# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cyprinids >  Advice on clown loaches please

## slashy

please share your knowledge and experiences about clown loaches with me pls... i am a noobie in clown loaches :Pand do they do well with yamatos? thanks people ":P[:0] [:0] [:0] [:0]

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## eZion

Clown loaches are beautiful fishes and playful ones too...mine will make funny sounds when I catch them in my net, out of water.

They are also quite prone to &amp;quot;ich&amp;quot; and white spots, so your water conditions must be good. Try three or four of them and see them play, else you can get tiger barbs or other fishes that resembles their colour. You will find that they like to socialize a lot.

For water, use soft to neutral, fine gravels, plants or give hidding places. You can use some of those water conditioners on the market like GEO Liquid and etc. Feed with any fish food that sinks, although sometimes they do come to the surface to eat. They'll eat any food readily.



All the best  :Smile:

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## sherchoo

They are really nice fishes, but not very suitable for planted tank. They can grow quite big and they will start digging out plants.

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## slashy

thanks alot people!

oh yeah.. just to share with you guys... previously i mixed some black ghost knife fish with my clown loaches...alhought the knifefishes are not agressive.. but the knifefishes emit electrical signals that drove the loach crazy and stress em -.-

you guys had such experiences before?

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## DEA

bgks get testy when big, just kiv ^ ^
as for clowns, they're very easy going fish
just remember conventional MEDS for clowns (wrt ich)CAN and DO affect them adversely
so please do the proper research IF they do get it
i always recommend salt for killing ich
easiest way if you dose correctly

btw, clowns have this habit of sleeping on the side
don't get worried if you see them doing funny things heh

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## slashy

hmmmm i notice something unusual too... they swim upwards as if they are gasping for air or something ... they face upwards at the water surface and stays at the top.. what does that mean? :Cool:  

one of mine actually swims upside down and gets back to normal swimming posture...  :Angel:  i think its sick or something lol

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## kalindab

you have to love the weird noises they do when eating mine are quite large and the first time they "cracked" i thought ow no 300liters of water on floor lol.
mine adore blood worm and will go into a feeding frenzy over it.

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## clouser_minnow

i have one and hes got an identity crisis. he thinks hes a congo tetra. half his day is spent swimming with the congo tetras. hes really really cute. thinking of getting a few more actually.  :Very Happy:

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## gummynut

my ex-Clown loaches is a shy bunch. always hiding between rocks.. but they are cute fellas, before ich murdered them. :Crying:

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## kalindab

Clown loaches are very social creatures and suffer stress very quickly making them extremly suseptible to ich. Normally the more the merrier and the less problems with stress

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## elmike

I'll just say one thing...
Clown loaches are the hardiest fish I've ever kept. My 2 loaches have outlived every other species - and fishes - that I've kept. After 4 year plus, they are still clowning around in my tank.

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## clouser_minnow

i think i'll get some more of these cute fellows after i rescape. any ideas on where to buy them?

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## elmike

> any ideas on where to buy em?


LFS, lah! :Grin:

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## clouser_minnow

my bad! i was clear like greenwater... i mean.. which is a reputable LFS to go buy them from? wuhu? C328?

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## bryan

Clown loaches are rather common these days. You can find them in practically every LFS. Don't think you have to go to any specific shop as they probably originate from the same farm. Just monitor the condition of the fish in the stock tank before you buy. 

Word of caution. Becareful of the spikes at the mouth, do not handle with bare hands and try not get them tangled in the net.

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## kalindab

Sorry to re-interpret your post bryan,but the spikes are actually under thier eyes. This I found to my detriment and they hurt. Please ask your lfs to double bag loaches on purchase as even small ones can pierce the bag with their spines.
Another important note to remember are these loaches can and do grow up to 2 feet thats alot of fish lol. As this forum mostly delves into planted tanks I would suggest that if you want a pretty planted tank like most I see here? Loaches are not your fish seriously not a good choice!!!

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## clouser_minnow

thats some sound advice! thanks!! sadly, my clownies always die at around 6 inches. never got them to grow bigger than that.

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## elmike

I don’t think clown loaches will grow that huge (12 inches or more?) in captivity. I got mine when they were about 5 cm, and today, after close to 5 yrs, they are about 9 cm (lengthwise). With limiting factor such as minimal feeding with non-natural food and space sharing to boot, they are unlikely to grow as they would in the wild. Agree? :Razz:  

And who says loaches are unsuitable for planted tanks? I don’t think they dig so much into the substrates as to stir up a sand storm. A little digging and foraging shouldn’t be a problem – that is, if you feed them regularly. 

I’m speaking from experience, hor? :Razz:

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## bryan

Only reasons I think a clownloach would embark on a major rescaping project are that its got nowhere to hide or there are some nice tasty worms in the substrate. That being said, anything is possible with any loach. They are very creative at finding activities to pass time. Have you seen them play ball with an empty snail shell? :Laughing:

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## Puffer

They are a playful lot and very active when lights off.

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## jacquetlc

> oh yea.. just to share with u guys... previously i mixed some black ghost knife fish with my clown loaches...alhought the knifefishes are not agressive.. but the knifefishes emit electrical signals that drove the loach crazy and stress em -.-
> 
> u guys had such experiences b4?


Really? Mine lives very well together, a pair of the clown loaches and a (about) 15cm black ghost fish. They don't 'touch' each other's territory at all.  :Smile:

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## aqualover

I have seen one that's about 12 inches long in Yishun LFS some time ago, boy it's huge for a clown loach! They swim fast & it's always a pain trying to net them.

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## elmike

It was probably wild-netted that size. :Grin:  
You would have to frog-feed it like arowanas for it to reach this size in captivity. :Laughing:

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