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Home » Fish Profiles » Freshwater Fish Profiles » Loaches « Previous Product · Next Product »

Clown Loach (Botia macracanthus)
Reviews Views Date of last review
8 4046 Sun April 15, 2007
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Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
100% of reviewers $7.19 8.9
clownloach

clownloach.jpg clownloach.JPG
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Description: Compatibility: An active species that likes to be in a group of its own kind, but will tolerate other tankmates.
Maximum Size: 12 inches
Minimum Tank Size: 29G
Temperature: 77-82F
Diet: Will accept flake food, but like other fish they will be much healthier and happier with a varied diet. They love to eat snails and shrimp pellets. Will also enjoy bloodworms and brine shrimp, or fresh veggies (like cucumber or zucchini).
Level of care: moderate (need a good size tank and need to keep water extra clean)
General Notes: Clown Loaches love to dig in sand and hide. They are much more active when they are in a group, alone they tend to be lazy and relatively inactive. Usually the bigger the group the happier they seem. These loaches are pretty susceptible to ich, so you need to take extra lengths to keep them healthy. They make a unique clicking sound a lot of times that you can actually hear outside the tank. Another interesting thing about clown loaches is that they have a spine underneath their eyes that they can extend, so watch out!


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Cutlass
Little Fish


Registered: May 2003
Location: Galloway, OH
Posts: 217
Review Date: Wed May 11, 2005 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $7.99 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: colorful, fun to watch, good community fish
Cons: susceptible to ich

These are great fish, and very popular in home aquariums. They aren\'t aggressive, and they are very active during the day, which allows you to view some of their antics without having to sneak around at night.

Like I said, Clown Loaches are very fun to watch. best kept in groups of 3 or more, each one of them will develop their own personalities and it\'s very interesting to see them interact with each other. There may be some squabbles here and there, but this is only to determine the Alpha of the group. I have 6 Clowns, with one of them being the large \"alpha.\" However, some of the smaller Clowns will fight occasionally in what I assume is a way to determine a hierarchy below the Alpha. Very interesting. Once they\'re settled in and \"know their role\" so to speak, they are very peaceful and never leave each others\' side. Don\'t be alarmed if they lay on their side. It\'s how they rest.

Feeding is very easy, just drop some sinking tablets in. Feeding time is pretty eventful. If a Clown is large enough to carry a tablet in its mouth, then it will steal it and go somewhere to hide and enjoy the meal...until a fellow Clown finds him and tries to get the tablet for himself. There\'s plenty of bickering over food, but 2 Clown Loaches per tablet should be plenty. They\'ll fuss over the food, but throughout the debacle, each of them should get enough to eat. If you do find that one Clown isn\'t getting its share of food, then try using larger food tablets that cannot be carried away. Or, try something like Tetra Bits, which can be eaten individually in one bite. Clown Loaches also love brine shrimp, snails, boiled cucumber, and boiled zucchini.

Clown Loaches make very good community tankmates and will not be aggressive toward other species. I\'ve had Angelfish with my Clowns, and the occasional Clown will toy with the long fins of an Angel, but I attribute that more to boredom and curiosity than aggression.

Clown Loaches are susceptible to Ich (White Spot), although I have been lucky in that my Clowns haven\'t had an Ich outbreak in years. When treating Ich, use a half dose of Malachite Green treatment because of their scaleless skin.

Clown Loaches are actually quite hardy and easy to take care of once they get larger and acclimated to their tank. DO NOT buy any Clowns that are less than 1.5 inches long. It isn\'t that much more expensive to get a Clown that is a bit larger. Clowns are very fragile when they are young and small, and the stress of being caught and transported kills their immune system. Buy a larger, healthier Clown and it will make acclimating to your tank much easier.

Well, that\'s about all I can think of for now. Hope it\'s helpful!
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phOOey
Super Fish


Registered: October 2003
Location: Nottingham, UK
Posts: 1729
Review Date: Fri May 20, 2005 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $6.99 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: very fun to watch, pretty, come out during the day
Cons: can get large, suceptable to ich

this fish is very entertaining and will keep you amused for hours. IMO you should keep no less than four together, as i believe any less than this and they will not be fully happy and they will not show you there funny playful nature.

the clown loach is one of the more colourful loaches, and it isn\'t as nocturnal as many other loaches. sometimes you may see them lying on their sides, but dont be alarmed, more than likely your loach is just having nap.
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Lotus
Moderator


Registered: August 2003
Location: Southern California
Posts: 13635
Review Date: Sun May 22, 2005 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: Colorful, active, friendly
Cons: Suceptible to ich, get large

Clown loaches are one of the most popular fish in the hobby. When given the right environment, they are active. Bear in mind that they get to 12\" eventually, so are unsuitable for smaller tanks. Never get just one, you need at least three of these guys to keep them happy. They are suceptible to ich, and can get an outbreak when they are stressed by a move from one tank to another. I recommend quarantining all clown loaches before adding them to your tank, and then quarantining anything you plan to add to their tank once they\'re in there. This will save you from having to treat for ich every time you add a new tankmate. Mine adore frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, but also like zucchini (courgette), shrimp pellets and flake food.
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jeremy
Little Fish


Registered: July 2005
Location: DePere, WI
Posts: 148
Review Date: Fri July 8, 2005 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $6.29 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: colorful, great to watch, \"nemo fish\" to my kids
Cons: ich

Well, what I wanted to say pretty much every one else has. Just love watching these little buggers. One of mine have gotten quite plump in no time.
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ShelliJ
Teenie Weenie Fish

Registered: July 2005
Posts: 5
Review Date: Thu July 21, 2005 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: $7.50 | Rating: 9 

 
Pros: great for kids to watch
Cons:

I love this particular kind of fish. Mine lives inside a castle ornament, he\'s happy and pops out to get food and have a snoop around (check out the newcomers) then he goes back into his castle window. He really loves Blood worms, doesn\'t like the light too much, so he only really comes out at night.
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bala_aquarium
Large Fish


Registered: March 2006
Location: joliet illinois
Posts: 732
Review Date: Thu March 30, 2006 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 0 

 
Pros: very helpfull
Cons: none

i really enjoy watching clown loaches.i just bought three of them and they go anywhere they can fit.i have a hollow log in my tank for them and i coverd the end with gravel so they cant get in it.well when i woke up this morning they where in side.they dig up everything in my tank and swim under and over anything they can.
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big54bob
Super Fish


Registered: December 2006
Location: On my office chair playing Runescape
Posts: 1020
Review Date: Sat January 6, 2007 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 6 

 
Pros: Good Scavengers
Cons: get to big

man they are cool but they get to dang big
Quote:
god is watching
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Fishrockmysox
Little Fish


Registered: October 2006
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 181
Review Date: Sun April 15, 2007 Would you recommend the profile? Yes | Price you paid?: Not Indicated | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Non Aggressive, Fun to Watch, Cute, Eat Snails, Awesoem to Watch, Wonderful, Active, Vibrant Colors, Friendly, Great Community fish
Cons: Suspectible to Ick, Suspectible to Skinny Loach Disease

This fish is awesome! I had 1 of these little guys and he was so cute. Sadly about 4 or 5 months ago, ick swept through my tank *Curse Frogs* and he caught it. I treated him but I was too late =[ Sadly, He died.

These fish are great fish for community tanks. I don't suggest a smaller tank unless the fish is very small and you know that the fish will be moving into a larger tank(like you want him to get bigger before putting him in a tank with larger tank mates). Very Cute fish. They're vibrant and playful. They are of utmost activeness(is that a word? lol).

If you can get one of these fish I suggest them 100% !!
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