"Throw Out The Clowns!"

[StarChazr]

Hey all

I love my clown loaches ...truly comical little guys. I have six in a planted tank (150 gals)...they do an excellent job cleaning up scraps in the gravel; but they are wrecking havoc with my plants. :'(

I want them out of there! >

I'm going to give them their own tank (55 gal) with plants (cuttings from the 150 gal) so they can enjoy themselves.

Anybody know of a good way to catch them without destroying the aquascape?

Thanks,
Rena

[ChloroPhil]

Bleach.

There really is no great way of getting clowns out of a planted tank. I have a friend who tried to catch them every way possible and we ended up having to just tear the tank down to catch them.

[venom_99]

Sorry for being naive, but what exactly are the Clown Loaches doing to the plants? I thought I read in "Discus Fish" that clown loaches made excellent tank mates for Discus in a planted aquarium.

As I mentioned in the Biography forum, I'm new to discus, so I'm trying to pick up bits and pieces along the way...

[chirohorn]

You've got to surprise them at night. Temporarily stun them by turning on all the aquarium lights & nab 'em w/two nets.

[ChloroPhil]

Clown loaches get so big the tend to uproot all the plants when they swim around hunting for food.

They are a good companion for discus in a sparsely planted aquarium.

Best,
Phil

[Emanuel]

My clown loaches never grew too big but they sure ruined alot of swords and even anubias. I found out that they liked to nibble at the shoot meristem of plants and the new leaves would often come out with large holes and eventually the plants would get stunted. When I finally removed the loaches, the remaining plants quickly recovered.

[venom_99]

If big clown loaches are somewhat problematic, what would you suggest using as bottom dwellers (cleaners) instead?

[daninthesand]

Albino bristlenose plecostomus. Period.

[dshopper]

Hi Rena

I have used egg crate from lights as a divider to trap the loaches in one end of the tank. Once you get them in one end you can remove the plants and catch the loaches. Now you only have to replant a small part of the tank.

Hope this helps

Dwayne

[StarChazr]

Thanks all

I managed to remove four of the six ...was not easy because of the height of my tank (32 inches). I used two pieces of plexiglass (tank lenght 4 feet) managing to trap them in the middle...clever little beasts ...two went over the top of the plexiglass >.
I uprooted quite a few plants and had to remove driftwood pieces...after two hours I gave up on the last two. I'll consider some of the suggestions that you guys gave in trying to catch them.

Rena

[Mr. Limpet]

Years ago on DIP, someone described a clown loach trap that you put a piece of beefheart in and when the loach went in after it, it couldn't get out. Any of you old timers remember this? Could be as simple as a crab type trap. Any way just killing time here. Paul.

[Nightowl]

Clown loaches like to swim into things....a large shell, a fishtank ornament.... anything w/ out a back door so to speak would probably work in trapping them, especially when there are fewer of them in the tank.
As far as bottom feeders in a discus tank, except for larger tanks they're not necessary. I seems to me discus are good enough bottom feeders. J.T.

[ChloroPhil]

Skunk, Tiger, and Yo Yo loaches are a great alternative to Clowns. They've got all the benefits of being champion snail eaters without the size of the clowns.