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I was thinking yoyo loaches would be a nice addition to my tank. It's a 55 gallon with a green severum, a firemouth, a zebra cichlid, 3 small electric yellows, and 3 clown loaches (3 inches each). Would yoyos be ok in my tank?

seems to me, that 55 is pretty full already. my yo yos are in a barb tank, and watching them, it dosnt seem like they would be very happy in a cichlid tank, they dont get very big and would possibly get swallowed.

your clowns should do a decent job as scavengers and over time will get fairly large. yo os can be a little harder to find and be a bit more expensive, why take the chance on having them be eaten when the job is already being done?

Well it was just an idea, they would just be so that my clowns have some more company and to add some activity to my tank. I know where I can get them and my sev. didnt eat my yellow labs when I put them in and they were pretty small. It was just a thought....

I may get stoned for admitting this -- we have 2 tiger botias in our cichlid tank . It is a 75 gallon tank and they have been in there for 8 months or so and do WONDERFULLY.....whereas all the reading I can find suggests they are "timid/shy" and may be "beat up on" if mixed with other fish they are actually some of the most visible and aggressive (not towards the other fish so much but especially at feeding times and in not taking any *stuff* from their tankmates) of the fish in there.

Ok, so now I have two strongly contrasting replies...anyone else want to add something? Please post if you have experience with these fish.

I`d prefer to swap the clowns for yo yos as the clowns will outgrow or grow the clowns up to a good size and thens ell off for quite a bit of money

I have never known my severums, festivum or angels to be at all aggressive towards my loaches, corys, or catfish. One of my loaches was a wee baby in a tank of big cichlids and no problems.

Yea, see I didn't think having more loaches with the rest of my fish would hurt anything. I know my clowns are able to protect themselves if they need to with their razors under their eyes, do yoyos have the same things? Im assuming they do...

I have yoyos and zebra loaches with keyholes, severums, firemoths and red blood parrots all in a 400 litre tank and they seem to get along fine together had no problems what so ever mind all the fish were of a small size when I got them and have grown together now the loaches are way to big to fit in the cichlids mouths.

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They'll be fine. In a display tank at the store, we have a 5" yoyo with angels, gouramis, serpae and blackwidow tetras. At home, i had one with my american/african tanks and it was fine. They do get a little rubby dubby on your other fish and are entertained by their fins.

I'd be most worried about the conflicting water quality needs. The electric yellows, and most likely the zebra too, need harder water. They come from African rift lakes, whereas the severums and firemouths and such come from Central and South America, which has significantly lower hardness and pH. The loaches like their water more like the New World cichlids.

Also, like the others have said, the clowns will get too big for your tank. Perhaps if you exchanged the clowns for yoyos, and took out the African cichlids, it would work.

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They shade the glow of it with their mossy-misty costumes,
They wear masks of silk, porcelain, brass, and silver,
So as not to mislead with their own, ordinary faces.

inkodinkomalinko: Yes I believe my clowns are very entertained by the other fish in the tank, nibbling their tails, freaking out my pleco, swimming RIGHT next to the zebra just to tick him off....

Janna: I don't know if water quality will really be that big of an issue. I believe my ph has dropped to about 7.4-7.5 now so it should be a pretty good central ph level for all the fish, I'm mainly just concerned with the temperments of fish.

Also, about the clown's size, I guess all I can say is, I don't want to get rid of them of course, and there's no chance of me getting a bigger tank, and they are still small (3 inches) and they grow sooo slowly....I guess I'll just wait and see what I want to do with them when they are too big.

Last edited by fishiedude at 11-Apr-2005 18:27

The thing is that tank is already kinda full. If you really want to get the yoyos, i recommend removing the clowns. You're gonna have to remove the clowns sometime anyway, as a 55g is too small once they reach full size.

I also don't agree with mixing african cichlids with american cichlids.

Check out my profile to see my tank list. In my first tank I used to have an oranged fin loach about 4-5". Most of the time he would hide but when he came out all hell would break loose at times. It seemed that my male convict and him just didn't get a long. After a while I think that my loach just wanted someone to play with and this freaked out my convict. The fish that you have however are a little more peaceful than my cons probably are and groups of loaches seem to be much better off. Also I just don't know about the whole American/Aferican thing going on.....

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