Clown Loach Info Correction

[ericwpp]

A member of the facebook group has found an error in website Fahrenheit to Celsius Convertion:

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/cl ... cracanthus

Current > Temperature: 78ºF to 83ºF (25-30°C)
Corrected > Temperature: 78ºF to 83ºF (25-28°C)

[Diana]

But is the Celsius correct OR the Fahrenheit? Fish base says the Celsius info is right, so it is the Translation to F that needs correcting.

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/Species ... lown+Loach

[ericwpp]

I see 30 Celsius to be a bit high, unless treating for Ich and for short period of time until ich cycle has ended.

Also 30 Celsius reduces available oxygen quite a bit, which they require alot of in aquariums.

Maybe you can confirm with other experienced clown keepers and make adjuments you see appropiate.

[DainBramage1991]

My own clowns have thrived in temps ranging all the way from 24 to 30 C (76 to 87 F).

30 C is actually correct for clown loaches, if current published data is to be believed. The published ranges on a number of other web sites all list 30 C as the proper upper limit:

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/macracanthus.php
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/clown.htm
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/ch ... racanthus/
http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Chromobotia_macracanthus

Finally, the book Loaches, Natural History and Aquarium Care lists the temp range as 25 - 30 C.

[mattyd]

I live in a sub-tropical area in Australia (Brisbane, Queensland), and it is summer down here at the moment. Our summers frequently have weeks on end where the temperatures are 28-35 degrees Celcius during the day, and only drop to 20-24 degrees at night time. My tanks in my fish room typically sit on 28-29 degrees during this time, with the lower tanks at about 27degrees. My clown loach tank has spent more days at 30 and 31 degrees in the last 2 months than it has spent at 27-28 degrees. I have a lot of water movement in the tank, lots of noisy spashling, it is filtered by two FX5 filters, and there is an airpump constantly airating the tank through 4 air stones in different areas. My clown loaches are not at all bothered when the tank hits 30 or 31 degrees in the middle of the afternoon. They don't exhibit any signs that they are stressed. They still eat voraciously and boss each other around. The water temps then drop down during the night, but won't drop much below 29 degrees (due to the amount of water in the room, it all acts as a heat sink).

Granted, the tank is large at 6ft x 2ft by 1.5ft high. I have it highly aerated. And the fish have been in there for a few years now. So they are used to the conditions by now. But I would happily say that 30 degrees is fine for them if the rest of the tank conditions are good. I would prefer it to be back down around 28 degrees though, but I can't help that at the moment and I don't plan on getting a chiller any time soon (maybe for next summer.... but my power bills are already exceeding $800 for 3 months, and this doesn't include the cost of gas for cooking and water heating ... I don't need to heat the house in winter, since at the coldest Brisbane only gets down to 8 degrees at night and maybe 15 degrees in the day).

[Loachloach]

The temperature in my tanks in the summer was 29-30 degrees for 2-3 months at least and the fish behaved just fine, quite active, including the clown loaches, corys, guppies, pleco, platies. But I've got all tanks overfiltered with a lot of water and surface movement. It seems that it's not the high temperature that affects them but lack of oxygen if you have a stagnant water type of tank.
For the rest of the time, my clown loaches have been in lower range of 25.5-26 degrees and look quite healthy, have grown a lot too for the time I've had them. In my own experience, unless you go very extreme for a very long time, it doesn't seem to affect any fish that much, unless if probably it's swinging all the time stressing them out or there's lack of oxygen due to higher temperatures.

[Jim Powers]

Species index has been corrected. Thanks!!