If you’re an avid fish enthusiast who has a passion for colorful, interesting fish, then you’ve probably been drawn to the clown loach once or twice.
It’s no wonder that this enthusiastic fish has captured your attention. This species is loved by many hobbyists for its striking colors and fun personality.
These fish can be seen anywhere from a couple of inches to whopping 14-15 Inches. At that size, they are prized amongst fish collectors and will command a high price.
Let us take a closer look at these amazing fish and see what care needs they require and aquarium conditions to keep Clown Loach in perfect health.
Table of Contents
Clown Loach: Species Profile
| Popular Name | Clown Loach |
|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Chromobotia macracanthus |
| Diet | Omnivorous |
| Size | 12-20 cm |
| Care level | Moderate |
| Temperature | 75-81 degrees Fahrenheit |
| pH Level | 6.0-6.5 |
| Tank size | 55 gallons + |
| Origin | Borneo, Malaysia, Sumatra, Kalimantan |
| Price | Starting at $4.99 |
The clown loach is a dining room favorite in both Indonesia and Borneo. Luckily for the fish, it is a popular aquarium resident in the Western world and is safe from most fishermen.
The clown loach is best known for its unique coloration: orange and black striped body and red fins. It’s also widely known for its active personality and energy.
For freshwater hobbyists, the clown loach is a popular favorite as it is not only beautiful and exciting, but it’s also an even-tempered tank mate that gets along with a variety of other fish. Unlike an overwhelming number of other fish, the clown loach is most active during the daylight hours, so it can be easily observed and enjoyed.
Clown Loach Natural Habitat
Clown loaches originally come from Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, and Kalimantan. They are generally found in rivers and bodies of fast-moving water.
How Big Can Clown Loach Grow?
In their natural habitat, clown loaches can grow to be up to 30 cm. In a home aquarium however, the average adult clown loach grows to around 15-18 cm. Those kept in very large aquariums may well grow to be almost 25cm and sold for around $200 each.
The biggest I have ever seen in a home aquarium was 20cm and that tank was 250 Gallons and nearly 8 feet long.
To successfully keep a school of clown loaches, it’s important to take good care of them and keep them happy. Of course, your loaches need food and clean water but they also require additional care to live their expected 15-year lifespan.
Most clown loach never reach their full size in captivity unless you have a very large aquarium.
Water quality is very important and regular water changes will help. They also like a strong current to simulate their wild environment.
What Do Clown Loach Eat?
A clown loach should be fed a diet that is high in protein. It needs to be balanced and include both meat and vegetables. They can eat a variety of foods including vegetable flakes, frozen and freeze-dried worms, brine shrimp, tubifex worms. Fruit matter such as banana matter, cucumber, melon, and blanched spinach is another menu favorite.
They should be fed multiple times a day, and each being be small enough to be consumed within 10 minutes. If you have snails in your aquarium, clown loaches may pick at them, as they are a good source of readily available protein.
In general, clown loaches prefer live food – a preference that can be hard to honor. If you have a garden or backyard, however, you can easily provide your loaches with juicy earthworms. Loaches can eat worms as long as the soil in which they came from hasn’t been fertilized recently or sprayed with any pesticides.
Clown loach certainly
We feed our Clown Loach a varied diet but they particularly like Veggi wafers which we buy in bulk as they’re cheaper from Amazon.
We feed our Plecostomus and all our catfish these wafers. They sink to the bottom of the aquarium and slowly release food. They are perfect for fish that love to eat algae and other
Vegetables or plant matter should make up around 30-40% of their diet.
One of the worst things you can do is to overfeed your fish. This is always a risk if you go on vacation and ask a friend or family member to feed your beloved fish. Read our recommendation on feeding your fish.
What Size Aquarium Do Clown Loach Need?
Clown loaches should be kept in schools of at least six. This doesn’t seem like a problem until you consider what size of tank you will need to house six large fish. Ideally, the minimum tank size needed for a small school of clown loaches is 55-70 gallons.
Some clown loaches do get bigger than the average size, so it’s always a good idea to buy a tank that is even larger than 55 gallons. As the fish age and mature, they will need to be moved to a tank that is, at
Due to the strong currents in their natural environment, they should have a strong filter that moves the water in their tank. This can be achieved by using a strong powerhead, or a sizeable HOB filter (hang-on-back filter).
Canister filters can work as well, make sure you buy a suitable size one that has a good flow rate. Also, read the reviews to make sure you’re buying the right one for your fish tank. We love the Polar Aurora 3 canister filter for tank between 50-75gallons available from Amazon, the link is provided for you above.
The decor for the clown loach tank should be plant and rock heavy. The tank should include large river rocks that are smooth and rounded and an abundance of live plants. Each loach tank should include at least one cave that has a low-ceiling for the clown loach to hide in.
Sand substrate is the best option for the inside of their tank, but if you are unable to get your hands on some, a fine gravel will work.
Sexing Clown Loach
Many fish are hard to sex. The clown loach, though, can be sexed by observing their fins.
The male loach’s tailfin will be bent inwards just a little, while the females will appear straight and normal. Usually, the female appears to be larger and plumper than her male counterpart, as well.
How Do Clown Loach Breed?
It’s rare to successfully breed clown loaches in captivity. It isn’t, however impossible and can be done with a great deal of determination, commitment, and care.
In order to start the breeding process, both fish need to be sexually mature. This generally happens when the fish are 2-4 years old and at least 7 inches in size.
To encourage the fish to breed, the breeding pair should be conditioned and given live food multiple times a day. After a few weeks, the female clown loach may begin to gain weight – this is when mating is likely to take place.
After mating, the female should be removed from the tank. Her eggs will hatch within a few days; the fry will need to be fed brine shrimp or bloodworms several times a day. At about two weeks old the fry are large enough to start eating flake food and will start to grow rapidly.
The majority of freshwater clown loach are bred in fish farms in Singapore using hormones injections. Very few are wild caught and the ones that are, normally fetch a handsome price. Their colors will be brighter and bolder.
Clown Loach Tank Mates?
It’s unusual for fish enthusiasts to have a tank of clown loaches without including a variety of other interesting fish for them to interact with. That being said, not all fish get along with the clown loach and some get along with them better than others.
Tank Mates To Avoid
Guppies
Guppies should be kept away from the clown loach as they tend to have trailing, soft fins. Although clown loaches aren’t particularly aggressive, they have been known to nip at fish with long, trailing tails. Although this may not be fatal, it can be unfortunate and upsetting causing problems within an otherwise peaceful community tank.
Read our fun article on why Guppies make great pet fish.
Cichlids
Many cichlids also have fancy, trailing tail fins which makes them a less than preferred tank mates for clown loaches. As with guppies, cichlids should be kept away from clown loaches to avoid potential tail nipping.
Silver Dollars
Silver dollars and clown loaches get along relatively well temperament-wise. However, they clash when it comes to one small aspect – plants. Clown loaches love plants and thrive with many of them. Silver dollars, on the other hand, are known to destroy plants, leaving the clown loach with very few, if any at all.
It’s important to note that some hobbyists have successfully housed these two fish together despite the problems surrounding plants and vegetation.
Good Tank Mates For Clown Loach
Tiger Barbs
Tiger barbs are silver/gold in color and have black stripes with orange fins. Lively and playful, they will school with other friendly fish.
Needing a balanced diet that includes both meat and vegetables, they can eat anything from live brine shrimp to commercial flaked food.
They thrive in aquariums with plenty of rocks and plants.
You can purchase tiger barbs for around $1.99
Black Ghost Knifefish
The black ghost knifefish is s timid and reclusive in nature. It’s an all black fish with white and black striped tail and rounded frontal fins.
It prefers to live in a tank with plenty of rocks and places to hide and will eat a variety of foods including meat, earthworms, and frozen and flaked commercial foods. It uses a weak electrical signal to locate its food.
Read more on the Knife fish here.
Swordtail Fish
Swordtails are elongated fish that are most commonly red with black tails which are sword-shaped, giving them their name.
Swordtails are peaceful fish, but males shouldn’t be housed together as they can become aggressive towards each other.
They should be fed a variety of live and commercial foods including meat and vegetables in the form of flakes, as swordtails eat a lot of algae in their natural habitats.
You can buy swordtails for $4.99-$5.99.
Ropefish
Ropefish have eel-like, elongated bodies and have a peaceful nature. They need to have access to the surface, as they need oxygen. They are nocturnal and can seem reclusive, however, they are very social and should be kept with others of their kind.
Their tank should be heavily planted and have an abundant supply of rocks and crevices, as well as other places to hide like driftwood.
They require live food such as insect larvae, tubifex and bloodworms, and chopped meats. They can also be fed meats such as beef heart.
You can buy this fish for around $29.99.
CLOWN LOACH: F.A.Q
Q. In case of sickness, can I use medication on clown loaches?
A. Medication can be used on clown loaches, however, in tanks where they are present, you’ll usually need to underdose the tank by a least 50% to keep the loaches safe. Their scales are small and extremely sensitive to many aquarium treatments and medications, so be sure to check the medication instructions before using it in a clown loach tank.
Q. How are clown loaches bred in captivity?
A. For many aquarium owners, breeding the clown loach is merely a wild dream which rarely turns into a reality. Hobbyists often witness breeding behaviors and sometimes even the release of eggs, but there are no recorded cases of offspring surviving.
In Asia, clown loaches are bred in large outdoor pools with the help of hormones.
Q. Can I add clown loaches to a new tank?
A. Clown loaches are sensitive to water conditions. Therefore, they should not be added to tanks that are less than 3 months old – the more mature the tank, the better.
Q. How often should I do water changes in a clown loach tank?
A. On average, water changes should be carried out regularly. As a rule of thumb, 30% of the tank’s total water volume should be replaced every week. This is especially true if the tank lacks an adequate supply of plants, as they help to keep nitrates out of the water and make the tank safe for clown loaches.
Q. How can I increase my chances of successfully breeding clown loaches?
A. Breeding this type of fish is almost always unsuccessful. However, if you’re set on trying to breed your own loach fry, you can increase your chances of finding a mating pair by allowing your fish to school.
When they do this, sexually mature fish may break off into mating pairs.
Feeding mating pairs – once they have been established- frequently may also increase the odds.
Q. How many clown loaches should be kept together?
A. Ideally, clown loaches should be kept in schools of at least 6 or 7 fish. Fish that school or Shoal ( There is a difference ) look stunning in a well planted aquascaped aquarium. See our favorite schooling fish here!
Q. Can I house clown loaches with invertebrates?
A. It’s a good idea to avoid housing these fish with invertebrates, as well as clams, mussels, shrimp, and snails. These animals will compete with the clown loach for food, as they share many of the same dietary needs. As a result of competing for food, the clown loach may end up underfed and unhealthy.
Conclusion: Clown Loach Care Guide
Clown loaches are recommended for relatively experienced hobbyists but are a rewarding addition that can bring excitement to any tank. They can grow to be very large and since they are a school breed, require a very large tank that has peaceful tankmates and plenty of space.
Clown loaches eat a varied diet but need an abundance of protein.
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I have been working in the tropical fish industry for over 30 years now and I’m still learning. Everyday is a school day in this hobby. In my spare time I play golf very badly!
