Loaches Online Forum

So I was in my local fish store looking for some ghost shrimp and saw a flash of orange and black out of the corner of my eye. I go over to a large-ish gourami/plant display tank and see 3 large (6-7 inch?) clown loaches swim by!!!

On the tank was a sign that said "clown loaches in this tank not for sale."

A store employee told me that 4 of them had been brought in by a customer who said he had a total of 9 clown loaches. They were in a 30 gallon tank for 9 YEARS... he brought these 4 in because apparently there is no room in the 30 tank for all 9 of them!

Poor loaches! They probably had barely enough room to turn around in that tank.

I didn't ask why they weren't for sale... I have a 75 gallon tank with 7 small clowns, so I thought adding 4 big ones would probably screw everything up (and I'd feel guilty for not having a bigger tank).

The display they are in is very nice so hopfully they are enjoying their newly found space/freedom.

Aw, poor Clowns! At least they are not in such cramped conditions any more. Coincidentally, we just re-homed three 6-7" Clowns in our 8ft display tank at work. They guy that bought them in had had them for over 17 years, and they had been kept in a 5ft tank. Their barbels are a little bit worn down (kept on gravel I suspect) but apart from that they are fine looking specimens (we did want to take them home to our tank, but it has become rather full, plus the pH is very low and it might have been too much of a shock adjusting them down to that in one go). So far they seem to have settled in nicely with the existing Clown shoal that have been in that tank for 3 years now and it will be interesting to see how they behave, as the all the Clowns that were already in that display tank are a very confident bunch and are out in view at all times of the day, even with people walking past all the time.

Emma

Well, some of them are not so cramped anymore... the guy at the store told me that the customer kept 5 of his 9 similar-sized clowns. The 4 that made it to the store are a lucky bunch i guess, if the other 5 are still in a 30gallon tank....

I would like to have some bigger clowns, but I think I will just wait for my guys to grow up... I will need to upgrade the tank eventually before they get too big. =X