Henry wrote:
I would like to try two or three Clown Loaches in my 75 gal planted tank. I
think they are really neat fish and they should eliminate my snail problem.

I do seem to remember hearing that they are very hard on plants however. Is
this true? If so, then maybe I don't want them after all.

Any input from anybody who has had Clown Loaches in a planted tank would be
greatly appreciated.

75 gal tank. Canister filter. Pressurized CO2 injection. Tank is heavily
planted. Light: about 2 watts/gal.


I kept 3 clown loaches in a 55g planted tank. They started at 3" and
grew to 5" before I moved cross-country and gave them away. I had no
problems with them digging up anything. The substrate was laterite and
fine gravel, DIY CO2 with Duplaplant fertilizers and I was growing
swordplants, crypts, val. spirallis, aponogetons, hygrophila difformis,
....and heaven only knows what else directly in the substrate. They kept
my tank snail-free, as expected.

And actually, those loaches started as 1.5" babies in a 29g planted CO2
injected tank with a lot of rotala spp., aponogetons, crypts, anubias,
hygrophila polysperma, and whatever else I felt like experimenting with.
They also caused no problems there.

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__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__