who has been his tank mate for a good bit as well (also from my mom). I know they are normally better in groups...but is it better to just leave him on his own (like he has been except for maybe the occasional corydora) or do you think he would do well with another loach or two?

He has never been aggressive. I more worried about stress. He is king of the tank right now (my baby). So...I don't want to rock his boat.

Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks! =D

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I can't say for sure as I've never had clown loaches. But I think if you got a few smaller ones, he would probably like that. Maybe not another large one that he would "compete" with.

I had an adult catfish and added a few babies of the same species; they hung out all the time afterwards.

 

[kbenante]

Thanks so much replying! I think I will try if I find some in my area that look good. So far ones I have seen at a lfs are looking a little rough.

 

[Lotus]

I've got some large loaches. What I've found is they tend to hang out mostly with those near their size. I have two that are around 12 inches and three that are around 6 inches. The two large ones tend to hang out, as do the three smaller ones. They all get along, though. They're definitely happier with more clown loaches.

One thing I'd like to warn you about is to make sure you quarantine any new loaches for at least eight weeks. They're all wild caught, and they can easily bring a disease that can wipe out other loaches. I speak from experience, unfortunately. I had many loaches wiped out because I only quarantined for about four weeks. It simply wasn't long enough.

 

[happyclownloach]

Its ok as clown loach is better in groups of 5 or more

 

[Namazu]

Loaches do prefer companionship. The usual recommendation is 3+ loaches. If he didn't have any all those years he might be comfortable though. I have a Golden Dojo Loach. I was worried he needed mates to run with, but he seems to really hit it off with some of the other fish of his size in my tank. He plays with my fancy goldfish a lot and tries to play with the chinese algae eater though the algae eater is somewhat smaller than the dojo. I found out that they originally thought the Chinese algae eater was a loach and they do look similar.

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