▷ Loaches in the aquarium | All information, key data and details

Data sheet clown loaches

German name:
clown loaches

Scientific name:
Botia macracanta

Origin:

Size:
30 cm

Aquarium

Length:
Minimum 200cm

Contents:
From 320 liters – better from 500 liters

Lighting:
Shady

Furnishings:

water values

Temperature:

PH value:

6.5 – 7.5

carbonate hardness:

°dKH

total hardness:

5 °dGH

Behave

Number:

Area:
Floor

propagation:
egglayer

Lining:
omnivore

Behave:

Schooling fish, likes to swim, only suitable for very large aquariums, popular food fish

Difficulty level:
advanced

husbandry conditions

© Lukas Knechtle

clown loaches, Chromobotia macracanta, are swimming-loving animals that live together in social groups. For example, they like to lie together in hiding places with physical contact. Individually kept animals take care of themselves. However, clown loaches also fight for ranking. As they age, they become territorial.

In nature, some specimens are over 30 centimeters tall. In the aquarium they also reach this size with good care and correspondingly large aquariums. However, they often only grow to a size of 16 centimeters in the aquarium. This is often interpreted in such a way that the animals adapt to the size of the aquarium. But it has to be from stunted growth to be spoken. If kept in too small aquaria, the animals cannot grow fully because they reach the limits of the aquarium.

As actual soft water fish, clown loaches make demands on the water quality. But because they also occur naturally in brackish water areas, this is not so critical.

© Mirko Rosenau Fotolia.com

They dig up the ground in search of food. Sand is a good soil. The animals eat the sand and release it through the gills. You can’t do that with gravel.

Plants must be secured with stones before digging up. Caves etc. made of stone need a solid foundation so that they do not tip over when digging.

However, not all clown loaches are so fond of digging that they dig up plants.

If the soil is so densely planted that the animals cannot burrow, there is even a risk that they will hunt and harass other fish out of boredom.

Clown loaches like a strong current in the aquarium. With good care, clown loaches can live 20 to 25 years.

Buying Tips

Photo: Moritz Hertel

When buying, you have to pay attention to the nutritional status. They must not be emaciated and not have a so-called knife back. Such animals are not as susceptible to Ichthyo as is often claimed.

In the beginning you have to pay attention to the food intake. They actually accept any food. But sometimes they refuse the food for a few days at the beginning.

lining

Clown loaches are omnivores. Snails are particularly popular. Clown loaches need strong food.

Suitable feed:

Black mosquito larvae are not eaten or not eaten by everyone. Red peppers are good for coloring.

Well-fed clown loaches are also no longer sensitive to Ichthyo.

Clown loaches as snail killers

Because clown loaches eat snails, they are often recommended against snail infestations.

Unfortunately, it is often forgotten that large aquariums are needed for keeping them.

Thorns of clown loaches

Photo: Moritz Herte

Clown loaches have an erectable and lockable thorn under each eye. The spike has 2 teeth and is an effective weapon against predators. When a bird or other fish tries to eat the loach, the thorn punctures the esophagus. The injury can be fatal.

A secretion can also be released with the thorns. However, newspaper reports that clown loaches kill people with poisonous stingers are nonsense. However, there can be people and perhaps also animals who are allergic to the secretion.

A piranha that had eaten 2 to 3 bites off the back of a clown loach turned dark a few hours later and was swimming around apathetically. The next day he was fit again. However, simply the thorn in the stomach may have disturbed.

Photo: Moritz Hertel

The eye thorns are also used in disputes among themselves. Clown loaches occasionally scratch themselves with it. Probably when they re-fight the hierarchy. Such injuries heal well and are apparently harmless.

The thorns are said to be used for rummaging around in the ground.

The thorn is harmless to the keeper. Loaches sometimes eat out of your hand. Nevertheless, the thorn is rarely seen and practically never felt. Clown loaches move away anyway when you reach into the aquarium for maintenance work.

However, the thorns can lead to a risk of injury to the loaches themselves. You can get caught in the meshes of fishing nets. It is therefore better not to catch loaches with nets. If absolutely necessary, they are caught with nets very carefully.

Clown loaches grow very large.

An aquarium for clown loaches should have at least 300 liters of water. According to some experience, about 4 animals can be kept in 540 liters because they are very lively. Other aquarists keep 20 to 30 clown loaches in a 2 meter tank with 500 liters. The exact number depends on the size of the animals.

Extreme figures even recommend 1000 liters as the minimum size, because a group of at least 10 animals should be kept.
They are said to grow quickly in sufficiently large aquariums. According to other data, they grow slowly at one centimeter per year.

Loaches are group animals

Clown loaches are sociable and need the company of their own kind. It should at least 4 to 5 animals kept together in a large aquarium. Are at least better 8 to 12 animals. According to the minimum requirements for keeping ornamental fish, at least 10 specimens should be kept together.

Play instinct of clown loaches

When they get bored, they shift gravel back and forth with their mouths, e.g. B. in her cave.

Clown loaches even play with small rubber rings that are thrown into the aquarium.

There is a hierarchy for clown loaches

Clown loaches have a certain hierarchy among themselves. When feeding, certain animals always eat first, then the others. When the loaches swim in a group, the same animals swim in front and the others behind.

Battles are fought every now and then for ranking and also for the best resting places. The animals spread their fins, the color fades and they tug at each other’s mouths. If the group is too small or the animals cannot avoid each other in pools that are too small, they can also injure themselves.

Clown loaches make cracking noises

Sometimes clown loaches make cracking noises like biting through glass. The noise is caused by the powerful mouthpart. You crack it e.g. B. snail housing. This is easy to observe with food tablets.

Coloration changes over time.

When clown loaches get bigger, the pattern changes. The drawing doesn’t stretch out, it just keeps growing like a tree. They often get a black nose.

gender differences

According to literature, the sexes can be distinguished by the caudal fin when the animals are larger than 10 to 15 centimeters. The tips of the caudal fin are straight in females, while in males they are curved inward. The incision therefore looks more like a pointed bracket in females <, in males more like the pincers of an earwig.

It is usually easier to pin down the sex differences to the stronger body size of the females. The shape of the caudal fin may not be unique.

Breeding of clown loaches

clown loach baby Photo: Yvonne Gieseking

Targeted breeding has not yet been successful. Random breeding is reported from time to time. However, most specimens on the market are wild-caught. A targeted breeding is so far not known. Supposedly, the chances in large ponds are best, even if the climatic conditions are suitable.

Because the clown loaches grow quite large, the animals probably have to be at least 3 to 4 years old before a breeding attempt can be started.

Theoretical considerations led to the following possible breeding requirements:

The water should be fresh and well oxygenated.

It is possible that clown loaches undertake extensive spawning migrations. That would be very difficult to imitate in the aquarium.

It is unclear whether rumors are true that breeding with hormone treatments is or was carried out in Japan or in the former Soviet Union. Hormone treatments are also not desirable from an aquaristic point of view.

Even if the animals in the aquarium romp around wildly and appear to be courting, they do not lay eggs. Some animals get a black spot on the side and on the belly at the level of the dorsal fin. Because there is no spawning report from such animals either, it is not clear whether the spots have anything to do with the willingness to spawn.

In nature, clown loaches spawn in fast-flowing, foaming streams at the beginning of the rainy season. The young fish form large schools and grow up in the calmer waters where the streams flow into rivers. The adult loaches only form small groups.

Dens for clown loaches

Clown loaches like to lie in caves. The caves can B. be made of clay or bamboo. The caves must be open at the front and back. Because clown loaches like to have contact, the burrows should have the same diameter as the loaches and be about 1 1/2 times as long. The caves are laid flat on the ground.

The caves serve not only as a hiding place, but also to structure the pool. The animals can thus demarcate their territories more easily and orientate themselves better.
As a result, loach tanks are not redesigned often, especially in the first year. Loaches don’t like big changes.

Bamboo for clown loaches

An aquarium for clown loaches can be well decorated with bamboo.

For approx. 13 centimeters long animals z. B. 20 to 30 centimeters long and approx. 5 centimeters thick bamboo tubes can be placed in the aquarium as caves. One or two animals fit into such caves.

Bamboo caves for several animals are about 40 centimeters long and about 16 centimeters in diameter. The bamboo is cut in such a way that it passes through the…