DanTheMan

Well hello everybody! I was face booking some "fish people" in England and they can buy live blood worms, mysis and brine shrimp at their local pet stores. Does anybody here raise live mysis shrimp? I was thinking it would be good for fry.

Great job on the cave! It looks natural and inviting. The clown looked as though it may want to book a stay in the pleco mansion. I know my clown loaches would be crowding the door to use this cool cave. Hopefully the pleco will appreciate the effort and set a move in date shortly. LOL

Dear Santa, Been an awful good boy this year and I would like a new 180 gallon plywood tank and maybe one of your elves can help to relocate my 300 gallon to the fish room. Milk and coookies await!

From what I have read the clown loach coloring can differ for several different reasons. They may be from a different area, or the substrate and or lighting in the tank may bring out a stronger or weaker coloring. Also as the loaches get bigger the color seems to lessen and white lines form within the black stripes. The last part is super cool, I have one very large loach and it almost looks like a white lightning bolt going through the black stripe. When these white lines form it is also a lot easier to tell the loaches apart when they are very similar. I had adopted 5 new loaches quite red about 2 months ago and after quarantine I placed them in the 300 gallon with the other loaches in a white sand substrate with lots of artificial plants, rock caves, and artificial driftwood and only natural light and after 2 weeks their red coloring is fading. They are still receiving the same food their previous owner fed them, but the previous owner had them in a tank with a darker gravel substrate and real plants with bright lighting. They are swimming with the group actively and eating extremely well, no ill effects, in fact in a short amount of time there has been noticeable growth. As long as the loaches are not flashing (indicates irritation) and are active and eating well all is good. Enjoy these beautiful fish, they can be a real riot and quite mischievous, Never a dull moment around here.

It hasn't ended yet. Picked up 15 sweet little neolamprologus brichardi, and 6 black calvus. Next on the list Enantiopus kilesa. Running out of room for the tanks. I'm not ready to admit I have a problem.

I have seen my clowns in a lot of places that I thought they couldn't get out of, however every time I went to rescue them , they would swim away on their own. Maybe your clowns have faded because of the Arowana?? I do not know from personal experience but have heard many people say that keeping clowns with a arowana or a predator type fish will put a constant stress on the clowns??? Anyways have a good one...Dan

Nothing, they are too busy eating shrimps.....

Have you separated/quarantined the sick fish? Not sure what the problem is, but when anything seems not right with any of my fish the first priority is to quarantine and do a water change. You said you have had the acei for a few years, did you get it as a fry, juvenile, or full grown fish? They do live quite a long time. About a month ago I had 2 threadfin rainbows go into the s shape, they were removed to quarantine and died about 5 days later. I would worry that if they die in the tank and the other fish pick at it, some disease or parasite may be passed on to healthy fish. After those 2 fish were removed there were no more issues with sick fish in the tank. Remember with mbuna to provide a lot of algae plant based foods, such as spirulina flakes or pellets. Try feeding thawed peas (remove outer skin) to the fish, it sometimes works to alleviate bloat. Bloat doesn't always kill the fish, but if it does survive it can take a long time for it to look and feel normal again. I only give my Acei's frozen treats (daphnia, Mysis,etc) (only a small amount) once every 2 weeks. They are now around the 7 year old mark. Hopes this helps, and good luck!

Great to hear! Sounds like you have all the bases covered. I wish you continued success. :thumbs:

I used Melafix when I first received my loaches. Every loach had fin rot to one degree or another and had lots of dark patchines from being in not optimum conditions. 22 of them. I have them in a 300g tank and treated them with melafix. Within a few days you could see a noticeable difference and at the 7th day the end of the treatment huge improvement. Within 2 weeks you couldn't tell there had ever been a problem. Cost was about $16.00 per bottle and took me almost 3 large bottles. Follow the directions closely and when treatment is done do the water change as noted on the directions. I have faithfully done 30% water changes once a week since then, and they are all fin rot free. It was a new tank as well and the old filter and driftwood were used as well as new ones and it still hadn't been 100% cycled. I took the gamble and it worked for me. Remember if you go this route to remove the carbon. Good luck on whatever you decide.

O.K Now I know I have a problem. Just added a 55g tank with 16 duboisi maswa juveniles. Helllllppppp!!! When will it end.

So Cool! I would be afraid to put them with an Arowana. The loaches obviously don't find it intimidating. Plants are a definite no in my tank as well. It's bad enough that they move the artificial plants attached to large rocks to their liking, pull off heaters, eat air stones and sponge filters, try to remove filters and the stream pump. They seem to be enjoying watching me cringe when they move, pull, and destroy things in the tank. As long as they don't actually break the glass I enjoy watching their antics. They tip sideways and wave with one fin when they are hungry, or heaven forbid I am late at supper time. It appears loaches here are not that popular, stock that comes in is usually sick or becomes sick in the LFS not just the small ones but the bigger 3"-4". I have picked up and added to my collection from other forum members that realize keeping one or two is not what is best for the fish., or realizing they can't give them the space they need to be healthy and happy. I am however encouraged that people are doing their research and understanding their needs. I always quarantine my loaches for an extended amount of time minimum 8 weeks. I would hate to lose the beautiful and large loaches I have. I will try to post some pics soon. Thanks for the reply

Before you buy Ehiem, I would strongly suggest checking how available replacement media and parts are in your area. I have a Pro 1200 xl since spring and still have no Ehiem media, used Fluval media and then the ceramic shaft that holds the impeller broke and the impeller got chewed up over a month ago and I am still waiting for replacement parts. I don't mean to sound negative, but rather just to let you know what my experience was.

Have fun setting up your new tank. That is one of the best parts of the hobby. I usually stock mbuna at a ratio of one fish per 5 gallons. (Give or take a fish or two or three) Works for me. I think the yellow tail acei does not get the attention it deserves. They liven up the tank, are really not aggressive, and as adults the males are absolutely phenomenal.

X2

Love my cichlids about as much as I love my clown loaches. I have 2-55 gallon tanks with Yellow tail Acei's Musili and Ngara as well as 120g Nimbochromis venustus 4- 30 gallon fry tanks all full. I guess their as happy with me as I am with them.

Nice mix of fish. I agree that the more their are the happier they appear. What I found extremely interesting is when I added some 2 inch clowns to the tank they just swam right up to the group rubbed their way through the alley and then after a few barbel feels by the others they seemed to be accepted, and not only that, when the very large 7 inch yellow tail acei seemed intent on chasing the newbies just after their introduction the large loaches swam inbetween the Acei and the small loaches stopping the chase game instantly. No fighting, almost like ...if you mess with them buddy we got a problem. The loaches are generally very peaceful and playful and the only issues that come up are when one of the loaches tries to gain group dominance because they have just finished what I call a growth spurt these are few and far between and last just seconds and it is not extremely aggressive, just some minor lip locking and the attempt is over. Gracie wins again. What are you feeding your loaches and how often?

Well well well , hello and welcome. Let me know how you find the fish stores in Cowtown as compared to Winnipeg. There is supposed to killer huge loaches at some pet store in Calgary, if your into them. Anyways I'm planning a trip to Calgary and would love to get the info on the fish stores as compared to Winnipeg. All the best Dan

Well, hello. Welcome to the forum. You should post a pic.

Just wondering how you made out with your clown loaches 2 years later? Do you still use only cold water to do water changes??

Heat and salt are always my first course of action. If it doesn't work I go with Melafix. It has saved my Large angels and clown loaches from more that just white spot. Good luck and hopefully the next 7 days will result in healthy happy fish. So happy to hear that you have a quarantine tank, that is one of the best investments a fish enthusiast can make. Even if fish seem healthy in the store, the stress of another move can bring out all kinds of nasties in the fish. Better a few than all of the fish sick.

I have an Eheim XL 1200 pro and I love it, the only problem being that here in Winnipeg we can't seem to get the media for the baskets. Large outflow and does a great job of cleaning the tank. Don't know if you would come across the same problem. Apparently even the person in charge of distribution can't get his hands on any for us either. It will hold 12 litres of media without any issues, we are using biomax. We also have the Fluval FX5 that is effective if you don't put too much media into it because it slows down the output and starts to plug and in comparison will only hold 5 litres of media. The easier cleaning comes from the Eheim and it is also way easier to start up again.

Very nice, how did things turn out? Could you make 1 for me??

How many people on the forum love Clown Loaches? How many, what size tank, tankmates, type of filter, any sort of particular troubles, etc??? Not a lot of people in Manitoba have large Clown Loaches, but was told they are very popular in Alberta.

Hello everybody, I'm Dan from Winnipeg. I am back in the hobby for about 6 months after a 15 year break. I am active in the aquarium/fish forums in Winnipeg and have joined the Alberta Aquatica so I can have access to all the information and resources you folks have, and share what I can from Winnipeg. I travel to Alberta yearly as I have family there and would not hesitate to do a 13 hour drive to pick up or drop off the right fish or maybe even to attend a meeting. My largest tank is a 300 gallon filled with 28 (almost a full circus) of Clown Loaches with a couple being about a foot long. There is also 5 ACI Yellow Tails and 1 Pleco. I reinforced the steel beam in my house and added 2 more wooden beams to take the weight because I have the tank in my living room (great decision because I can see them all the time) . I actually bought the collection of them from a fella that had some of them for almost 10 years and even won awards in our "fish shows" here with them (like "best in show"), they were supposedly carrying eggs while being shown ( not quite Shure about how that could be possible, however people saw them?) The fella that had my loaches said that while in Calgary many years ago he saw some 24" Clown Loaches at a pet store (that I would drive 13 hours to see). In other tanks I also have 12 baby Giraffe cichlids (about 3" long), 100 plus ACI Yellow Tail babies spread thru 2 more tanks as they are different sizes, a Angle tank, a community tank with Threadfins, platy's (Marble, Sunset and Mickey Mouse), Iridescent Sharks, Ornate and Orange Reo Tetra's, Golden and SP something spotted pleco. and Dwarf Neon Rainbows, another tank with Platy babies and that's about it for now, however I do have plans. Sorry if I sounded long winded, I just wanted people to know what I was about. Looking forward to posting more soon. All the best Dan.