Clown loaches and Discus

[weird]

The crazy guys of the fish world ? How to keep the ying-yang of discus and clown loaches in perfect harmony ? Let the discussion begin ... I will start , only with the short but passionate love of both Discus and loaches, and very little experience of both ! I guess it comes down to , "dare to ask the question".

I moved my 6 clown loaches (ranging from age of 1 1/2 to 1/2 year old loaches) to my 4 x2 x2 foot discus tank. It is bare bottom, not what I thought ideal for loaches, but moved over with them every hiding place they used before , 2 elongated caves and a rather large "fake" hollow log. The 2 elongated caves proved too isolating, so I removed them for only the fake cave, in which they were also able to observe feeding times. They also took to a large driftwood piece.

The most important lesson I learnt:

Give them a hiding place that

1. Gives them a place to hide,

but most importantly

2. Allows them to observe the happenings of the tank.

Otherwise if they will hide and miss alot of feeding opportunities.

If they can hide and observe the tank, they will sneak out and in from the hiding spot to grab food at most feeding opportunities.

Overall I have found large discus and loaches to eat side by side , and neither to be fussed by each other. Even when clowns go into their feeding frenzies and they go nuts (which in my tank is large crop dusting circles repeatly ... if you focus on them u will go dizzy ... the discus largely ignore them).

Anyway, great thing about loaches is that they don't mind the high temps.

BTW this is the worse picture of my tank but I assure you every one in here is very happy, but it shows a sneaky peak loach in their fav fake log in the middle.

[Proteus]

CL's & Discus are 2 of my top 3 favourite fish.

Over time I have found that they can co-exist, but at the same time, they shouldnt...

Why, well Discus prefer a more settled, peaceful environment, yet Clown loaches are nuts.... yes, they do spend a lot of time hiding, but when they are out, they are rebels...

anyways, I guess it is each to there own...

For advice purposes I would suggest they not be kept together

[jim]

I found small discus have problem with clown loaches...only when comes to feeding time..clown loaches move very fast and wild..

How about when clown loaches grow to adult size..I have seen a 20 cm clown loaches ... it's very large..and image it swim out like crazy during feeding time..

[kevkoi]

They calm down a bit when they get bigger.. And u don't often see 20cm clowns in aquariums. Takes a loooong time to get to that size.

[weird]

20 cm clown loaches ! I dream about em. I plan on having my guys a long time , I can only hope.

[weird]

Botia and discus - posing

[kalebjarrod]

Tricky little guys

they have some spunk don't they!

[DiscusMan]

I would add the my experience has been that these things are pack hunters and extermely smart adn cunning. I had three of them in a community tank and they picked off the neon tetras one by one. I removed one of the clown loaches and they cant work as well together so teh neons stayed alive that i had left.

Loaches and discus are also my two favourite fish

I do still have three loaches sharing my large discus tank with no problems. The hunting occured in a 3 footer.

Wayne

[leanne31]

I have 3 clown loaches in my 4 foot with my discus the only problem is at feeding time sometimes the loaches take the food straight out of the discus mouth the little buggers

[weird]

I have 6 clown loaches in a 4x2x2 foot ... so there is plenty of space for them. They have a large ceramic cave which they sleep in most of the day, and only come out for feeding ... and usually down near the bottom. I have 6 adult discus in this tank which are giants compared to the loaches (perhaps this will change in the next 5 years) and are in no way bothered. Luckily this setup works for everyone.

I think I would be concerned if the tank was smaller, the loaches had no cave and the discus were juvs.

Some people have mentioned problems with clowns loaches startling discus. Loaches can be aggressive eaters.