Clown Loaces in a panted tank?

[happygirl65]

Hello all,
I have been on a quest for a snail exterminator. Dont mind a few but it gets rediculous with all the added feedings for discus. ;)

I have seen many advocate the clown loach as well as other loaches. I have tried the kuhli loaches and while they do take care of some, they hardly make a dent in a big populaton.

Some of the other smaller loaches are very hard to find, but clowns are always available.

My real question though is how hard are they on a planted scape? I had them once before in a non planted thank and they were fun and very active but I am afraid thy would be constantly uprooting things.

Anyone have exp with them to pass on?
Thanks
:)
Tori

[YSS]

I have never had a problem with clown loaches uprooting my plants, but that's just me. I currently have 5 in my tank and they seem to leave things alone. However, my clown loaches did nothing for my snail population. :(

[target]

I had a snail problem that was solved by using 2 of these guys: http://www.petsolutions.com/Lohachata-Botia-Loach+I55120+C40001592.aspx

They quickly disposed of all snails small enough to be eaten, as well as the new eggs, and I just had to pick out any of the larger ones I could see. Went from being over run by snails to snail free in less than 2 weeks.

[happygirl65]

I had a snail problem that was solved by using 2 of these guys: http://www.petsolutions.com/Lohachata-Botia-Loach+I55120+C40001592.aspx

They quickly disposed of all snails small enough to be eaten, as well as the new eggs, and I just had to pick out any of the larger ones I could see. Went from being over run by snails to snail free in less than 2 weeks.

Did you order from those guys? How were they?

[target]

Did you order from those guys? How were they?
I didn't order from them. A local pet store had them available. Living in Canada this website isn't able to ship to me, which is unfortunate.

[Dissident]

I have always kept botia striata in my planted tanks, and planted discus tanks. Be sure to have a nice population of them 5 or more is best.

http://www.loaches.com/species-index/botia-striata

[happygirl65]

I get so frustrated because I can't find them here. I have looked for
striata
sithimunki
YoYo

All I can ever find are the clowns and have never bought them since going planted because they get so big for one thing, but also because I am afraid of them tearing up my scape.
I can' order some but shipping is usually a killer. So I guess I just have to keep on living with the snails which really blows as bender would say. :)

[Harriett]

I have been keeping clown loaches in planted tanks for many years. Current tank x 6 years has 6 6"ers with the discus. I NEVER see a snail poking above the sand--they just eat them. I have snails in the sand that keep the substrate aerated well. The loaches are not a problem for the plants, never have had them be destructive. Once in a while somebody munches on new sword leaf a little but there are lots of guys in there who may be culprits--it's no biggy and not noticable to 'normal' people..I love their behaviour, how they look, and that they can live to 30 years if taken care of well. I know they can get quite large but have never seen a really big one in a hobbyist tank, frankly.
best regards
Harriett

[happygirl65]

:) That does make me feel a little better. :) Thank you.

[GrillMaster]

I like Harriet have been keeping clown loaches in my planted tanks as well. I personally wouldn't own any other loach! :)

tc
Mark

[pcsb23]

I like clowns too, and in the right conditions will grow very big! BUT they are slow growers too.

[geleen]

I like them to.:) Had to pick out the larger snails for a bit, but I have not seen a snail in this tank for months. :):) They do poke the occasional hole in a leaf checking for snail eggs I guess.
( I am blaming them for the holes but have never seen them do it)
I do feed a bit of spinach and zucchini weekly and that seems to satisfy their need for plant food.

I have seen several (5-6) 10" and perhaps up to 13" in a LFS, HUGE!! They were over 15 years old ( I was told,) and would take over a 180 gallon easily.....no more room for Discus :(

I have noticed that they do not do well alone and 2 would be an absolute minimum. I have a piece of 1,5" x 8" pvc hidden in the back and they sleep in there.
J.

[happygirl65]

Wow, ok. :) I think I may pick a couple up today. They are quite beautiful and fun I think. :)

Thanks for all the help and positive advice. I will have to do that with the spinach and zuchini. That is a good idea. :)

[judy]

the sole downside to the clowns, besides how big they get, is that they will develop a far greater fondness for discus food than for snails.... and they get fat very fast! I had to push my loaches out of the way when trying to feed the discus. so i sold them off. You may be able to order the sidthimunki-- I have about a dozen and they're wonderful.

[Harriett]

Hey Happygirl, the schooling thing with the clowns is real improtant in terms of their confidence and behaviour. They NEED to be with clowns! I personally would never keep fewer than 3 together and frankly they are WAY happier and act goofier when there are at least 5. It takes MANY years for them to get real big--mine are 6+ years and are not quite 6 inchers. They are swell! I also keep other kinds of loaches in the tank--they all get along but the clowns really want to run with the clowns.
Harriett

[Bigsexybadguy]

Everything posted holds true here. Love my clowns and they do a great job on the snails and don't bother the plants at all.

For Target: I've had no problems with Petsolutions delivering to me in Toronto, but that was only for dry goods. I've never tried to order live fish.

Regards,

BSB

[digthemlows]

I couldn't keep dwarf hairgrass with my clowns because they decided it was fun to uproot it every day..............othwise they don't bother anyone, and they eat fast and furious..............so do my discus though!

Here they are beggin with the discus.

http://starboardbough.com/tmp/1.30.08.beggin4food.jpg

[happygirl65]

Oh my goodness! :) lol that is too funny. I was hoping if I held the bloodworms the discus could get first dibs...
Well I just bought 4 of them (tried to hand catch them instead of netting them....OUCH...they have sharpies!

So far they are hiding amongst the plants in the 90 gal. I decided to try them out in the larger tank first, especially since I only feed the angels 1-2 times a day as they are adults. :)

[Darrell Ward]

I have 4 smaller clowns that I've been growing out for a couple of months in a 37 gal. They were tiny when I got them, and cheap! Anyway, I plan to put them in the 10 day old planted 240gal. over the weekend. I have started to get a few snails in there that have hatched out. We'll see if they eat them. I put 16 otos in 3 days ago. At least maybe I'll have something else to look at in there until I get the 50 cardinals out of quarantine. :D

[target]

Sorry, should have clarified. They aren't able to ship live fish to Canada. As you said, dry goods are fine.

Daniel

[BSW]

I love my Clown Loaches, they never bother the Discus, or the plants. Mine grew real fast. But they never did much for snails either. I got Skunk Loaches for that, and they took care of the snail problem real fast.
B

[Darrell Ward]

Well, I put my clowns in the planted tank almost a week ago. It seems all they want to do is stay in one corner, chasing each other up and down, from the waterline to the bottom. Up and down. 24/7. Apparently this activity is more fun than even eating. Mindless creatures. :D Based on this, not very good for snail control, or anything else.

[BSW]

Only thing for mine is that they are so active at night, once when I use to leave the tank to dark at night, one spooked the Discus, and the Discus flew all around the tank, and one got a little skinned up. Now I leave a good night light on, so the Discus can see them comming, never had any problems since.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/rlwbsw/Tank004.jpg
B

[Darrell Ward]

Only thing for mine is that they are so active at night, once when I use to leave the tank to dark at night, one spooked the Discus, and the Discus flew all around the tank, and one got a little skinned up. Now I leave a good night light on, so the Discus can see them comming, never had any problems since.
http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s12/rlwbsw/Tank004.jpg
B

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep that in mind when I add the Discus. I used to do the same thing when I had a 2' Silver Arowana. I kept a night light on for her, because I had very large (as big as a man's open hand) Silver Dollars in the tank. A big, spooked aro is not a pretty sight! :D

[digthemlows]

Only thing for mine is that they are so active at night, once when I use to leave the tank to dark at night, one spooked the Discus, and the Discus flew all around the tank, and one got a little skinned up. Now I leave a good night light on, so the Discus can see them comming, never had any problems since.


I got some moonlights (blue LEDs) and not only does it look really cool, the discus don't get spooked much anymore...........

[Bethanie]

I don't recommend clowns in planted tanks. I've had my current clowns for 5 or 6 years now. At first they didn't bother the plants at all, but they love my swords. Punching holes all over especially the new leaves. I know it's the clowns, for a while had them and a few guppies only in the tank. Eventually saw them in action too. They keep my snails managed, and even with feeding them regularly various sinking pellets and having some snails (most are in the filter) they are ruining my poor plants. Moving them to a non planted tank might help if they later develop a taste for them. I can't really do that right now, as all my tanks are either planted or have unsuitable current inhabitants.

[Gordon C. Snelling]

I am in the same mind as Bethanie. Clowns can and often will devastate a planted tank. Seems they love punching little holes in the leaves of swords.

[Peachtree Discus]

...I got Skunk Loaches for that, and they took care of the snail problem real fast.
B

same here...skunks (2) did an excellent job with the snail issue. however, i would catch them occasionally harassing my discus. after i got back from a 3-week vacation, i could not find one of my discus. eventually i found 1 extremely bloated skunk and some discus bones under an ornament :mad: :mad:

[Wahter]

Clown loaches have always ravaged some broad leafed plant leaves in my tanks - swords and anubias plants always ended up with holes and Vallisneria shoots would get munched on too. The loaches don't bother the stem plants like Rotalas nor Hygros and seem to leave the common Crypts alone too.

Just my experience,


Walter

[OIF03VET]

I threw 3 decent size clowns into a heavly planted 20 gallon with 20 or so guppies, (also an amazing amount of snails) a broken light (only blue light worked) and no heater, this tank was placed in my Parents garage. The temp in the tank flucuated from 90f to 60f between day and night. I got married in april and left the tank there. I went over tonight to get the fish and there were no snails, an over abundance of plants, it didnt seem like the clowns had even touched them, and over 200 guppies, lucky for me no retarded ones. I dont have experience with clowns and discus but I would not worry about them harming plants. I kinda wished they did so I wouldnt have had to worry about moving so many plants. By the way I moved the fish and plants into a 40 gallon. It is still way overcrowded, I need to seperate out the guppies into a few more tanks maybe move some into the discus tank for some free discus food.