Buying a group of Clown Loaches

[danilada]

I am looking at purchasing a large order or clown loaches to put with my new Oscar, looking at 10 possibly.

I will pre-order them through the LPS and pick them up as they arrive. I have decided to buy them in bulk as I do not want to add one, then another, then another because....

last year I lost my whole colony of clown loaches to white spot and some were about 17cm long!

So I want to get them all at once, but I would like some suggestions to make sure they do not develop white spot, and if they do I want to be able to treat it immediately.

Tank is a 500L with a FX5, so will the bio-load be ok? Tank is a 4yr mature tank!

[henward]

i think your fx5 should be fine in a 500L tank wtih those clowns.

i fill bottom 2 trays full of bio media, top tray just filter wool.....and it cranks it.

if you have a similar set up, it should be ok.

i dont bother with 'pre filter' noodles, useless in my opinion.

just pure bio media in 2 bottom trays.

i have a regime in my tanks - works for me, i dont get diseases.

Also, my 2 1200L tanks has 125% or more water change every week total and my grow out tank has 200% a week or just under.

but what i do is put some tonic salt into the water 3 times a week, just a quarter dose.

the tonic salts composition contains much trace elements, i found that it keeps my fish healthy. might be old fashioned but... i have had good results with it.

when you put them in, treat with melafix straight away - then put some salt in there.

then do water change 2 to 3 days later....'

water quality is critical in any situation right ? so jsut ensure you do wc often

[danilada]

I might start to add some salt, I think I have a bag of the stuff some-where.

My water parameters are perfect, and I do 50% water changes maybe fourtnightly, but since adding the Oscar I am doing 1/4 every three days or so, just to make sure my parameters are all good and that the extra bio-load is not affecting the quality, so I will continue to monitor that daily.

I do not plan to add any-thing else for a wee while once the clowns are in, but one problem I do have since its winter is maintaining the temperature, it seems to flucuate between 24'c to 29'c, so I may have to invest in a decent heater before adding such sensitive fish, well I know they are hardy but I never seem to have much luck so I have put luck aside and going to beat the odds.

[David R]

Agree with what Henward has said, a small amount of salt with every waterchange won't hurt (although I don't usually bother).

Set the temp of you tank at around 28-30C, certainly invest in a second heater if your current one is letting the temp drop to 245C. pH somewhere below 7, plenty of hiding spots so they feel secure when moved in. Trying to minimise the stress of moving them is paramount. Check the parameters of the water they are coming from, and try to avoid a big swing in pH when moving them. If you're ordering them from the LFS then pick them up when they come in so they don't have to be acclimatised to the shops tank then shifted again soon after. Keep the water clean (frequent water changes) and if you're really keen/worried running a UV steriliser will help, although they can be expensive.

And most importantly, quarantine ANY new additions, fish or plants!!

[henward]

first and foremost:

before you buy the clowns - Get a good heater.

Eheim 300w should take care of your 500L.

Another option if you dont mind ugliness - poly cover on back and sides of tank. that will help alot.

But if you already have an eheim 300w and its still swinging 5c - then you will have problems. that will stress out fish i reckon.

buy another, you will save power too! cos teh heater wont stay on as long.

eheim in my opinion can heat a 500L to 29 to 30 comfortably in a room that is 8 to 10 degrees colcer than the desired temp (eg 30c desired temp, room is 20c)

if its colder than that, youw ill have issues, so get another.

then get the clowns.

some sold per water change is good - i am a big fan of salt.

also you can buy them direct from suppliers

COARSE SALT grade 22 - 1.10 a kilo. Dunninghams sells them. Its rock salt you eat too.

i use alot of them, currently i bought in bulk that saved me 15 cents a kilo - i have 75 kgs sittign in my garage.

with clows, david is right, get it direct from bag so they only acclimatise once. less stress.

quarantine is usefull.

but i just dont get clowns that are skinny - make sure they are rounded bellies and active and fat....never get skinny ones... i have never had good luck wtih skinny ones.

[danilada]

It is "Rock Salt" I have in the fishy cupboard, about 4kgs so that should do me a little while!

Yes I will be particular about the clowns I want, because my previous experience with clowns the skinny ones got skinnier and died.

I plan to be at the door of my LPS with a poly box ready to collect them before they even go in a tank!

How much salt would I add at a time? Do I mix it with hot water or just put in straight in the tank?

Will be sorting out a heating tomorrow, eheim it is.

[henward]

eheim you will never regret! 3 years warranty

has the best shorted thermostat so allows the least swing.

to be honest, jsut the quarter the dose is enough once a week i reckon

[Morcs]

get 20. I bought 20 Clowns at the last Animates Buy One Get One Free weekend. Was a lot cheaper than normal.

I had 20 Clowns, with a school of Firemouths, and a gizzilion Tiger barbs in a 430L running an FX5 and the bioload was small - compared to when I had monsters in the same system anyway.

[danilada]

get 20. I bought 20 Clowns at the last Animates Buy One Get One Free weekend. Was a lot cheaper than normal.

I had 20 Clowns, with a school of Firemouths, and a gizzilion Tiger barbs in a 430L running an FX5 and the bioload was small - compared to when I had monsters in the same system anyway.

But I thought once full grown (I know it takes years) 20 would be far too much!

[David R]

But I thought once full grown (I know it takes years) 20 would be far too much!

A 500L tank (presuming its a 5') might be a bit short in the long run too, but you're talking years. Over grown clown loaches are rarely a problem, wouldn't hurt to get 20 (or 30!) if you're starting with small ones. I've got 30 ranging from 3" to 8" in my 810L 6' and they're a blast to watch.

[danilada]

Do you know how expensive it would be to get that many in one hit!

But, I am tempted!

[Morcs]

But I thought once full grown (I know it takes years) 20 would be far too much!

Yes but there are plenty of people after clowns of a decent size, so sell some off as they get bigger, and youll probably make your money back.

[danilada]

Yes but there are plenty of people after clowns of a decent size, so sell some off as they get bigger, and youll probably make your money back.

Its the money now not in the future I am worried about :lol: maybe I could do 15 . . . ASB how do you feel about that?

[paul_r]

as morcs said earlier, animates 2 for 1 deals = epic savings

not sure what the animates are like down your ways but i wouldnt buy anything from the animates closest to me

[David R]

Do you know how expensive it would be to get that many in one hit!

Yep! Most I've bought is 10 "medium" [ie tiny] ones from Animates when it was buy-one-get-one-free. Have spent more than double that amount buying larger ones though!! :oops:

[henward]

when you buy lots also, they settle in quicker less stress.

key to growing them huge is lost of food, lots of water changes in my opinion.

I have 17 large ones in my tank, and 5 small to medium oddballs in discus tank.

the 17 large ones will chew on beef balls:D

awesome to watch schooling

[danilada]

I did have a large colony, around 13, some were massive, I had collected them for about three years, buying one at a time of the biggest sizes I could find, but due to a few things going wrong they caught whitespot and as I was away for a few days my "fish sitter" wasn't aware of whitespot and I caught it too late, I was so upset I swore I would never get them again (they are my favourite fish).

We use to love watching them school up and down the corners of the tanks, and then prying open snails and eating them.

So, about a year later here I am starting from the begining with collecting them again, but instead of going through the heartache I would rather buy a whole heap, grow them out and keep them healthy from the start.

Paul_R I would take advantage of Animates deal, but with Oscar having whitespot I will not be adding any fish for a few weeks, so finger crossed there will be another sale to come. Plus another LPS know me well, and I have spent $1000s with them, so I am sure they could make me a deal I couldn't refuse, when the time is right. For now I am just doing research of the best way to add them all at once, so thank you all who have contributed to this thread, been a major help.

[Morcs]

I know a guy with 56 or something. In one tank. Its epic. My 20 went to a good home

[David R]

Plus another LPS know me well, and I have spent $1000s with them, so I am sure they could make me a deal I couldn't refuse, when the time is right.

We need a thumbs up smiley!

Sucks to hear about your old group, I've lost a few big ones to whitespot over the years, the last bout happened while I was in Wellington for work for a week, luckily they're Hannahs favourite fish so it wasn't hard to convince her to do the 50% water changes every other day and I didn't lose any. I think the UV does help preven it and speeds up the cure, which reminds me I haven't transferred the UV onto the 6' since I moved them, I'll need to upgrade it too as its only good for 300L and the tank is over double that now!

[Adrienne]

Salt - 1 gram per litre of water is a safe effective amount for tanks. However, remember that when you do water changes only replace the amount of salt per litre of water you take out during the water change. Salt doesn't evaporate but water does. i.e. 500 litre tank, 500grams salt. During the week 50 litres evaporates. At water change you take out 100 litres of water. To fill tank up to the original level you add 150 litres water but only add 100 grams of salt.