Clown Loaches, raising them until they outgrow your tank

[Nano Bubbles]

Hello! This is my first time posting and I'm nervous to get backlash, but I'm really looking for some help/opinions. I have a 36 gallon community tank including 4 clown loaches. I had one alone for about a year because I was uneducated and there was only one at the store at the time. Since initially setting up my first tank and THEN doing research, I have been adding clown loaches as they've come up at my local fish store. So! My question being, I know they need a bigger shoal than 4, but is keeping them until they outgrow the tank detrimental to their well-being or stunt their growth? Thank you so much in advance for any help! 🙂 

[gardenman]

They grow slowly (about a half inch per year after their very young stage) and you won't really stunt their growth in a smaller tank.  Fish don't grow proportional to their tank size. You can grow a very large fish in a very small tank if you can maintain good water quality and feed them well. (In many cases it's easier to grow a larger fish in a smaller tank as they waste less energy looking for food.) Assuming you could maintain the water quality over their lifespan you could end up with four 12" long clown loaches in your 36-gallon tank. Since they live a long time (10-20 years) and most hobbyists will crash a tank within that period, most clown loaches never reach full adult size. It's hard to keep a tank up and running without a disaster at some point for ten to twenty years. 

In a perfect world you'd house them in a huge tank, heavily planted, with ample food, and pristine water quality. They'd get huge (up to 16" or more) and live twenty years or so. Very few of us live in a perfect world however. Just do your best and give them the best life you can give them, and all will be okay. And keep the tank tightly covered. These guys are escape artists and will find the slightest gap in your cover and find a way out. They aren't very good at finding their way back into the tank however, so many die on the floor or become snacks for a cat or dog.

[Nano Bubbles]

On 4/10/2022 at 5:59 AM, gardenman said:

They grow slowly (about a half inch per year after their very young stage) and you won't really stunt their growth in a smaller tank.  Fish don't grow proportional to their tank size. You can grow a very large fish in a very small tank if you can maintain good water quality and feed them well. (In many cases it's easier to grow a larger fish in a smaller tank as they waste less energy looking for food.) Assuming you could maintain the water quality over their lifespan you could end up with four 12" long clown loaches in your 36-gallon tank. Since they live a long time (10-20 years) and most hobbyists will crash a tank within that period, most clown loaches never reach full adult size. It's hard to keep a tank up and running without a disaster at some point for ten to twenty years. 

In a perfect world you'd house them in a huge tank, heavily planted, with ample food, and pristine water quality. They'd get huge (up to 16" or more) and live twenty years or so. Very few of us live in a perfect world however. Just do your best and give them the best life you can give them, and all will be okay. And keep the tank tightly covered. These guys are escape artists and will find the slightest gap in your cover and find a way out. They aren't very good at finding their way back into the tank however, so many die on the floor or become snacks for a cat or dog.

Great! This makes me feel so much better. I love them so much but I wasn't sure if I was being selfish keeping them until they grow bigger. Thank you so much for your insight! 🙂

[Colu]

If you can I would up Grade to 55 or bigger in the long run if you have the option if you don't make sure you have some were you will be able to re-home them when they get to big for your current tank

[Nano Bubbles]

On 4/10/2022 at 6:48 AM, Colu said:

If you can I would up Grade to 55 or bigger in the long run if you have the option if you don't make sure you have some were you will be able to re-home them when they get to big for your current tank

I’d love to upgrade to a 75g! 😍 but my husband won’t agree to it, it was a battle even getting this tank. Maybe by the time they’ve outgrown this one I can upgrade! If not I’ll find them a good new home 🙂 thank you!!