# Loaches for my tank



## bosco0633 (Dec 31, 2009)

Ok, so I am wondering about clown loaches. I have googled it for the past 2 hours getting such a mix review. Loach lover sites all say no way, other cichlid articles say they blend well

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR

Ok so far, I know that loaches are ich magnets. They tend to get ich before any other fish in a cichlid tank. ICH meds can be fatal to loaches as they have no scales and it absorbs very quickly and potential to poison them.

I have read that loaches are compatible with cichlids, and that cichlids will generally leave them alone. Some argue that this is because of the coloring of a loach.

Loaches make for great bottom dwellers as they eat left overs and they eat waste, which is something that I really want for the back of the tank that cant get cleaned by vaccuum.

I have also read that loaches do not like high ph and may not do well in a cichlid tank because of this.

So any thoughts for me, im not really digging the Synodontis multipunctatus and think that loaches are more up my alley


----------



## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

*** kept loaches with my mbuna before and they did fine....they do get very large though

what size tank?


----------



## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Outside of overfeeding, there really isn't a reason for a "bottom feeder" with Mbuna, or most Malawian cichilds. They'll eat all the food, if it is reasonably fed.

If you just want a loach, they'll mix fine.


----------



## oldcatfish (May 27, 2009)

Really, all of the Botia Loaches do fine with cichlids...including Clown Loaches. Some species do make better tankmates than others though. My personal favorite is Botia Modesta (red finned loach). They will thrive in almost any cichlid tank that you put them in.

Quarantine the loaches before you add them to the tank----feed them well, and watch for signs of ich. After about a month, slowly replace the quarantine water with the display tank's water. Once it is all display tank water, redecorate the display tank and add the loaches. You can treat loaches with ich by half dosing the meds for twice as long as the directions say to.

Once established in a healthy setup (stable temperature and good water quality), you won't likely have any problems with ich.

**By the way, it isn't coloration that keeps cichlids away from the loach...it's the very sharp retractable spine under the loaches eye. The loaches know how to use them.


----------



## 748johnd (Jun 30, 2007)

I don't know of any fish that eats waste. I've had loaches before and they certainly did not eat waste.


----------



## JDL (Feb 2, 2010)

We picked up 6 of these little guy's a couple day's ago, as my wife really like them. Very active and seems have motivated all the other fish to swim around as well.

Beware that they like to get into everything. We've since lost one who managed too find a small opening towards the back of the tank and jump out and dried up on the floor. I noticed another loach was playing close to the top of my overflow box. Sure enough I found one in my sump, caught in the filter floss. Fortunately, there was enough water flow to keep him alive.

I'm hoping my UV Sterilizer and maintaining my temp at 82 will keep these guy's healthy and free of ich.


----------



## BigFish77 (Feb 1, 2009)

I have three of these guys and they are doing great with my Haps. They grow pretty fast up til about 3 inches then they really slow down. I have seen some huge CL's. If you do plan on buying any get at least 3, they school and interact very well with each other. The problem with ich only usually occurs upon first addition of these guys. Its an easy fix either QT them or half does meds. for twice the normal use and throw in some water changes ever 2nd or 3rd day of treatment. I have synd. multies and CL's both are fun to watch. CL's also sleep on their side and sometimes look dead. As mentioned above, make sure you don't have an escape route or very porous rock which they can wedge themselves into. I always have kept a piece of PVC tube or broken clay pot for them to hide in.


----------



## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

bosco???


----------



## cray (Feb 4, 2010)

JDL said:


> I'm hoping my UV Sterilizer and maintaining my temp at 82 will keep these guy's healthy and free of ich.


what is a UV sterilizer?


----------



## bosco0633 (Dec 31, 2009)

Sorry about nor getting back. I have a 150gal. I have purchased 3 clown loaches and they seem to be doing well


----------



## JDL (Feb 2, 2010)

A UV sterilizer is basically a device that uses an ultraviolet light bulb, when water passes through, it will kill microscopic organisms floating in the water such as ich, Parasites, algae.


----------



## pimwee (Feb 10, 2010)

If you have plants in your tank and want to keep them I would avoid clown loaches. I added them to mine and they devoured the heavily planted tank. I've heard zebra loaches are better for planted environments.


----------



## josmoloco (Aug 23, 2008)

Clown loaches can work real well with mbuna and haps/peacocks


----------



## JDL (Feb 2, 2010)

Are clown loaches picky eaters? over the last couple of weeks, I noticed they will almost ignore the nls pellets, but immediately rush over when I feed them blood worms.


----------



## etcbrown (Nov 10, 2007)

What kkind of africans are you feeding bloodworms to? :-?


----------



## ashilli48 (May 14, 2006)

yo yo botia is an awesome addition. Won't eat plants, will devour ALL of your snails, won't get as big as the clown. However, if kept in groups they will chase each other, and don't seem to pal around like the clown.


----------



## JDL (Feb 2, 2010)

etcbrown said:


> What kkind of africans are you feeding bloodworms to? :-?


I had the clown's with my frontosa group and Gold/Black Alto. Calvus group. I was only feeding bloodworms to the group as a treat once a week.

I know I shouldn't feed bloodworms daily so I've had too move the clowns to my spare 90Gal tank too see if I can get them used to nls pellets. I'm now only feeding them bloodworms every second or third day now. I went back to my LFS to find out what he was feeding them, and he said they only fed them bloodworms. So I'm going to see if I can get them to eat nls, otherwise, they're going back. :roll:


----------



## chief773 (Oct 23, 2007)

I've had 2 clown loaches in my 75 gallon mbuna/hap tank for over a year now. I got them when I had a trumpet snail outbreak. They took care of all the snails and have thrived with the cichlids.


----------



## aji1217 (Aug 22, 2009)

Skunk loaches- aka- horas loaches -aka- botia morleti get along great with Mbuna. Actually will bully them every once in a while, which is not a bad thing 

And they stay small. I do not want 6x12-18" clown loaches in with my Mbuna. Bit too much IMO.


----------

