Loaches Online Forum

It sure has been awhile since I have posted on loachesonline. I last posted on the old forum. Anyway, this new format for the forum is awesome! Good job!

I have 3 beautiful 2.5" angelicus loaches in a 29 gallon aquarium. They have been in there for over a year and haven't grown at all. I feed them everyday and they seem to eat more than the rest of the fish in there. Do these loaches grow as slowly as clown loaches?

my observation has been that the growth is very fast until they reach about 1.7in-2in, then the rate really drops.

My largest is approaching 2.5" now, and while still growing, it is barely measurable.

This is consistent with their max size of 8.5cm=3 1/3 on fishbase: most of them will reach about 3/4 of the max which is very close to 2.5" you see. In other words, your loaches may be already full grown.

Some other sources give 4" for the max size; seems to be an error.

And, incidentally, the growth pattern seems to be closer to barbs than to clowns; this may imply that the lifespan of polkadots is close to that of barbs (8-10 years max), much less than for clowns.

HTH.

BTW, in my tank polkadots win over (larger) clowns every feeding.

Welcome back, dax29. I suspect there will be more improvements soon.