Loaches Online Forum

hi, my name is jonathan im new to this place
uh i had three clowns in the past and i loved them to death but a faulty filter killed them bc i was away and was not about to fix it. So i gave up on freshwater fish and started a nano reef.. it was great till i was bored with it... Now i want to try my hand again with loaches. Im planning on buying them from petco. Anyone have any experience with that store? I plan on adding 8 or 10 into a 55 gallon ....after maybe 5-7 months, ill move them to my 90 gallon long. then the big finale, whenever i get it.. a nice 360 gallon . But anyways how does the plan sound?

Welcome to LOL!

No experience with Petco, but most of these big chain stores sell clowns that are way too small, and the personnel are often not as knowledgable as they should be. I wouldn't buy a clown smaller than 2 inches, and I have seen specimens as small as half an inch in some of the stores. Any good specialty store should be able to get good specimens for you. Be patient, though - ich is often a real problem with clown loaches when they come in. You pay more and have to wait longer by being picky but your chances of getting healthy fish are better, and your new tank needs time to cycle anyway. Make sure they are nice and plump - well fed, healthy fish have a much better chance of dealing with potential parasites or other issues that may arise. Many clowns sold in large pet stores are skinny and will never recover. Check on this site for initial treatment of them with levamisole hydrochloride (there are lots of good posts by experts like Emma and Shari on this subject) or similar to deal with potential worm infection. The sooner you get them into a large tank, the better. You might want some dithers as well - activity makes them feel comfortable and brings them out. Lots of posts on dithers as well. Provide lots of hiding spots so they feel safe.

This site and the experts that frequent it (I'm not one of them, so do your own research) is the place to be for a loach fanatic. If you can get your hands on the loach book that was published a year ago (TFH Publications) you can find a wealth of information there on various species.

thanks so much for the information yes i experienced my other loaches to be kinda skinny but i got them nice and plump with blood worms and baby brine shrimp ....o also im thinkin about covering the top portion of my substrate with pool filter sand..is that a good idea? if so what do i need to make sure the sand does NOT have in it?

Im probably going to add cherry barbs as dither fish they seem so pretty bc of them being so red and the loaches have red fins and im still at a loss with the sand

Sometimes we have no choice but to buy fish from the big chain stores. There are 2 Petco stores near my home, and the employees are decent at one, but not the other. Six of my clowns came from a Petco, because most of the smaller pet stores went out of business.

Pay attention to the health of the fish in all the tanks, not just the fish you intend to buy. Don't cycle your tank with loaches.

You should check out www.aquabid.com and see if there's something you like. I see some Clown Loaches on there now, but the seller is TFD. I don't think they're that great. I've seen some other really nice fish from great sellers. It's just a thought.

thank you for the thought its really appreciated sigh yeah im going to have to get my Clown loaches from petsmart or petco. My LFS have Large clown loaches but they are for 79.99 im definately not starting with that so i guess no choices are big chain stores. and i think 12 cherry barbs will be my dithers what do you think?

jwyfk wrote:Sometimes we have no choice but to buy fish from the big chain stores.

Absolutely. I have Petcetera, Petland, WalMart and Total Pet to chose from here. But I have found that I can better quality fish less expensive from Vancouver, even when paying for shipping. One option is to try to find like-minded people where you live and see if you can do a group buy from some reputable dealer that ships fish. That has its own dangers though, since you are buying sight unseen. The dealer I have bought from in Vancouver (which wouldn't work for you, obviously) is outstanding. But as jwyfk stated, sometimes we have no choice. Just be patient and selective, and talk to them to see if they know what they are talking about. Also see if they will order in what you want. Most stores here will have two-for-one sales off and on (but of course they never have what you want at those times ).

Good luck anyway - clowns and cherry barbs sound good to me, although personally I would probably try to get something that uses the upper part of the tank a bit more as well. I have giant danios, but they are a bit boisterous and dominate the food, so perhaps rummy nose tetras (I think they school nicely and use the middle?) or hatchet fish perhaps (jumpers so you have to cover the tank). Puntius pentazona has been recommended, but I have been unable to get them. Mickthefish knows all about these and has other good suggestions depending on what you can get your hands on.

well im set on gettin my fish from petsmart and yeah lol im going to try the cherry barbs if its not enough a nice school of rummy nose will be fine but i heard rummy noses are very delicate

Cherry barbs are nice, but we all have our favorites. I like big schools of Cardinal Tetras and Harlequin Rasboras. I had this combo years ago, but my Debauwi Catfish found them tasty, so I switched to Congo Tetras and Neon Rosy Barbs. There are a lot of choices!

ok i got 4 clown loaches today 2 seem about 1 3/4 of an inch and then the other 2 are 2 inches i think i can deal with that.... im going to try to get more soon as soon as im sure the bio filtration is up to par they are now being acclimated slowly ......ok now they are in 3 are hiding under a little cave and there is one little one exploring the whole 55gallon tank...thats alot of room to cover..um also i see some chasing around of one another is that something to worry about like fin nipping or rougish fish?

That's not a bad size for starters. I think they are easier to acclimatize if they aren't too big. They are great fish and the dithers are certainly personal choice to a large extent! Best of luck!

Why should you avoid cycling your tank with loaches?

jwyfk wrote:Sometimes we have no choice but to buy fish from the big chain stores. There are 2 Petco stores near my home, and the employees are decent at one, but not the other. Six of my clowns came from a Petco, because most of the smaller pet stores went out of business.

Pay attention to the health of the fish in all the tanks, not just the fish you intend to buy. Don't cycle your tank with loaches.

You should check out www.aquabid.com and see if there's something you like. I see some Clown Loaches on there now, but the seller is TFD. I don't think they're that great. I've seen some other really nice fish from great sellers. It's just a thought.

Building up a school of clowns can be very difficult, especially if you don't quarantine any new fish.

If you just buy a few fish at a time, then each time you add fish you are potentially contaminating your main tank with deadly pathogens. You'll need to invest into a couple of quarantine tanks so that you can avoid disease outbreaks.

IMO, it's best if you can stock a tank once. Get all the fish at the same time and at the same place. If this is a new tank, then you need to do a fishless cycle first though.

mkoff32 wrote:Why should you avoid cycling your tank with loaches?

Because of their sensitivity to poor water quality. I"m not saying people don't do it, but it's better to acclimate them to already established tanks.

well my tank is already established for about 5 yrs bc it started out with an arowanna but it died due to by water conditions i couldnt do anything about it bc of my age i was 10 lol so its ok but my clowns are doing good im trying to get them to fatten up their bellies are nice and plump but their bodies are still slender lol im going to another store to add to thier group