Clown Loaches Care and Behavior

Clown loaches are communal, or community fish, and do very well living with other non-aggressive community fish like guppies, neons, platys, and other bottom dwellers. They undoubtedly got their name by their bright orange and black stripped looks, and their very interestingly curious, and cute behaviors. Clown loaches are a tropical fish originally from Southeast Asia around Indonesia. This is where they are taken for the pet trade. They are a very popular fish for many freshwater aquarium owners around the world. They fill a very nice niche that is usually favorable to have in a fish tank. Clown loaches are bottom dwellers, but they do also swim in the middle of the tank and to the top occasionally though. They make very fine additions to any community aquarium.

Clown loaches are schooling fish and like to be kept with other loaches, preferably 4 together in a tank. I have known 2 or 3 at a time to live for about 5 years very happily together. To start out, the ideal size tank for a clown loach is a 10 gallon tank, but if you want your fish to thrive they will need a larger tank eventually.

Their average life expectancy of a clown loach could be 10 years or more if they are kept under the right conditions. They can reach a foot or more in size if kept with other clown loaches in a larger tank, which aquarium keepers call a loach tank.

Clown Loach Facts:

Scientific Names: Cobitis macracanthus, Botia macracanthus

Common Names: Clown Loach, Tiger Loach

Clown Loach Behavior is characterized as shy or reclusive, to lively and friendly, so they are all around the personality spectrum. It has been said it may depend on what other kind of fish are in the tank. If the tank is in harmony and all the fish are getting along, so to speak, a clown loach will mimic this behavior and seem happy. If the tank mates are reclusive and skid-dish, for instance, if you have your fish tank in a high traffic area and the fish get scared a lot, then the clown loach my be a little more stand offish also.

They should have some sort of hiding place or cave they can retreat to. These fish like lots of hiding spots and low light. Loaches may hide during the day and come out at dusk and in the nighttime. They love to hide in plants and sleep in them, or any other small crack or crevice they can get into.

Clown loaches have wonderful temperaments, but they seem to be very sensitive, and can display some strange behavior. Clown loaches will sleep laying down sideways on a nice soft surface of the tank, or upside down, which looks like they have passed away at first. Then once you know what is going on it is the cutest thing. They will vanish and you will swear they are not in the tank, and then they will reappear from under some crack like magic.

The way they swim sometimes it is like they are dancing. Especially if they are kept with other loaches and they swim together. In groups they will swim forward and back in a sort of rolling motion for long periods of time. Clown loaches also seem to cower and shake or dance introduced to a tank or new tank mates. When in a group there is a pecking order or hierarchy relationship between the loaches, with usually an alpha female. There is still a lot that we don't know about the clown loach fish.

A clown loaches aquarium water must be treated to remove chlorine and metals that are found in tap water. There are many aquarium water conditioners and other water testing supplies, for measuring pH and water hardness, that can be found at your local pet store or online.

• Water Temp: 74-85 deg F

• pH: 6.5 - 7.0

• Water Hardness: Clown loaches like softer water, but moderate hardness is tolerated.

They should also be given conditioners that enhance the fishes slime coat, which may or may not be included in the water de-chlorinator, as it is sometimes combined.

This is important to protect the fish from abrasions that may occur on decorations in the tank, especially since they are scaleless fish.

The fish tank water should be changed 25% once or twice a week depending on how stable the tank is. Even a 10% water change weekly is encouraged for clown loaches.

Clown loaches have little or no scales, which makes them a scaleless fish, so they have trouble handling toxins in fish medicines that are sometimes used to treat sick fish in the fish tank. Be careful when medicating other fish with the clown loach because many of the medicines for scaled fish are not suitable for scaleless fish.

Clown loaches are especially susceptible to a sickness called ich, which progresses very fast, because of their lack of scales. Clown loaches should always be added to a tank that is already established, or has been cycled, to reduce stress on the fish.Their water should be changed 10% weekly because they are used to fresh running water and they have no scales to protect them from any toxins in the water.

Be sure the fish medicine you are using is okay for scaleless fish, such as clown loaches. Rid Ich+ is a malachite green preparation from a company called Kordon that has been used with clown loaches with success. Half dosing may be required in order to not shock the fish and make the whole ordeal less stressful on them.

Clown loaches are omnivores. This means they will eat meat in the form of small snails or other small animals like brine shrimp, and vegetation like algae, and they will nibble on some leaved plants.

Their staple diet should include a tropical fish food or sinking pellet food, and algae wafers.

They will eat small snails, like ramshorn snails and other pond snails. This is great to know for aquarium owners who want to control the snail population in their tank without using harsh snail killer or chemicals.

Poisonous snail killer preparations used to rid a fish tank of snails can be hard on the fish and plants in the tank, and in some cases even kill them.

Loaches should be fed a couple times a day, as much as they will eat within 3 to 4 minutes.

You should feed clown loaches snails and other treats like blood worms, frozen, live or freeze-dried, or brine shrimp, about four times a week for optimal health.

Clown loaches literally have very sensitive fingers on their nose by their mouth, which are called barbells. With these they feel and scavenge around every angle of rock and crevice for food. They also use these to pry out snails from their shells, and other foods.

Clown loaches will sometime make, a rather loud, clicking noise when they are excited, hungry or happy. You can also hear this when they occasionally come to the surface to eat. This sound is made by the clown loaches grinding their pharyngeal teeth. These are teeth that some fish have, such as sucker fish and goldfish, that they use to eat tougher food like invertebrates or snails.

The clown loach fish has a barb like hook or spike under each eye. These are called the bifurcated subocular spines. They are thought to be used by the fish in defense and when securing prey. The You Tube video on the right shows the clown loach relieving its spike fairly shortly after the video starts. The music to the video is great anyway, but it also goes along with what is happening in the tank and it is so funny to watch. The loaches are obviously having some type of dispute about a lounging area in the tank and the music kind of fits to the situation. I just think its hilarious.

Also, in some of the pictures you can see the slit under each eye the barb or spike comes out of. This may sometimes pose a problem when transferring the fish in a net to another tank because the barbs may get caught and are difficult to untangle. This struggle could harm the fish, and you perhaps, though the fish is not poisonous. It is best to use a solid container when transporting the fish to another tank.

It is almost unheard of to have clown loaches breed in captivity. There has been successful breeding in some cases where the clown loaches natural environment, which is running stream water, has been recreated and breeding has occurred. This is with great luck.

Even determining the gender of a clown loach is difficult. The males tail fins may be turned in slightly. The females are thought to be more stalky and thicker shaped, and the males to be thinner and smaller. This is true in nature among many animals.

Registered @ http://www.myfreecopyright.com

MCN: WBEN6_92QN8_L9GPL