Absolutely! No snail problems, either. (they think they're French. ) Lil Pun just has a 10 gal. tank, though, which really limits things. Clowns were always some of my favorite fish. I had some who lived for several years. (at least 10!) They only succumbed during the Great Fish Disaster of... uh, whenever the heck it was. While out of town, an outlet tube came loose (I've never figured out how) and, after spraying a bookshelf of some prized books, proceeded to pump about 65 gallons of my 90 gallon tank onto the wall to wall carpet of my study. We came home after a few days and the smell was unbelievable. I easily lost over $500 of fish, but the loss of fish I had had forever was worse than what they were worth. (I didn't pay nearly what their retail value was, anyway... I haunted the fish shops) That was the beginning of the end for me and the hobby (and the kids came along at the same time). But it's been long enough now to think about starting up again.
I was thinking about it, and several of my clown loaches (I had about 20... they're great schooling fish) were fish I brought with me to Austin, with my 135, in 1980. Many were 4 or 5 years old (I had them that long and some were pretty large when I got them, so really older than that) when I made the move. I had the disaster about 8 years ago. (my youngest kiddo is 8) So, some were about 20 years old! I mean, I had some that long. Wow. I guess I was doing something right.
i have 6 loaches, although one always hides 3 of them must be a least 5 years old and the other 3 over 3 yrs old... they are great
When me and my girl finally get married and purchase a house I'm going to have to get a 100+ gallon tank. How much does it cost for somebody to get a tank setup for you? Do the clown loaches eat poo also? Oh yeah, what about my other questions above?
Smeg, I found that the more you have, the more active, out in the open and healthier they seem. I usually had a large, flat rock leaning against a corner in the back where they would hang out in a group. It was cool when one or two of the largest would come out and check things out... in a little bit they all would come swarming out to join them. They have a definite hierarchy. And if they have a good place to "hide", they would come out more. Lil Pun, if I were you, when you're able, shop around for a used tank... it's a lot cheaper. Be sure to see it full and check for leaks and bad scratches. If it's just scratched some on one side, then you can probably still use it and have that side against the wall. No, they don't eat poop. But a good undergravel filter should take care of that anyway, along with some plants. Fishwater makes great stuff to water your houseplants with, by the way. At least the kind of water I used to favor.
yeah definite hierachy... strange but i think my boss loach is the one permanently under the big log i have not long after i got the big tank, it got freaked when i did a water change and got itself stuck between the filter and glass........ then for a few days he just sat still for close to a week..... the he started moving around again , but stays under the log........ not injured or anything but just freaked.... every now and then i lift the log to check he is still alive and he is
Pun, a small quick water change would probably be effective. wait an hour or so afterwards and test again. the products that Smeg refers to should not effect your bacteria...matter of fact..the one he talks about IS bacteria....the other products are also filter elements that supposedly filters out ammonia.. I would go with those before I went with any liquid additive... as for the feeding techniques...what Deckard describes is basically how I do it...every once in a while as I walk by..Ill stop and give them a pinch or so...and watch them eat it...then go on with what Im doing...I find sitting and watching my fish eat is a nice way to relax for a couple of minutes. re: loaches Man..I absolutely love clown loaches....some of the coolest fish in existence imo..and they are good bottom cleaners.....of course, so are cory cats...I have one in my angel tank...and he is a active little guy...almost combing the gravel for food. Man that is a aweful story Deckard...I swear...I probably would have cried if that had happened to me....both for the loss of the fish and the mess I knew I would have to clean up. The equipment is much better built these days...so maybe that wont happen to you again.
Thanks, R2K. I was depressed for a long time. I'm not concerned about the equipment, I think it was just a freak thing at a bad time, but I just had to stop for awhile. Honestly, I never thought it would be this long. I didn't realize it until I was posting in this thread. Smeg, you have Clown Loach Psychosis. It may take years for that bugger to get over it. They really are intelligent fish, which makes them more susceptable to going nuts for extended periods of time. It happened to me a couple of times. They sorta get over it eventually. I had one about 10" long that, I swear, used to give me this look like, "Yes, you are an a-hole. You know it, don't you."
Man, I couldn't find that Ammitrite Down anywhere in town (we only have 3 pet stores here and Wal-Mart and K-Mart were no luck). Smeg how much does the stuff cost?
i get a large bottle about 600ml for about $18, but i am is australia don't forget... when i get home i will check the brand and post it
A nice shot of some Clowns, at least as far as showing some with some size. http://www.loaches.com/species_pages/clown_capitol_aquarium.html I was just looking around. This site has some interesting info on them. I need to find some of my own shots. (no, I still haven't found them... grrrr!)
Honestly, if your tank is showing an ammonia reading, it wasn't ready for the load of fish quite yet. In a balanced system, ammonia doesn't stand a chance to exist. The number of bacteria that can exist given the ammonia load comes to an equilibrium. The way I tested this was when I thought my tank was ready, I squirted ammonia into the tank... within minutes my reading was back to 0. Do like R2k suggested. Do a partial water change. You may have to keep doing this. Another reason you may be having an ammonia reading is that the food that the fish didn't eat settled at the bottom and was converted to ammonia. The colony of nitrite-producing bacteria isn't quite big enough to handle this load apparently. That's just a hunch.
Is there a such thing as too much filtration? I was going to add an undergravel filter as well as the other one I had but decided not to. Is too much filtration bad or could I have gone with two filters and been fine?
Smeg, that is absolutely beautiful! I always had the hardest time with plants. Those look fantastic! Congratulations. Truly. Lil Pun, what Smeg has there is very hard to do. I had periods when my tank looked like it was in the same ballpark, with some of the same fish and many that were different, but I always had my eye out for good plants, because I couldn't get them to last. I tended to have everything added to a large school of Congo Tetras (about 30), a good school of Cardinal Tetras (at least 20), and my big school Clown Loaches. I had other fish that came and went, like a variety of dwarf cichlids, the occasional Black Angel, maybe a Bala Shark, a Black Ghost, one or two dwarf plecos, a blue-eyed or royal plecostomus if I could find them cheap and little. It was a soft water tank that I usually pushed to the limit in numbers of fish. Lots of fun and very relaxing. There's nothing like turning off the lights in the room and watching the tank!
You may be able to find Cycle...I used to use that stuff exclusively for setting up new tanks...and it worked great. It is basically the same stuff he talks about..just a different name. there is no such thing as too much filtration....on one of my tanks..not only did I have a reverse flow undergravel filter...but a hangon filter and a canister filter. On my salt tank...I had a canister filter...a protein skimmer...and a 10gallon tank nearby with 4 levels of filtration that the water ran thru before being run back up- into the main tank. those are some cool pics Smeg....the tank is really looking good now. Deck.... I get that same look from my Oscar...whenever he sees me coming into the room...you can see him run to the front of the tank..and when he realizes Im not there to feed him...he gives me that look that say he isnt happy with me.
