Loaches Online Forum

Heya :>

I've heard of people mixing Clown Loaches and RTBS, and they seem to do just fine. I'm curious how they would do in my 55g (Not planning on getting one, this is just for the sake of research :p). I have 15 sids, 3 SAE (insight on RTBS with these would be nice as well ), and 5 Cherry barbs. Heavily planted tank with lots of sid-sized hidey-holes, line of sight breakers and driftwood.

On paper, honestly, it sounds kind of scary. Everything except the barbs are shark-shaped, and the sids are pretty small. But on the other hand, there may just be way too many potential chase-targets/territory to cover.

Do you guys have any experience with not-clowns and RTBS/SAE?

Thanks!

Please use the Latin names.

I have not a clue what a SAE or RTBS is (I think one of them might be the former Labeo bicolor, but which one I don't know)

This forum is used by people all over the world, and some local name will not be known elsewhere.

Bas Pels wrote:Please use the Latin names.

I believe these are what the OP means:
RTBS= Red Tailed Black Shark = Epalzeorhynchos bicolor (formerly Labeo bicolor)
SAE= Siamese Algae Eater = Crossocheilus sp. (although which I can't be sure as there are several sold as SAE)

I would suggest reading the following from seriouslyfish:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ep ... s-bicolor/

My guess, from keeping all 3 species -- but not all together, is the shark will be ok with the sids but maybe not with crossocheilus. SAE's I did keep with sids without problems, in fact it seemed the sids liked to shoal with the similarly colored SAEs at times. A 55g with lots of hiding places is the minimum tank size I would attempt that combination, mine was a 75g