Loaches Online Forum

Im new anything important I need to know?

Yes: http://www.loaches.com/

And if you don't find your info in there, come on back here and ask.

Welcome to this premier forum. Your signature "I love my clown loach" indicates to me that you (like I did before learning about these wonderful fish) are keeping a single clown loach. All(?) loaches are social, and should be kept in groups of at least 5. The behaviours you get to watch when they are in groups are fantastic - I still feel guilty about keeping my first clown loach by itself for so long. Check things out on the species index for requirements of your fish (e.g., you'll find that clown loaches need really big tanks - they get about twice as big as the 15 cm I went by from various books). Anything that isn't there, like Mark says, ask the extremely knowledgable people on this forum.

I too have fallen in love with loaches. Welcome to the forum.

I suggest reading all the articles at loaches.com

Ok, thank you all, I know loaches need to be kept in groups but... i have fould that this loach perfres to be alone. I had 3 of them in a 29 gal one died and the other 2 kept attacking each other. so i found it best to seperate them.

Thank you
newbe007[/quote]

They probably weren't attacking each other. That's how they make decisions, like who gets the last piece of shrimp, or who gets the right side of the bed.

Maybe, but i dont think they would hurt themselfs over it. one of them was pretty messed up after a "fight". but you never know i might be wrong

They probably fought because they werent in a big enough group... 2 doesnt constitute a school of clowns. I had a school of 3 for a while, and did see some interesting changes in behaviour when I upped the school to 6. Just something to consider.

i only have a 29 gall not really good for 6 clowns

Ultimately, a 29 gallon tank is going to be too small for 1 clown. But I agree with the others. When you keep clowns in groups of 5 or more their behaviour becomes sort of dispersed among the group. These are highly social fish, and you are up against two of the cardinal rules of keeping clown loaches:

1. Keep them in groups of five or more
2. Keep them in a tank of sufficient size

3, 4, 5, etc... can be found on the species profile on LOL.

I think this is an important learning curve for you, as it was for me when I got my first clowns. Too few in a tank that was too small.

When the loaches are under stress from this sort of thing, you will find they are not as physically healthy as other fish. It's my belief that keeping them in insufficient numbers and in a tank that is too small will - eventually - kill them.

I'll give you an example of how the number of fish is important in how they interact: I had four Botia kubotai. They got along quite well, but as they always do, they tussle about who is the boss. With four it worked quite well. One of them died due to an accidental overheating that happened to me. Now one of them is being constantly picked on by one of the others - there isn't enough of them to disperse the aggression, so one ends up being a bully. I'm getting at least four more to resolve this.
If I were you, I would get some smaller species, and keep a school of 5 or more. I'm sure you can find a good home for the clown loach - I am very attached to my clowns, and I have a smallish tank, but I will either get the appropriate size tank, or I will find someone who has one. These fish deserve better than to be kept in inappropriate tanks. Just check out some of the posts with schools of clown loaches in big tanks - it's a delight to see these. There are tons of smallish species that are equally good and much more suitable for a small tank - I am partial to B. striata and B. kubotai myself, but there are lots of others.