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these are my first clown loaches, and i have a questionon coloration. two of them have dark bands but one has little black almost gray bands. is he always going to littler? also in the wild why are these fish yellow and black.

Iam not sure about this but iam guessng that the reason for there color being sort of dull is that their either uncofortable or they are sick or something. As for the wild aspect i would guess that they are more accesible to diffrent nutritions as opposed to the captivated life. I would suggust changing diet or moving to a bigger tank?...what size tank are they in?...are they in the same tank?....could they be diffrent sexes?....tell more about their conditions...


Peter

Last edited by Peter17 at 25-Feb-2005 21:20

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

What size tank do you have your loaches in? Is the tank cycled? If so, What are your water parameters and also the temperature of the tank? How often are you doing water changes? Discoloration in fish can lots of time be traced to poor water quality.Quite possibly high levels of ammonia. I always do a 20% water change weekly in the tank my loaches are in. Just make sure you do it with water that is the "EXACT"temperature as the water in your tank as these guys are very fragile when they are small and any sudden change of temperature in the tank is grounds for a case of ich to just start.

Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 25-Feb-2005 22:37

Chris, clown loaches often "grey out" while they're working out their pecking order in the tank. But usually they won't stay grey for long - they resume their normal colouration after they've had a little stand-off with their tankmates.

Has your loach returned to its normal colour?

Also are there plenty of places in the tank for them to hide? They seem to like to be in quite small, dark spaces and the more places they have access to the more comfortable they seem to be.

Congratulations on your clownies

Edit: I'm assuming the reason for their colouration in the wild is for camoflage. Seems odd that such a bright coloured fish would be well camouflaged :%) but then look at tigers... they also like to slink around in dark jungles...

Last edited by whetu at 26-Feb-2005 02:14

they are in a ten gallon. the color of the balck bands are still gray, but i think that is they way it will always be. the other two are black. but n.e way is this right: i bought them so act as cleaning fish of uneatten food.

Clown loaches require at least no less than a 75 gallon tank as they have the potential to grow as large as 7 to 8 inches in aquariums. Also they are not scavengger fish and should be feed a diet consisting of vegetable based flakes or pellet, vegetables such as lettuce,cucmbers and zucchini and on occassion frozen bloodworms. You really do need to get those guys in a larger tank.

Better still, give them a 300 gallon so they can grow even bigger. Which they can. In the wild, 16 inches is not unheard of. But to attempt to grow them to that size in an aquarium ... hmm, you'd end up flooding your living room and renting a trailer to live in yourself

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

10 gallons is going to be too small for them. for them to grow u would need a big tank b/c they can attain great sizes. here is a picture of my biggest clown loach http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/hatran/Loaches/IMG_0620.jpg
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/hatran/Loaches/IMG_0620.jpg">

i will be upgrading to a 265 gallon tank by the summer... currently in a 180.

ConKhi, how big is that clown? And how many do you have?

I'm interested in the colouring of older/larger clowns - they often seem to have the lighter borders around their stripes.

Whats the biggest clowns that you guy/girls have?

Mine around 3.5"

that biggest one is 12 inches. i have 10 of them. 2nd biggest is about 10.5 inches. colors stay dark on most of them but some are lighter in colors. i think it depends on region and possilby food. biggest one is pretty dark in color. feed them frozen foods to keep their colors like brine shrimp and bloodworms.

Last edited by conkhi at 27-Feb-2005 23:30