| name: | clown loach |
| scientific name: | botia macracanthus |
| Synomyms: | cobitis macracanthus, hymenophysa macracantha |
| family / subfamily: | cobitidae / botiinae |
| occurrences: | indonesia, sumatra, borneo; standing and running water |
| implementation date: | 1935 |
| water temperature: | 23-28° C |
| ph-value und water hardness: | pH 6-6,5; 4-20 ° dGH |
| fish size: | nature: up to 30 cm; fish tank: because of small tank size mostly not more than 16 cm |
| age: | good care assumed: up to 30 years! |
| social behaviour: | schooling fish happy to swim, both peaceful towards fellow members of the species ad other fish. Day and twilight active. |
| keeping: | Always have a few clown loaches, a number of five is seen as minimum. However, bigger groups - starting from ten clown loaches - are recommended. Offer a lot of hiding places and dark areas in your aquarium. Tank size from 375 litres (150 x 50 x 50). complete expression is possible for the animals in larger tanks starting from 600 litres. |
| area: | Usually can be found in lower or medium regions of the tank. |
| feeding type: | Omnivore: live and dry food, food pallet, sludge worms, regularly water snails, sometimes: peeled cucumbers, salad or zucchini slices. Variety is important! |
| sex differences: | Female fish are usually more plump and bigger, there is no clear sex differentiation characteristic. Different theories about sex differences exist (for example form of tail fin), but they cannot hold according to current knowledge. |
| breed: | So far, breed in captivity is seldom (not proven). In combination with changes of water, temperature and other strutural alteration that could imitate a spawning migration are often seen as condition for breeding. Hormones and other medication are used most of the time in commercial breeding of clown loaches. |
| other: | Stressed or weakened fish are prone to Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Clown loaches can pull snails out of their shell with their trunklike jaws and eat them. Cloan loaches are appreciated as a food fish in their home area. |
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