I am considering getting Clown Loaches. A few Qs!

[Iant]

Hi Everyone,
I am very new to the site and relatively new to the hobby(about 6 months)

I have a newly purchased 55g tank that is just completing its Nitrogen cycle. (0.1 Todays Reading)

-- My real concern is the pH levels. From what I read, Clown Loaches prefer a Ph level of 6.5 - 7.0. Todays reading from my tank is 7.6. Now I know it is not much and I would not be concerned with hardier fish. But considering that they are more 'fragile', should I be concerned?

If so, what is the best way to lower my pH level?

-- Clown Loaches are from a 'river environement'. How fast do I need the water to be moving and how do I best attain the water current?


I think that is all my questions for now!


Thanks in advance.
Ian

[bslindgren]

Welcome to LOL.

There is quite a bit of information on keeping clown loaches, and you should probably start at the speces index. Given that most LFSs sell them as juveniles, you could no doubt get away with keeping a small school in a 55 gal tank for a few years, but eventually the would outgrow it. If I were you I'd consider some of the smaller loaches that are more suited to smaller tanks. Botia kubotai, B. dario and B. striata come to mind as suitable, as well as Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki . I have kept my clowns in a tank way too small for way too long, and now will have to either upgrade or give them up. They are wonderful fish, but they do get very large.

Good luck.

[Mad Duff]

Hi Ian, welcome to Loaches online

Where are you located? - this will help a lot as the availability of loaches around the world varies a lot.

If you are considering Clowns the main question is are you planning on upgrading to a bigger tank eventually?

Small Clowns will be ok in a 55 for a while but eventually need more space so you would either need to give them that space or rehome them and start again.

Flow and oxygenation are a very big factor, the more flow you can provide the happier the loaches will be.

Have you had chance to read some of the info over at the Loaches online - community edition (http://www.loaches.com/), There is a very good species index and some very good articles about loach care

[Iant]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the replys. And what a great acronym LOL

I am Located in N-Ontario, Canada. A variety of loaches are available at the LFSs. So availability is not a real factor. I am mostly concerned with my ability to provide a happy home.

My Current assortment of fish are:
Tetra - Pristella, Silvertips
Mollies - Dalmation, Balloon
Platies - Mickey Mouse (My GF is a huge Mickey Fan )
and good ole Mr. Pleco

I know I am hooked on this hobby when I have upgraded from a 10g to a 55g in 6 months and already looking at a 200g within the next 1.5-2 years (sooner is better!). I never thought fish keeping would be so addictiveand fun.

So I know I will have the room for them when the time arises. I have read through the species page and gathered information from many other sources as well.

I have plotted a species chart to determine if all my fish would be compatible as well as figured out the optimal pH and temp. levels to keep all my fish happy. (Geared more towards the Clown Loach given its specific requirements) I am considering removing my Balloon Mollies as their odd shaped bodies and seemingly poor swimming skills might be an issues with a "strong" current.

I have been looking at the clown loach for a few months now. And have done a ton of reading regarding them. It is not a decision I will make lightly as it will not be fair to the fish. I like to consider myself a responsible pet owner. Unfortunetly being new to the hobby, I have alot to learn.

So any tips, hints or funny anecdotes would be helpfull

Here is a picture of my 55g. (still a bit yellowish from the tannin from the wood)

http://s267.photobucket.com/albums/ii29 ... t=Fish.jpg

Thanks again,
Ian.

[helen nightingale]

do you know what pH the water is at the shop you would buy your clowns from? my local water is about 8.5, so a lot of the shops keep the fish in local water, so people dont have to worry too much about acclimatising them when they get home.

there are several things to do to lower your pH - obviously the closer to optimum the better, but if you try and change it too rapidly, or create instabilty and then big pH swings, then that can be worse than a pH that is always consistantly a little bit too high. Ro units are very good, but cost a bit to buy, and need new filters and minerals to mix the RO water with. you could use peat in the filters, or there are bottles of stuff with variouis names, like pH down. using the stuff in the bottles can lead to problems with pH swings sometimes though.

Martin has written very good articles on how to make a river-tank, which you can find on the main site. the flow would defiantely be too much for the platies and mollies! it is important to have over-rated filters and pumps, and use extra powerheads to make strong currents. because clowns need warmer temperatures than some tropical fish, they need more oxygen, so make sure there is lots of water movement at the surface as well as water movement beneeth the surface

[Icewall42]

Hello, and welcome. I've kept clowns for many years, along with other people on these forums. A 55g is a good tank to start with for clowns, especially if you get a group of 3-5 of them. They take a long time to grow, so you'd have about 2-3 years before you'd have to upgrade the tank. A 200g would be perfect for all your clowns--I can't see needing anything larger than that. Even a 100g would be suitable.

Nice tank, by the way! I wish mine looked that nice, but clowns are destructive fish.

As for the pH.... pH is usually okay as long as you acclimate fish very slowly. They can handle slow changes, and can certainly handle 7.6, but they do prefer a more acid environment. As long as you can get the pH to slowly settle around the prefered range, introducing clowns to 7.6 should not be a problem, provided it's done very slowly. I think my pH in my 72g is settled about 6.0-6.5.

[Iant]

Hi everyone,
I would like to thank you guys for the advice. But after more research I dont think that Clown Loaches are right for my current aquarium. There would be just too many changes required in order to change my set up to a river style tank. Which would be really unfair to the fish I have in there.

I would just like to say that this is a fantastic site with alot of great information.

I hope to be back in the future. Once I get a fresh tank to set up.

Thanks for everything.
Ian.

[Mike Lang]

I have 4, 10 year old clowns that have been in a PH of 7.6-7.8 from my well water and they seem to do just fine. I'm a low-tech guy and I hate messing with water parameters aside from keeping it clean and warm. In general it doesn't seem to be necessary unless you're trying to keep some of the more delicate tetras or discus. Others may differ, but my experience is that most fish will adjust to whatever your water chemistry happens to be, as long as you do it gradually and maintain your tank properly.