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Hi, I've recently bought two small clowns and I've kept some before so I know pretty much what to expect. Whilst my old pair used to swim around together all the time, the new pair never do and are always apart. They seem happy, are feeding ok, don't seem stressed and haven't had any disagreements, but I thought clowns loved going around together. The previous pair I had were actually very nervous without each other.

Is this natural? I'm worried about them being unhappy. Should I buy two more so they have company? Or should I feel pleased that their so independant and confident enough to swim around by themselves?

Sorry just to clarify, I'm talking about clown loaches!

Last edited by cookypuss01 at 26-May-2005 12:40

No, it isnt natural. Yes, you should get more clown loaches. Clowns do best in groups of 3 as the minimum.

In my dad's 55g tank, he only got 2 clown loaches, and they are rarely out, they hide all day. I added 4 more, and i have 5 in my tank, and they are always out.

You will probably see more fighting with more clown loaches though, but it is a good thing.

cookypuss01

That is certainly not the "normal" behaviour for clowns.

Can you tell us more about your tank please, size, water conditions, aquscape planted, DW & caves etc also what else is in the tank.

If your tank permits certainly get more I have seven in my 5ft tank.

Keith

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Right, the tank is 4'x2'x2', about 45 UK gallons I think. It just has normal community species. There's two hoplo catfish, a few rainbowfish, two angels, 5 cherry barbs, and 4 cherry barbs. The only other loaches are a Yoyo loach and a couple of khuli's but the yoyo has nothing to do with the clowns at all so I know it's not him. We have 1 big and 1 small silver shark as well.
We change 20% of the water every week or at least every 10 days. Nitrate levels were fine last time I tested, no disease. Water in our area is rather hard though, would that be a problem i know they like soft water but a fish magazine said they found it ok to adapt to harder water so they should be ok.

In terms of hiding places we tried to provide loads because of how many bottom feeders we have. There is plenty of decor, large pieces of bogwood and heavily planted with vallis.

Thing is the clown loaches seem really fine and come out all by themselves, rooting around, and really dont seem nervous or stressed..... We do have more stocking capacity left but I wouldnt really want to get more than one more clown because of their adult size and my catfish get quite big too. I wouldnt want it to be overstocked in the future! Would one more be sufficient? Would it change things,
Thanks for any help!

No, the problem is not having enough clown loaches.

Your tank is pretty big, i think you can add another clown loach.

If you only have one YoYo loach, you need to fill out the school.

Your tank will be overstocked in the long term with those silver (bala) sharks in there. They are fish that can grow to a foot in length, they like the company of their own kind, and are very active swimmers. I think that you should plan on moving these two fish. After that, you would certainly have more room for loaches. They like being kept in groups of at least three, so you can bump up their numbers a little.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

What size tank do you think is appropriate for two silver sharks then if they grow to that length because they're so nice and healthy looking I couldn't bear to part with them. I do want to get a bigger tank. We were thinking one about six foot long. Would this be long enough for the sharks plus all the others or would they need this to themselves even?

Also, on the shark subject, one of my sharks is quite big whilst the other is only half the size even though they are the same age, bought from the same shop. They seem to get on fine tho, but would the fat one be sort of supressing the growth of the smaller one somehow. Its so weird how different in size they both are. Any ideas anyone? Thanks!

55 US gallons is usually the minimum for bala sharks

No, I think that 180 gallons or so would be the minimum for a school of healthy, active, fully-grown bala sharks. They basically need huge tanks, though a lot of people don't understand that. A six foot tank would be much better for the balas than the tank they're currently in, but depending on the water volume, it still might not be enough. I know that 125 gallon tanks here in the U.S. are six feet, but they aren't large enough for balas in my opinion.

Sometimes fish bought at the same time will grow at different rates. In some cases, a dominant fish will snap up most of the food, leaving the other fish/s little. In this way, the big fish will grow faster.

Also, some dominant fish (I know that discus are included here) can emit a growth-inhibiting toxin, that keeps other fish of the same species smaller. I don't know if balas can do this, so it might just be the food issue.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

well rest assured I will keep an eye on the growth of my sharks because I would never allow them to be restricted in anyway and they're only juvinilles at the moment so they are fine for now.