Loaches Online Forum

Hello all.

New member from sunny Nottingham in the UK.

I've had a tank of loaches for a few years now. Khuli Loaches, convict loach, horse head loach, sucking loaches, weather loaches, queen loach, zebra loach all living happily together for ages.

I tried once or twice to introduce clown loaches, to little success. However, about 8 months ago I added 4 young clowns into the tank & all have come on brilliantly. Growing well & getting just as tame as the khuli & weather loach. Straight up to top of tank to feed from my hand etc.

I was going to add 3 or 4 more clowns as I find them fascinating fish to keep and watch, but wondered if it was a good idea? Would the other clowns attack them? Is there a history of 'hierarchy' or 'dominant' groups?

If anyone can help, I'd be highly appreciative.

Thanks in advance.

Your tank sounds a bit crowded already, unless it is enormous.

However, if you do indeed have a very large tank, adding more clowns shouldn't be a problem. In fact, they may actually benefit from it, as they are highly social and prefer to live in large groups. Just remember that they will eventually grow to as much as a foot in length.

They will fight from time to time, in order to establish pecking order. However, those fights are usually nothing more than shoving matches, and the "combatants" tend to go away completely uninjured. I've never seen any of my clowns use their sub-ocular spines, except when when being netted.