Store said clown loach is good for 30 gallon tank

Trusting my LFS has once again gone to the birds...(no pun intended there)

Went looking for some bottom feeders for my 30 gallon...they had none of the ones suggested to me here, but the lady said this one was great for my 30 gallon...total bottom feeder, and only got to be 6inches max at adulthood...I asked numerous times, (I hadn't planned on shopping for a fish just bloodworms, so I never looked here first before I went) I said awesome because it would fit perfect ..

LOW N BEHOLD, Shawnie comes home with a clown loach!!

After reading about them here, I called right away and talked to the lady who sold him to me...I said "mam, do you know what a clown loach really is? and evidently your size is a bit off!!!!!"

she was totally shocked (or so she says) and said bring him back and we will credit you and order you some cory catfish...

 

Clown loaches take a really long time to grow to their adult size, so you could keep it if you plan on upgrading your tank in the future. That is such a bummer that she gave you wrong info though............totally typical of LFS employees. That must have been so frustrating for you.

 

hmmm more frustrated with myself for not checking first...I do and shoulda known better..could be a few months before I can get the new one...id be worried he would get too big for 30

 

Don't be mad at yourself We are all guilty of doing the same thing from time to time........we just get excited! Clown loaches also need to be kept in groups of at least 5, so you would need a HUGE tank for them.

 

i've done that before.....and not just once.....impulse buying from the lfs based on their "information"! don't worry about it.....main thing is realising what you've done and putting it right!!

 

that sounds like the lfs's around here.. of coarse I bet you haven't seen a fish store sell someone an oscar for a 10 gallon tank and say it will be okay w/ guppies too huh? lol... because the one in our local area did right in front of my husband... he politely just turned around and walked out and said well... I won't be buying anything from these people!
However, I did thanks to the lfs end up w/ a peacock eel at one time thanks to impluse buying... but also thanks to them got ich from their fish and it killed the eel...

 

No I won't cause hes going back ...poor fella...ty for your help tho!

 

Clown loaches are those black and orange guys right? They are really beautiful fish... its a shame you do have to take it back!

 

ops: It happens to all of us....I got a CAE! The worst fish I ever had....

So you could get loaches....yoyo's maybe....

When I get my next tank.......that is what I want to look at. Did I tell you I'm looking at a 180 gallon!

My husband is going to flip. I better find a way to start making $$$ on these things.

 

Shawnie, I had a yoyo loach in a 29 gallon before a tore down the tank and started over and he was a delightful little fishie! He might be a good addition to your 30 gallon

Susitna, a 180 gallon.................I am soooooooooo jealous

 

awesome ty everyone..Ive been trying to figure what I can get in his place...looking at yo yo's now...

I'm soooooooooo jealous susitna ....

and yes steveangela heres his pic...he is beautiful..but I don't want him harmed by not having enough room

 

I understand, I wouldn't want to but a fish in a tank to small for them either.. I cringe when I go to my mils house and see her 2 goldfish in a tiny bowl.... I make jokes on how I want to call peta on elmo...trying to hint to her how its wrong to put a gold fish in a bowl like she has.... they are too big of speices of goldfish.

 

Cute loach.
I have always been a researcher...even over make up. I do have OCD that could be why, lol.
So I never came home with something I didn't want...now my bf has had the impulsing buying problem. Coming home with fish then I research them. Usually we have to sell them or trade. I told him to stop it when he brought home a huge red fin loach who freaked out all our fish in the 120 gallon when it was an Angelfish tank. He was a freak, b/c he needed more of his kind. Aggressive with the other fish.

 

I went from being the impulse person to the researcher after I went from the throw gravel in the tank and some water and fish to there is a method.. and you basicly need a chem set to do this fish care... Now we don't buy fish w/o knowing what we are buying... of coarse though we have all african cichlids.. life is easy we have peacocks and mbunas... and 4 tanks... 2 tanks of each....
Now though... I get the hilarious phone calls from my moms impulse buying... like the african butterfly fish that she bought as a baby and I warned her about it w/ the guppies, tetras in the tank when it became full grown... just last week she started missing fish... then instead of taking it to the store.. she put it in her 10 gallon tank with the betta! I'm waiting on that phone call! She cracks me up w/ the fish she gets... she almost fell for the oscar in a 10 gallon from that same fishstore that my husband walked into... I'm glad she mentioned it to me before she bought it! I told her its more like a 100 gallon tank... (which w/ her concrete floor she could have or even a 200 gallon tank, but she is opening a resturant the end of this week so she won't have time for even the fish she has now... which I might be able to talk her out of her 29, 10 gallon tanks and her beautiful angelfish in the 29 gallon tank)

 

shawnie I'm so sorry they gave you incorrect information. Clown Loaches are delightful fish but as I think it was mentioned they need buddies and over a period of time can get in excess of 12 inches. Yoyo's ar cool too but they also need buddies.
are you just wanting bottom dwellers or loaches in particular?
You could always print this out and take it to theLFSs and leave it with the lady who didn't know about Clown Loaches
clown loach
Carol

 

shawnie I'm so sorry they gave you incorrect information. Clown Loaches are delightful fish but as I think it was mentioned they need buddies and over a period of time can get in excess of 12 inches. Yoyo's ar cool too but they also need buddies.
are you just wanting bottom dwellers or loaches in particular?
You could always print this out and take it to theLFSs and leave it with the lady who didn't know about Clown Loaches
clown loach
Carol

I certainly just did print that...and will be taking it back with that cute loach...TY CAROL

and I'm wanting bottom dwellers yes...but eventually its going to be just an angel tank so I have to find somethng that's angel friendly ...thanks again for that nice print out

 

I certainly just did print that...and will be taking it back with that cute loach...TY CAROL

and I'm wanting bottom dwellers yes...but eventually its going to be just an angel tank so I have to find somethng that's angel friendly ...thanks again for that nice print out

Welcome for the print out. that site is the number one loach site and the information is spot on, always.
If it's going to be an angel tank then a colony of corys would be perfect.
carol

 

now there's some edu for a fishstore.. I never thought of doing that! when they misinform people of fishcare....
Great Job!

 

Loaches.com formerly Loachesonline.com has a printable poster on clown loaches and Hillstream Loaches.

and

These were made especially to print and give to LFS
Sorry Shawnie didn't mean to hijack your thread
carol

 

hijack away ...LFS need a good hijackin also!! nice links!!!!!! TyTY

 

Hi!

I made the same mistake with a CAE on my second fish purchase... It was a 'Golden sucking loach' - and when we took it back 'It would grow to the size of your tank (7.5G) and it is totally peaceful!'.

 

ops: It happens to all of us....I got a CAE! The worst fish I ever had....

So you could get loaches....yoyo's maybe....

When I get my next tank.......that is what I want to look at. Did I tell you I'm looking at a 180 gallon!

My husband is going to flip. I better find a way to start making $$$ on these things.

I also had CAE sold to me as an oto - he was a very bad fish. I had cories sold to me as algae eaters! Still have those little turds - love them. :;a2I research everything now - well I did buy the Gold Apple Snail on impulse - but he's cool.

Funny how most of us have had the experience of correcting an employee of a LFS.

Suitsina.....180 gallons - I am green with envy. I thought I hit the jackpot when my hubby didn't object when I said I wanted another tank, no larger than 36g......ha ha. Well I guess we all have our own small victories!!

 

on my way to my LFS now...with printouts in hand
ps..my clown loach as well

 

on my way to my LFS now...with printouts in hand
ps..my clown loach as well

Well...Flyers all dropped off..not sure if they thought I was being rude or not..seems the lady that took care of me was new...so my reply was, "why let her on the floor to sell without knowledge?"

they appologized and traded my clown loach for this handsome guy...siamese algae...

 

He's a beauty They did tell you he'll get about 6 inches right? If you don't have algae he will need some vegetable matter in his diet.
Carol

 

yeps they did...hes in my 30 gallon..and yes I have algae and wafers....thanks so much for all your help!

while I got ya , my fish guy that was out the other day was finally in!! I asked for a med size common pleco for my 75 gallon, and he said he would get me one and when the time came that he got too big, before I got a new tank, that I could return him anytime..is that something that mite be ok to get rid of algae in my oscar tank?

 

yeps they did...hes in my 30 gallon..and yes I have algae and wafers....thanks so much for all your help!

while I got ya , my fish guy that was out the other day was finally in!! I asked for a med size common pleco for my 75 gallon, and he said he would get me one and when the time came that he got too big, before I got a new tank, that I could return him anytime..is that something that mite be ok to get rid of algae in my oscar tank?

yes should be ok. I just get too attached to my plecs to give them back.
Instead of a common maybe you could get him to get you a Rhino Plec(Pterygoplichthys scrophus). I had one in my 75G until we moved and it lives at Dinos now. but they are excellent algae eater(cool looking too) and the 75G is plenty big enough.
Pterygoplichthys scrophus • Loricariidae • Cat-eLog - planet catfish
Heres a pic of mine before we moved.
Carol

 

yes should be ok. I just get too attached to my plecs to give them back.
Instead of a common maybe you could get him to get you a Rhino Plec(Pterygoplichthys scrophus). I had one in my 75G until we moved and it lives at Dinos now. but they are excellent algae eater(cool looking too) and the 75G is plenty big enough.

Heres a pic of mine before we moved.
Carol

aww hes awesome looking...how big is he?? as I have oscars and don't want him to be a meal...I'm reading up on them now../\..that's what I was worried about too was getting attached.....thanks tons carol

 

When I sent him to Dino about a year ago he was and had been about eight inches for over a year. I didn't think he was going to get much bigger but he spent last summer in Dinos pond and he is a little bigger now but still ok for a 75g. He had been in the tank with 7 & 8 inch Clown Loaches and Angel Fish.
Carol

 

LOL.. a 6" clown loach.. maybe it's the mysterious dwarf clown loach?

 

ANYTHING to make a buck I guess!

 

ANYTHING to make a buck I guess!

probably many bucks. When people lose fish(for whatever reason) they tend to go back to the same places.
Carol

 

Shawnie - I see that you are from Raymond, I'm from Nashua. What are you using for your LFS? I am always looking for NH LFSs. I have been to a few in the Merrimack/Souhegan valley, but Manchester area is not too far for me to travel for an LFS with decent stock. There is another member here (can't remember his "handle" - Bishop maybe) that uses a place in Salem that he says is OK. Just wondering about anything that is a reasonable distance for me to check out - APOLOGIES FOR THE HIJACK.

 

I use a couple ntruder..and hijack anytime ...I have friends at the raymond fish store, although they just hired some newbies so I decided id only deal with the guy that has the most knowledge..his name is dj...and I also go to rochester because I special order there and he gets them fast and ive not had bad luck yet..now that I have learned a lot here, my fish appreciate it

 

Raymond I'd do, but Rochester is a bit far for me, although I was just out on the Seacoast yesterday on business. What is the name of the Raymond Fish Store? Hopefully this is not a forum violation.

 

Little Critters

 

Thanks for the info!