Loaches Online Forum

Well, not sure it's a delimma... but here goes

In the end I will have 2 - 265 gallon tanks and 2 - 220 gallon tanks.

the 265's are 7'x2'x30"
the one 220 is 7'x2'x2'
the other 220 is 6'x'2'x30"

currently I have only 2 of the four tanks stocked...

1 - 265 gallon tank has 12 clown loachs, 8 botia striata, 4 long nosed loaches, 4 bala sharks, 8 red line torpedo barbs, a couple of pleco's and a few other fish

the 220 is 6'x'2'x30" has a tiger oscar and 8 jack dempsey's and a common pleco.

That leaves me with 2 tanks completely empty and the option of adding other fish to the other 2 tanks.

So what are your suggestions on what I should put where? I'm looking for any and all ideas.

Thanks.

Hi Curtis,

If it were me, I would definitely turn one of them into a 'Grrr Tank' with Syncrossus species.

How are you getting on with the Puntius denisonii in the clown tank? P. denisonii prefer lower temperatures to that of clowns so are not really the perfect choice for dithers. I would rehome them and go for more clown loaches and maybe some other cyprinids which are more comfortable with higher temperatures.

And I think I'd be tempted to create a marine reef in the remaining tank.

Emma

I wish I had a dilemma like that!

I'm really taking my time to decide, in several cases it's hard to switch the tank once you commit for example an african cichlid tank is hard to convert to a community tank. But, I'm also mildly stuck as to what I should put where.

my inclination has always been to understock my tanks (since having livebearers who always ended up being overstocked!)....i also moved out striatas from the clown tank as i found by experience AND read that they like slightly cooler temps than the clowns. with understocked tanks and regular maintenance i've had no illness develop in a couple or three years....

this is just an addition to what emma said. she's got way more experience than i but thought i'd add about the striatas and my experience with them....they got very ill after a treatment for ich some years ago....it may simply have been the stress of the meds and the higher than usual temps but since i had the space to keep them "moved" i did that and keep their tank at 78F rather than the over 80F that the clowns are in....somewhere closer to 82F. it may not be necessary at all but they are such an active and interesting group of six that i've just kept them in a species tank.

what wonderfully large sized tanks you have/will have....enjoy!!

I'd connect all those tanks together with water bridges and stock them with about 200 clown loaches. That would be slightly nuts though.

If I put a water bridge between the two 265 gallon tanks, which are each 7'x2' footprints, how many clown larges could grow old in the setup safely?

I have 1200 plus gallon common system like ChefKeiths with 1-225 gallon ,2-285 gallon and a 150 and originally planned 25 full size Clowns plus dithers and my other loaches numbering about 35 total. I have refined this down to 15 Full grown Clowns through my experiance .This is in response to LARGE clowns. Not how many you may stock at smaller 6" size but this would be about all at full grown which explains my system size and thought process..You will not start with 25 and get them all up past 12" though .With only 515 gallons and 28 square feet of bottom you are at less than ten full grown Clowns IMO My sump is just smaller than your tanks alone and that has no fish in it for my 15 Clowns. It will take 20 years to grow them past 10"-14" .Less stocked tanks grow fish faster.

Curtis wrote:If I put a water bridge between the two 265 gallon tanks, which are each 7'x2' footprints, how many clown larges could grow old in the setup safely?

Sorry, I didn't see your reply until Now.

You have enough space for many clowns.

More important than space is water quality. If you can keep pollutants from accumilating, such as suspended solids and nitrates, then you could keep as many clowns as you see fit.

Right now I'm keeping >40 clowns in a multi tank system with only about 250 gallons of water . I use a continous drip water change system to keep the water conditions good and steady. Its drip rate is currently about 30 gallons per day. Nitrates stay under 10. (I've downgraded the volume of the system from about 500 gallons to 250 gallons because the drip system has worked so well.)
As the clowns get bigger, and the feedings increase, I'll just need to increase the drip rate.

I guess I didn't even answer the question. How many could grow old in the tank safely?

That depends on many factors. It could be None, it could be many. It all depends on you, the fish, the water, and some luck.

Everytime you may add new fish or cross contaminate, you open the door to bacterial and parasite problems. They may never grow old if you don't quarantine new fish. They may never grown old if you don't do water changes. They may never grow old even if you only keep a few.

Clowns are slow growing fish. If you get 25 small clowns right now they're not going to grow old overnight. You'll be understocked for many years. 10 years down the road, if you have to rehome a few large clowns, that would be an incredible merit itself.

That depends on many factors. It could be None, it could be many. It all depends on you, the fish, the water, and some luck.

That is a solid statement

Clowns are slow growing fish. If you get 25 small clowns right now they're not going to grow old overnight. You'll be understocked for many years. 10 years down the road, if you have to rehome a few large clowns, that would be an incredible merit itself

Unlike large Cats,Pacus and the like the Clowns will always be welcome as they grow. This means you may grow and sell if a huge shoal is your fancy now unlike many other specie which are undesirable when grown.

go with the yo-yo loach or a bermeas boarder loach

Hi, I also have a similar stocking dilema made slightly confusing due to fish growth rates.
I like the points in this thread about keeping cyprinids and loaches, having slightly understocked levels and trying to keep the system closed as much as possible.
I will soon be setting up a 6'x2'x28" tank with about 6.5 x filtration.
I intend to keep about 12 -15 clowns, about 6 - 8 x yo yos about 4 x siamese algae eater, and about 12 x black ruby barb.
Due to clowns slow growth rates I know this is understocked. My fish keeping goal is for my clowns to live as long as possible. So what is the best stocking arrangment to achieve this?
Can I include 5-6 Bala sharks? What is the growth rates for bala's? How comfortable are clowns with Bala's? Is 6' big enough for Bala's?
Also is 6.5x filtration adequate for clowns? I know the more the better but will it achieve my goal of best health for my clowns?
Thanks for reading this. I would love your feedback.